So You Want to Be a Bachelor

The Joe McDoakes series of shorts in the mid-20th century were scenarios about little things in life that the average man might experience. Most often, they involved a wife or girlfriend. And, they generally were amusing. A few were outright funny and would draw laughter or chuckles from the audience. But some also were duds,

"So You Want to Be a Bachelor" is a dud. Unfortunately the writer seemed to have no imagination or creativity for things that might be funny here. Instead, the looking back on getting hooked and marriage takes up most of this film's 10 minutes. But none of it is the slightest bit funny. There's not a funny line in the picture, and the antics are ho-hum. I would bet that everyone who watches this film will be able to guess the ending. Yet, it's the only thing that might get a smile.

So You Want to Be a Bachelor (1951)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Joe McDoakes (George O'Hanlon) wants to sleep on the couch but wife Alice makes him go to the basement to get it cleaned up. Once there he finds some old photos and starts to daydream about when he was single and what caused him to marry Alice. This short starts off a little slow but it quickly picks up once the actual wedding takes place. We finally get to see how the two got together and it makes for a couple pretty good laughs, although in some ways you wish they'd spent a little more time coming up with something better. One plus is that the actual wedding has some very funny stuff including an interruption that almost prevented the marriage. How it plays out was pretty smart and manages for a good smile. As usual O'Hanlon hits all the right marks as does Phyllis Coates as his wife. The final pay-off is predictable but mildly amusing.

Sent to the basement to organize the junk, George O'Hanlon finds items that remind him of his bachelor days. He reminisces about how carefree life was back then. But in Richard Bare's Joe McDoakes series of shorts for Warner Brothers, the world was full of nonsense designed to make O'Hanlon's life a misery, and to wring out laughter for the audience.

Phyllis Coates plays O'Hanlon's wife, as she did more often than any other actress. She got the role the hard way: she was married to Bare. Although they had been divorced a couple of years by this point.... well, perhaps it beat paying alimony. Miss Coates is better remembered for playing Lois Lane opposite George Reeves' Superman. She died in 2023 at the age of 96.

George O'Hanlon is back for another Joe McDoakes short. And, as in some of the films, his wife is played by Phyllis Coates--Lois Lane from the TV "Adventures of Superman"--who appears here uncredited.

After Joe and his wife have a scrap, Joe goes into the basement and looks through his old mementos from his bachelor days. As he does so, he reminisces about these good 'ol days and you see his relationship with the woman who would later become Mrs. McDoakes. What follows is insane--often quite funny but occasionally the laughs come so fast you almost wish they'd slowed the thing down a bit. Either way, it is funny and better than the average McDoakes film. I'd say more about what exactly happens, but you just have to see it to believe it!