Having Wonderful Time

If the pleasure of watching GINGER ROGERS, DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS, JR. and LEE BOWMAN in their prime is enough for you, you won't mind watching this feeble little comedy about a vacationing girl in a typical girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl wins boy kind of affair.

And whatever laughs come along are few and far between, as someone else suggested, and the gags aren't fresh enough to sustain much interest. The backgammon scene becomes a bore, as does the party scene with "Heigh Ho" being sung non-stop in inebriated fashion.

Strictly a small time trifle, hardly worth bothering about. No one is seen to their advantage except for the three photogenic leads in a cast that includes EVE ARDEN (wasted), LUCILLE BALL (wasted), JACK Carson (wasted), DONALD COOK and GRADY SUTTON, with an interesting debut of comedian RED SKELTON, billed as Richard (Red) Skelton) who demonstrates his skill with a series of pratfalls. He does more with his small role than anyone else is able to muster.

The original play was a satire about Jewish vacationers in the Catskills but was revamped as a vehicle for Ginger Rogers with all the Jewish jokes removed. What's left is a weak comedy with nowhere to go.

Summing up: The title is a misnomer. It's hardly worth anyone's time but it's pleasing to note that LEE BOWMAN's reaction shots reveal a flair for comedy never fully realized throughout his film career.

A hit Broadway play, adapted by the playwright (and later turned into a hit musical); what more could you ask for? Well, for starters, you could ask that the premise, a love story set at the very predominantly Jewish summer camps that thrived in the Catskills from the 1920s into the 1970s, not have virtually every trace of Jewishness removed from it. We have one Jewish waiter here, and possibly a couple of older Jewish campers, and from there it's on to Ginger Rogers, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Peggy Conklin, Lucille Ball, Lee Bowman, Eve Arden, and a very young, very annoying Red Skelton, whose two extended comedy routines land with a thud. That Rogers would even be living with her large family in that section of the Bronx strains credibility. They're pretty people, the summer-camp setting is pretty and convincing, and for a post-Code item, it's pretty frank about the sleeping-around that's going on, or at least suspected. Lucille, being built up by RKO, has some funny moments, and Eve, playing the "intellectual" camper (we can tell she's intellectual because she wears glasses), makes a great deal out of little. At a little over an hour, it speeds by, and Rogers, playing a not-very-nice heroine, at least is photographed lovingly. But the goy-izing of it kind of deprives it of any point.

HAVING WONDERFUL TIME (RKO Radio, 1938), directed by Alfred Santell, is a Ginger Rogers starring comedy produced towards the end to her great popularity years (1933-1939) of those nine song and dance musicals produced by RKO opposite her most famous screen partner of all time, Fred Astaire. Although reportedly a comedy adapted from the 1937 stage success by Arthur Kober, that success didn't seem to be repeated on screen due to changes and alterations, thus, resulting to a somewhat disappointing production made plausible mostly by Ginger Rogers and her STAGE DOOR (RKO Radio, 1937) co-stars of Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Jack Carson, Grady  Sutton making return engagements. There's also a very young comic named Richard Skelton, better known as "Red" Skelton, making his motion picture debut.  

Following a visual view of New York City, the story introduces Teddy Shaw (Ginger Rogers), a stenographer working in a crowded office surrounded by other girl, over-viewed by a strict supervisor (Elsie Cavanna).  It's also her last day at work before her trip to the Catskills mountains where she's to vacation for the next two weeks at Camp Kare-Free to "relax in the peace and quiet of the pines." Following a subway ride to her apartment in the Bronx where she's surrounded by family members consisting of her parents (Harlan Briggs and Leona Roberts), sister (Inez Courtney), her brother-in-law (Dean Jagger) and their daughter (Juanita Quigley), Teddy, the only single girl in the family, resents the annoyance of her nagging family to marry Emil Beatty (Jack Carson), a successful but obnoxious businessman whom she does not love. Upon her train arrival to the mountains, Teddy's vacation comes to a bad start leading to constant quarrels with Chick Kirkland (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), a young man whose ambition to become a lawyer by earning extra money as both waiter and bus driver. Chick resents the ill treatment from customers who feel they are always right, while Teddy resents Chick's temperamental treatment towards her. Eventually Teddy and Chick come to terms until a misunderstanding and rumors of Teddy spending the entire night in a cabin with Miriam's (Lucille Ball) beau, "Buzzy" Armbruster (Lee Bowman), puts further friction in their brief relationship. Other members of the large list of cast credits include: Peggy Conklin (Fay Coleman, Teddy's friend); Eve Arden (Henrietta); Dorothea Kent (Maxine); Donald Meek (P.U. Rogers, manager of the resort); Allan Lane ("Mac"); Clarence Wilson, among others.

Red Skelton, who would later win fame and popularity in musical-comedies for MGM in the 1940s, and later on his television variety show, plays a comical social director who manages to throw in some of his comic routines for good measure, ranging from his method of dunking donuts to climbing up and down the stairs. Although funny to the guests and workers at the resort, Skelton's routines just don't appear to register well as they formerly did to contemporary viewers. Future television personalities as Lucille Ball and Eve Arden are almost unidentifiable, especially when speaking in strong Bronx accents, and Eve wearing horn-rim glasses.

For a Ginger Rogers solo effort, which are usually clocked anywhere between 80 to 90 minutes, HAVING WONDERFUL TIME is relatively short (70 minutes), playing more like a second feature presentation rather than a major "A" comedy. Its a wonder how much was deleted considering the fact that actress/dancer Ann Miller's name comes after Red Skelton's in some theatrical lobby cards, yet her character role of Vivian doesn't appear to be seen anywhere in the finished product. There are songs, including "My First Impression of You" (sung by Betty Jane Rhodes) and "Nighty Night" by Charles Tobias, Sammy Stept and Bill Livingston, which are easily forgettable. Considering the locale of Camp Kare- Free, it's a wonder how this production might have turned out had it been a Fred and Ginger musical/comedy instead, retaining its CAREFREE title already used for their other 1938 musical consisting an entirely different plot altogether.

As much as Rogers worked so well with Astaire, and other leading men of her day, including Dick Powell, James Stewart or George Brent, for some reason, she doesn't register well with Douglas Fairbanks Jr., who seems out of place here. Possibly newer RKO Radio performers as James Ellison or Lee Bowman might have been better suited, although their names were hardly those to draw a large theater crowds. The major weakness to HAVING WONDERFUL TIME is the revised treatment by its author probably due to certain scenes that couldn't be used for the screen version due to the production code. The story starts off well, but once it set at Camp Karefree, it becomes weak, especially the typically love-hate relationship between Rogers and Fairbanks, followed by Rogers endlessly playing backgammon as the guests in another cabin are heard repeatedly singing "Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho," that grows tiresome after awhile.

Formerly available on video cassette in the 1980s accompanied by a second Ginger Rogers feature, CARNIVAL BOAT (1932) on the same tape, HAVING WONDERFIL TIME did show up regularly on American Movie Classics prior to 2001, and occasionally turns up from time to time on Turner Classic Movies. As much as the movie fails to have its wonderful time with its quota of big laughs, the casting of future TV personalities as Lucille Ball, Eve Arden or Red Skelton early in their careers would be sole reasons for viewing this light comedy today. (**1/2)

Ginger Rogers is Thelma, a secretary seeking rest and relaxation at a Catskill resort in "Having Wonderful Time," also starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Lee Bowman, Eve Arden, Jack Carson, Lucille Ball and Michael (Red) Skelton.

Uptight Rogers arrives at the resort and gets off on the wrong foot with Chick, a law student working as a waiter (Fairbanks). Eventually they discover they really like each other, but when Thelma expects a proposal from Chick, she gets a proposition instead and blows her stack. On the rebound, she picks up with fast Buzzy (Bowman), who's been staked out by Miriam (Ball). Complications arise.

"Having Wonderful Time" is light entertainment that has nothing special about it except its talented young cast. Rogers is fine as the more serious, less flirtatious woman in a group of love-mad girls.

Fairbanks is fantastic, using a completely different persona from other films. He sports an American accent and comes across as a brusque handsome hunk rather than a British gentleman.

Eve Arden's New York accent is over the top but she's funny as a resort guest, and comedy and slapstick are provided by pretty Lucille Ball and Red Skelton, who gets to do a couple of comedy routines.

All in all good fun from RKO and recommended.

This is a great timeless romantic story. Hollywood should remake this movie! One interesting point, is that the movie ends abruptly at the camp and many of the "dating" themes should have been more deeply explored in the script.

That said, a star studded cast of 1938 with many of the great stars in their early part of their careers. A wonderful, heart warming moving about falling in love.