The Meanest Gal in Town

A small town barber hires a flirtatious out of work actress as his new manicurist - much to the chagrin of his longtime girlfriend.

Undeservedly obscure, THE MEANEST GAL IN TOWN boasts plenty of pre-Production Code sauciness and several funny performances. It is a good example of a very competent little comedy which fell through the cracks into movie limbo.

At the heart of the film, ZaSu Pitts & El Brendel make unlikely, but completely compatible, comedic companions. Fluttery fingered & vague, Miss Pitts brings her considerable experience into playing a businesswoman who is very tired of waiting ten years for her beau to propose marriage. Gentle, good-natured dialect comedian Brendel - the Swedish accent was fake - enlivened a handful of early 1930's films with his genial humor. He was always enjoyable to watch and his performance here is no exception, as he portrays a fellow whose greatest ambition is to have enough clients to enable him to add a second barber chair to his shop.

James Gleason scores as the local ladies' man, always ready with the sly innuendo. Pert Kelton practically steals the show as the flirty tart who knows how to get exactly what she wants from most men. Skeets Gallagher is perfect as the brash salesman who almost trumps her ace.

Movie mavens will recognize John Carradine as a stranded actor, Robert McKenzie as a hotel manager, Harry Holmes as the mayor & Vera Lewis as a lady at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon - all uncredited.

Although perky Pert Kelton is billed second to ZaSu Pitts, she's the one the title refers to. She plays an actress, stranded when the manager of her troupe absconded with the funds. Asked by a fellow actress what she is going to do, she responds "Don't worry, I'll wiggle my way out of this one," as she wiggles her derriere walking out of the door. This was the first of many sexual innuendos within the film, released early in 1934, before the Hays Office started really cracking down on violations of the Production Code that July. Even so, I was surprised to hear the expression "cop a feel," used by "Skeets" Gallagher, when he asks a woman to place her hand on his breast to feel his heart beating. Kelton is not mean as much as she is wily, building up El Brendel's barbershop business as a manicurist, by enticing men to come in, and causing much jealousy from ZaSu Pitts, who has been courted by Brendel for ten years. Because of Kelton, this film was an enjoyable romp; without her, it would have been a flat, unfunny comedy.

Chris Peterson (El Brendel) is an unsuccessful barber in a small town. His fiancée of ten years is Tillie Prescott (Zasu Pitts), a hardworking woman who just can't wait to get married. Chris wants to prove he is successful by obtaining a second chair in his barber shop before tying the knot, but Tillie is impatient. She is constantly taken advantage of by Chris and she feels she is the real brain behind the couple. This proves to be false when she falls prey to a business scam. Meanwhile Chris's business starts booming when an actress (Pert Kelton) takes up shop as a manicurist to make some extra money. Her wiggling hips make the shop a hot spot for the local men.

A fun movie with a cast of unknowns, The Meanest Gal in Town is not likely to show up outside of film conventions and collector's homes, but it is an enjoyable film. Brendel makes use of his simpleton Swedish character and provides much of the comedy. Some people hate him; I love him. He is sweet and rather funny, illustrated by scenes like the opener where he strums a ukulele and sings with the accompaniment of a howling dog. Pitts is more likable here than in some of her other movies. In spite of Brendel's sweetness, it is difficult not to root for Pitts too, especially when Chris treats Tillie badly.

This 1934 film had to be one of the very last films to slip by before the production code went into effect! Although set in a small town with mostly middle-aged performers (well, middle-aged for the 1930's, everyone's at least in their mid 30's) this has some of the raciest lines and situations you will hear. The title is a bit of a misnomer, it could only be referring to Pert Kelton's scheming little floozy, but she's not mean, just using men for suckers. She's among a group of performers touring in a play who are left stranded when their manager runs off with the funds and leaves them stranded and locked out of the hotel unable to get their items. The movie could care less what happens to the other members of the play, never to be seen again with the exception of one in a brief appearance. The broke group sits in woe about their situation but Pert is nonplussed, saying she's going on the town. "Whatcha gonna do walk the streets all night?" someone asks. Well, that's one possibility but she's not quite going that far, just out for a stroll to vamp the local hicks. Skinflint James Gleason pursues her and even buys her a meal, a stack of pancakes that costs $2.36 to his chagrin. He pays to the penny (no tip of course) and when she leaves a little, he decides to eat the rest himself since he paid for them. She tells him she's not allowed to return to her hotel, so he lifts her up to climb in a back window and hops in himself with the promise he can join her in her room for a game of "cards". Once inside and at her room door, she tells him alas she has no cards, so he hurries down to the hotel lobby to buy some (two packs for a dollar, seems high for the era when magazines were often just ten cents). He returns to her door and knocks but she tells him she's already in bed, but she guesses he can come in - which of course delights him only to open the door and find she is indeed in bed - with her mother (actually the seamstress with the traveling company) which of course leads to his fast retreat. It's a funny bit and happens so fast audiences probably had no time to ponder how did this older woman get into the hotel since the whole company was locked out and certainly there was no time for her to get in and dressed for bed in the brief moments Gleason went down to the lobby to buy some cards.

El Brendel runs a local barber shop that is barely making any money and won't marry his ten-year girlfriend ZaSu Pitts until his business prospers. ZaSu owns a small clothing store that's been in her family for years and makes more money but has sold a share of it to an unscrupulous business who put a clause in the contract where they could take over it which she didn't realize.

Pert tells her sob story to El Brendel who hires her as a manicurist for his shop and her flirty ways cause business to boom but jealous ZaSu now won't have anything to do with him. James Gleason buys the shop from El Brendel to keep tabs on Pert but soon finds he has major competition with seedy traveling salesman Skeets Gallagher.

This movie is not only loaded with discreet blue humor (extended butt shots not only Pert as she walks the street but ZaSu as well as she cranks a car) loaded lines (like my review header, a comment from ZaSu about the history of her family shop) and even some bad taste comedy gags such as Gallagher commenting on his nicked shave and El Brendel receiving unsolicited donations that are rare even in pre-codes and are more like something out brash comedy from recent decades.

This little movie barely runs an hour and boy does it run; a fast-moving sassy work played to the hilt by all. While tilted toward Pert Kelton who is terrific, she gets a real run for the money from Skeets Gallagher as a BS artist every bit her match. It's surprising this film does not have a bigger reputation among the fans who love saucy pre-codes, perhaps because there's no glamorous movie queen in it (Pert Kelton vamps the local boys but she's really a character actress rather than a glamour girl). The Meanest Girl in Town will probably be the raciest movie of the day on Turner Movie Classics every time it airs.

Zasu Pitts owns a dry goods store. She's engaged to El Brendel, who owns a barber shop that on a good day, there's as much money in the till when he closes as when he opened. Then stranded actress Pert Kelton sets up as manicurist in his shop and business booms. Miss Pitts is jealous, and takes in as partner a big firm fronted by Skeets Gallagher, which Brendel advises against. Gallagher's firm freezes her out.

While I usually enjoy Miss Pitts, as well as James Gleason, who plays a fifth wheel to this plot, Brendel and Miss Kelton annoy me. Add in the general thrust of the film, which is clearly intended for small-town audiences, and this movie does not appeal to me at all. Perhaps it did poorly at the box office; at any rate, it was writer-director Russell Mack's last time wielding the megaphone. He had begun in vaudeville, then went on the legitimate stage as an actor and director. His first movie credit was Rio Rita, and he was on his way for a while. After this movie, he returned to the East Coast, where he managed a theater in Newark, NJ. He died in 1972 at the age of 79.