So You Want to Hold Your Wife

The first portion of this Joe McDoakes short tells us about the terrible statistics concerning divorce. However, when Joe is interviewed on a radio show, he admits that he's considering divorce simply because he cannot get any sleep because his wife snores so loudly. But, he also is warned NOT to tell her as wives NEVER will admit that they snore and it's a no-win situation. So instead he tries to secretly use an anti-snoring device to stop her...with no luck whatsoever. How will this all end? See the film.

This installment is only fair. Better than most of the early ones, by now the films had become goofier and weird...but this one is a bit on the conventional side. It does have a few laughs but is not among the better McDoakes films.

Joe and Alice McDoakes have been married for five years and he now feels put upon and dissatisfied. He tells all to a radio marriage counselor called Mr. Agony who hosts a show called the Hour of Agony. Joe relates two instances where he thinks his wife is being unreasonable. The first instance shows something interesting about stereotypes. Joe, who works in a trucking company office, invites the truck drivers and their wives to a party at his house. They (including the wives) act as drunken louts, all the wives wear tasteless dresses and hats and their manners are crude in the extreme. This depiction of truck drivers was just not funny (I know –it's only a movie). That said, the last two-thirds of the short is indeed funny. The second incident surrounding Thanksgiving dinner plans going awry has one of the best lines ever in a comedy sort. Even though a previous reviewer has already mentioned it, it's worth repeating. Alice and Joe are fighting, she decides to go home to her parents, and he grabs the Thanksgiving turkey, shoves it into the suitcase and says something like "…and you can give the bird to your mother for me." Priceless. Also, the bit about the snoring ball was pretty funny.

The topic is the odds of marital bliss, circa 1947. Joe McDoaks relates what life is like being married to his wife, Alice with a handful of examples (her insensitivity to his party guests, her snoring. The best? After an argument over his wife inviting her family over for Thanksgiving, Joe's wife packs a suitcase to go home to her mother. Joe takes the turkey and stuffs it in her suitcase yelling, "AND YOU CAN GIVE HER THE BIRD FOR ME!" Absolute classic. Jane Harker, who pops up frequently in these Warners' Joe McDoaks shorts is quite a babe. She's quite a contrast to Joe's circle of dentally-challenged friends and co-workers. As a kid of the 60's it's tough reconcile George O'Hanlon's face with George Jetson's voice, but he's a enjoyable comedian and these (mostly) 40's one-reeler's are all watchable.

That statistic cited at the start of this movie may have wobbled a bit in the last decade. When this was made in 1947, George O'Hanlon explains to "Mr. Agony" that his wife, Jane Harker is a moody creature, liable to walk out when George invites all his friends over without warning, or when he objects to her family coming over on what was intended as a private Thanksgiving, and then invites all his family. She's the most unreasonable woman in the world.... and there's worse to come in this funny short subject.

The "Joe McDoakes" series of shorts starring O'Hanlon were the brainchild of Richard L. Bare. 67 were produced between 1942 and 1956. O'Hanlon may be more famous for voicing "George Jetson." Bare went on to direct undistinguished features through the early 1970s, and much episodic TV.... including GREEN ACRES.

Eleven unforgettable minutes of marital woes, Joe McDoakes style. Thank you TCM for showing this golden oldie.

You knew it would come sooner or later, all about Joe and his wife and whether or not they had a good marriage. After five years, it would seem, things were on the down side. So Joe appears on "The Hour of Agony" radio show, a take-off on the famous marriage headed for divorce program hosted by John J. Anthony. Get it? Anthony's show was so popular, he was heard nationwide on 700 radio stations by the late 1930s.

So what's wrong? Joe complains his wife, Alice (played by Jane Harker) is just plain unreasonable, add being a party pooper when it comes when having friends over to the house. I agree, the very BEST of the complaint vignettes is seeing angry Alice pack her bags during a Thanksgiving family dinner -- taking the turkey with her! PS: Alice snores.

Don't miss this one. Jane Harker is funny, co-starring in many of the later McDoakes short films, also appearing in bit roles in film classics, like DECEPTION and NIGHT AND DAY. Look for Ted Stanhope as the shop clerk, a staple in Hal Roach comedies of the 30s, often acting with Thelma Todd.

Remastered by Warner Brothers, now in a complete dvd box set with other series films.