Penny Wisdom

An MGM PETE SMITH SPECIALITY Short Subject.

When her cook walks out, an incompetent housewife receives PENNY WISDOM in the kitchen only minutes before her hubby's boss comes to dinner.

Pete Smith serves up his special brand of narrative lunacy in this very enjoyable short film which features Prudence Penny, Culinary Columnist for the Los Angeles Examiner. She demonstrates her cooking expertise by producing a delicious ham meal, with baked Alaska for dessert, in a short time. The food looks great in Technicolor.

This little movie, which won the Oscar for Best Short Film of 1937, was a reworking of an earlier Pete Smith short subject, MENU (1933).

Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.

Penny Wisdom (1937)

*** (out of 4)

Fun, Oscar-winning short from Pete Smith tells the story of a housewife who receives a call from her husband saying he's bringing the boss home for dinner. The wife ends up ruining the dinner but have no fear because the famous cook Prudence Penny, from various Chicago newspapers, comes in and shows her how to make a great meal very quickly. This is pretty much a reworked version of Smith's 1933 film Menu but in my opinion this one here is a lot better. Gertrude Short does a pretty good job as the wife as she has a certainly look and style that makes it seem like she'd be the type to ruin a dinner. The uncertain nature of her character is perfectly brought out by Short. Penny does a pretty nice job as well even though she pretty much just has to smile and cook the food. The film being in Technicolor was fairly rare for this type of short but perhaps it helped in the Oscar voting. I guess the best thing to say about the film is that it made me quite hungry while watching it.

The plot involves the hubby inviting the boss home for supper and notifying the wifey only about 2 hours before said supper. She attempts to produce a worthy meal but fails. The evening is saved when a favor is called in and the husband beams with pride, none the wiser about the culinary disaster she created behind the kitchen door.

This movie pays off in this one unforgettable scene--when the hapless housewife douses the family dog, a black cocker spaniel, in spilled flour. She then tries to wash it clean in the kitchen sink and ... Well, I won't spoil this wonderful visual joke.

While other Pete Smith shorts I've found to be rather infantile in content and humor level, such as Dogs 'N Ducks and You Can't Win, this gem, Penny Wisdom (1937) had many charming qualities.

It's the sarcastic commentary from Pete Smith that sells this rather daft short feature. "Mr. Smudge" telephones "Mrs. Smudge" to say that he's bringing his boss round for dinner. That's fine, she's got the best cook in the city. Or does she? It looks like she's been a bit of a pain to her lately and so she has abandoned ship. Cooking can't be that hard, or so she thinks. Some cremated and rock hard roast beef and ice cubes later, the chaos requires the intervention of our narrator and his skilful pal Prudence who'll try to turn this disaster into a triumph. Who knew peanut butter eliminated the taste of burning? Indeed, Prudence is full of great tips to satisfy even the most pernickety of diners. The day is saved! Phew! Good fun, this...

This Oscar-winning "Pete Smith Specialty" short is basically an exercise in gastronomical short-hand, where a society matron – who is helpless in the kitchen – has her proficient but long-suffering cook quit on her right on the night of an important business dinner at home! Since the husband is obviously aware of her ineptitude, he prepares for the worst – but, actually, a professional steps in to save the day by preparing simple but still attractive and palatable dishes. The film is unassuming but reasonably amusing (especially in dealing with the woman's accident-prone nature, to which even the family dog falls victim!), engaging (one might say educational for anyone with a deep-seated culinary interest!) and quite pleasant-looking (being shot in early Technicolor).