Peach-O-Reno

Into the third year of the Wheeler-Woolsey partnership with RKO, this little gem, running at just over an hour, gives us Wattles and Swift, the divorce lawyers (with a bus laid on to ferry likely divorces from the railway) who just happen to run a casino by night (!).

To get himself out of a scrape with a vengeful gun totin' husband, Bert Wheeler dolls up as the silliest drag act you'll ever see (Mae West had nothing on this blonde broad!); little Dorothy Lee gets to join him in another great song n' tap routine; and Robert Woolsey chomps cigars and makes his usual line of lecherous wisecracks. Watch out for a wonderful number mid-way where the boys dance together with Bert still dragged up; and a useful way to store those casino chips! Really funny...

Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey are divorce lawyers in Reno. Joseph Cawthorne and Cora Witherspoon come to town, each seeking a divorce from the other. Their daughters, Dorothy Lee and Zelma O'Neal, show up too.

This is the basic idea of the movie. It seems to be among Wheeler & Woolsey's most chaotic movies. This is not necessarily a bad thing, since they break into song, dance, and drag every few minutes.

Interest in Wheeler & Woolsey has declined in recent decades. Woolsey's death age 50 in 1938 goes a long way to explaining it; compared to the longevity of the Marx Brothers, this pair, created for the stage version of Rio Rita, had a ten-year run, and it was over. Wheeler.

Wheeler and Woolsey were popular comics from the late Twenties to Woolsey's early death in the late Thirties. They dealt heavily in wordplay and bad puns, and were generally charlatans; Woolsey's remarks have a strong Groucho tinge to them. They're certainly corrupt in this 1931 confection, directed, inevitably, by William A. Seiter, where they're divorce lawyers by day and casino operators at night. (There's a fun sequence of their office converting into a gambling parlor, echoed in 1964's "Robin and the Seven Hoods.") When long-married Joseph Cawthorn and Cora Witherspoon arrive in Reno seeking a divorce, they take both cases, and for reasons not worth going into, Wheeler is forced to go into drag. The surprise is, he's actually a rather attractive woman! He gets the look, the voice, and walk right and even does an acrobatic pas de deux with Woolsey. The couple's daughters, Zelma O'Neal and the always adorable Dorothy Lee, arrive in Reno to try to prevent the divorce, and a few more plot shenanigans happen before Wheeler and Lee, who were usually partnered and always worked well together, stop the proceedings for a terrific song-and-dance number about how the path from Niagara to Reno is growing shorter. It's a discombobulated movie, the beginning not having much to do with the end, and yes, there are groaners among the jokes. But at just over an hour, it doesn't wear out its welcome, and you'll positively marvel at Wheeler's drag act.

Perhaps DIPLOMANIACS is their unsung classic, while COCKEYED CAVALIERS might be considered their most lushly produced. There is much to be found in HALF SHOT AT SUNRISE; KENTUCKY KERNELS; THE NITWITS; and HIPS! HIPS! HOORAY!, but for my money, PEACH O'RENO is my favorite Wheeler & Woolsey picture. I never knew about these two, but after my Dad mentioned that they had been his boyhood favorites, I took a close look at their stuff. The first thing that hooked me was the music, for in most of their work, there is at least one terrific song, usually performed by the unsung, underrated genius Bert Wheeler, and his very pretty, very unpretentious partner, Dorothy Lee. Wheeler was not just a good comic and good dancer, he was a clever, gifted dancer, and an inspired, original comedian. A notable 1920s "star of tomorrow," Bert Wheeler's singing was just a fabulous extra. When we are lucky, the songs in his pictures are extended by way of a comic verse for Bob Woolsey, a rather wacky character man who will confuse many until they realize that despite the glasses and the ever present cigar, he is not George Burns. The two were teamed by the legendary Flo Ziegfeld for RIO RITA, and they came along as part of the package when RKO filmed it, with Dorothy Lee selected by Wheeler himself (she appeared as part of the team 13 times). PEACH is that type of film you always hope you'll find along the way – a picture you can recommend to anyone and you can depend on a positive reaction. PEACH can be compared, foot for foot, to any of the best Marx Brothers, I think it is that funny, that unexpected, and that entertaining. Just simply accept Wheeler & Woolsey as Divorce Attorneys, and you too can buy into this inspired satire on the divorce game in Reno, circa early Depression. Divorce? Well, you bet this is pre-code, and when these lawyers need to hire a correspondent, they just dress up Bert Wheeler, who will amaze you with this brilliant turn. Not content to merely parade or mimic, Bert's naughty, slightly debauched femme fatal should place him among America's comedic giants. There have been good drag acts on film, but very few have offered the detailed, inspired, finely-tuned portrayal served up here! In addition, Wheeler taps, the music is fun, the supporting cast is uniformly game and marvelous, the W & W schtick (trick settings, trick costumes, trick photography) is often a delight, the script is crackling, and although her best lines were cut by the censors way back when, we get a rare appearance by Broadway great Zelma O'Neal (GOOD NEWS; FOLLOW THRU!) as Woolsey's opposite.

The family of Joseph Cawthorn (Joe) and Cora Witherspoon (Aggie) are sitting down to a meal to celebrate their 25 years of marriage. Included at the family meal are the couple's daughters Dorothy Lee (Pru) and Zelma O'Neal (Pansy). Well, shortly after a toast to the happy couple, things descend into all-out warfare with the parents vowing to divorce and heading to Reno as quickly as possible to make it a reality. Cue W + W who specialize in divorcing couples. They have a rival company that works across the road - Jackson, Jackson, Jackson & Jackson - and there is an ongoing one-upmanship for business. W + W have the upper hand as they arrange for busloads of customers to be collected from the train station as soon as the unhappily married individuals arrive in Reno. Both Joseph and Cora arrive at the office of W + W but their daughters chase after them as they don't want the divorce to go through. Will things end happily? Well, what do you think?

It's a comedy with a couple of entertaining dance segments that includes a catchy song performed by Wheeler and Lee, but it is the dancing that really entertains. Watch Lee - she is brilliant! The dance performed by W + W is also very entertaining. I've watched a few W & W comedies and this is my favourite so far. Wheeler makes a very good woman in drag - I usually hate films where men dress up as women but Wheeler pulls it off on this offering and is funny with it.

Their lawyer business turns into a successful nightclub in the evenings with the push of various buttons and female office administrators becoming nightclub hostesses. It is very impressive. And funny. Unfortunately, some of their jokes are too obvious and the end courtroom sequence is too drawn out so falls a bit flat after the good work that had been done up to that point.