Ringside Maisie

I have seen many of the Maisie films, and this one was another pleasant entry into the series.

When I watched the first Maisie film, I felt like I was watching Jean Harlow. I later learned that the Maisie character was intended for Jean; however I enjoyed Ann Sothern's performance as the sassy character.

Ann does a great job showing that a woman could handle herself in every situation and always land on her feet. She is smart, sexy, and savvy.

I am so grateful to TCM for showing these films, so that I can get the chance to see them for the first time.

Another enjoyable Maisie movie starring Ann Sothern. This time around Maisie tries to help a young boxer (Robert Sterling, Sothern's future husband) and winds up falling for his jerk of a manager (George Murphy). Why does Maisie always seem attracted to pigs? The old cliché of the guy who is rude to everyone around him and has very particular opinions about women but, gosh darn it, he's "all man" and our heroine just can't help but go weak in the knees when he gives her the slightest bit of attention. One of my pet peeves with this series is that guys like this are always treating Maisie like she's garbage and she always falls for them.

Anyway, it's a decent entry in the series. The subplot about the boxer wanting to open a grocery store amused me. Virginia O'Brien has one of her weird comedy singing numbers. Natalie Thompson makes the most of a minor part as Sterling's girlfriend who has a healthy appetite. Sterling does fine, even in the more challenging dramatic parts. Sothern is perfect, as always. The biggest flaw in the cast is charmless George Murphy, whose lack of charisma makes it impossible to find anything likable about his ogre of a character.

In her fifth role as Maisie Ravier, Ann Sothern walks out of her job as a taxi dancer (dime-a-dance girl) - while she's still able to walk She heads for a resort hotel in the Adirondack Mountains, but gets tossed off the train because she didn't buy a ticket. Hoofing it the 14 or more miles to her destination, she is passed by a young man who's training as a boxer. Terry Dolan's trainer is following along in his car and they give her a ride to the Shady Lawn Hotel at Cedar Lake.

When she doesn't come across with amour for her new dance partner, Ricky Du Prez, she gets canned and doesn't even dance her first number. Terry Dolan, fighting under the assumed name of Young O'Hara, goes home on weekends to visit his mother. He gives Maisie a ride back to the city, and it turns out that mom is elderly and in a wheel chair and needs a companion. So, Maisie gets the job. Terry has a girlfriend, Cecelia Reardon who visits him in training. And, his manager and promoter, Skeets Maguire, is out to make him the next world champion. Only Skeets and Maisie start their acquaintance off with fireworks.

The reason Terry uses an alias for fighting is because he doesn't want his mom to know he's a prizefighter. When his dad died, he left them well-secured with his grocery store. But his mom got swindled by a couple of shysters with an oil stock scam. So, Terry wants to make enough money fighting to be able to buy a grocery store and run it.

The plot is a good one - one of the better of the Maisie series, with good performances by all. It's a natural for some clashes and good drama with just the right amount of comedy worked in. Maisie has one of her best scenes in a brouhaha with Skeets over his stereotyping her as girl on the make, trying to cash in on a fighter. The contrasting personalities of Maisie and Skeets, played well by George Murphy, fit nicely for the romance that will come out of this. And Virginia O'Brien plays herself, as a singer with the band at the Shady Lawn Hotel. She does a hilarious rendition of "A Bird in a Gilded Cage."

The film has some good fight scenes in the ring and a good dramatic ending. Here are some favorite lines.

Skeets Maguire, "Pickin' up yellow-haired mice when you oughtta be doing your roadwork!" Maisie Ravier, "Wait a minute, foul mouth."

Terry Dolan, as boxer, Young O'Hara, "Now, don't be sore at me. C'mon back." Maisie Ravier, "Well, I'm not sore at you, you've been more than nice throughout. But, Gargantua is somethin' else again."

Maisie Ravier, "You listen, tall, dark and bad-mannered. I got no design on your fighters. I have neither the time nor the inclination to take up the part of Cleopatra."

Skeets Maguire, "I can't understand what a wren like you is doing so far from the sidewalks of New York."

Ricky Du Prez, "Whatsa matter, you got a guy you're stuck on?" Maisie, "No, but there's a guy someplace someday I'm gonna be stuck on."

Cecelia Reardon, "The train trip always takes so much out of one." Maisie Ravier,, "Yeah. Here's one they took outta the train."

Terry Dolan, "I, uh, guess you're feeling kind of low, huh?" Maisie Ravier, "I could look a snake in the eye if I had a pair of stilts."

Maisie Ravier,, "You know, it sure means a lot meetin' someone like you - just when I was beginning to think the wolves had taken over the world."

Terry Dolan, ,"He may act tough, but he's all heart." Maisie, "Yeah, well maybe an x-ray would change my mind."

Maisie, "You know, lookin' back on it, I don't think I ever told a lie in my life and really got by with it."

Skeets Maguire, "Say, I'd like to see mom, and I wouldn't mind goin' a couple rounds with the Brooklyn bonfire."

Maisie, "Well, I guessed wrong before, but this is an all-time low."

John Duffy, " I would've thrown the fight rather than have this happen." Mrs. Dolan, "Don't reproach yourself, boy. Just say a little prayer for him." Duffy, "Yes. I will, you bet. I've been doing it ever since they told me."

Skeets Maguire, "Well, so long, Maisie. They don't come any better."

Maisie, "Oh, and me kickin' him when he was down. Oh, can you perform a brain operation on me?"

Skeets, on the phone, "My wife? What does she look like?" Maisie, coming in the door, "A yellow-haired mouse." Skeets, "Maisie!"

Ann Sothern is delightful in her Maisie roles (and in virtually everything she did.) This is an especially charming entry in the series.

It has a few small problems that can be attributed to its time. The flouncy desk clerk is one, but prissy, effeminate desk clerks were a staple of movies for a couple decades. (Alas.)

In a way, the notion that prize fighter Robert Sterling would rather die than continue his life as a blind person is dated, too. But this movie is generally good with disabilities. People are still terrified of blindness, though more is known about it now; and the character of Sterling's mother is in a wheelchair and not treated in at all a condescending fashion.

The idea that a smart, pretty, self-sufficient woman like Sothern's Maisie would chose the (to me) thoroughly unappealing George Murphy over the tender character played by the very handsome Robert Sterling is kind of laughable. And apparently the offscreen Sothern felt that way too, since she and Sterling were married two years after this picture's release.

Ann Sothern is Maisie again in "Ringside Maisie," a 1941 film also starring Robert Sterling and George Murphy. It's possible that this film is where Ms. Sothern met Sterling, her first husband.

The Maisie plots had certain similarities and have to be taken as separate stories, which has always bothered me. It would seem at the end of one film that Maisie had found the man of her dreams, yet in the next film, there would be someone else. Maisie was always the same - a flashy, down in her luck entertainer on her way to a job somewhere, getting stranded, meeting some guy that she hates at first, and then love blooms.

In this entry, the man is George Murphy as Francis, who handles gifted prize fighter Terry Dolan (Sterling). Maisie has a job performing and loses it the same night because she won't sleep with her partner (although obviously that isn't stated). She winds up being a companion to the boxer's mother. Over time, she learns that Dolan wants only to buy a grocery store - he hates fighting and is frightened every time he goes into the ring. With Maisie's encouragement, he confronts Francis, who is also a friend, only to have Francis demand he live up to his contract, with disastrous results.

These movies were, for the most part, very entertaining. Sothern never did anything she didn't shine in, definitely one of the most likable actresses ever - beautiful, warm, funny, always convincing. When her leading woman days were over, she continued her career as a character actress. She was a wonderful star, even if she didn't reach the heights of Jean Harlow or Carole Lombard. She has good support here from the handsome Sterling and the versatile George Murphy.

Good entry into the series.