Category Archives: Anecdotes

It Had to Happen (1936)

It Had to Happen9Yippee! I have moved away from the year 1935 and will now continue this series with 1936, a year in which Rosalind Russell made 4 films. The first of those four is called It Had to Happen co-starring George Raft. Roz was known for being a practical joker in those days, whether they were pranks pulled on her co-stars or later on her own husband. While she was making this movie with Raft, they made a football bet. Her team lost and she had to pay up. So she did—by delivering a huge bag filled with pennies to his doorstep. Well, hey, as long as it added up to what she owed him, right?

When I watch It Had to Happen, the first thing I notice is the difference in height between the two stars (actually, lack thereof). George Raft was 5’7” and Rosalind Russell was about 5’8”. It Had to Happen8Throughout the film, it looks a little bit awkward that Roz is playing love scenes with a man who just wasn’t tall enough for her. In some scenes, I am almost sure he must be wearing lifts to seem a bit taller, although it doesn’t help his case much. But I am also not overly critical of this movie. I like it and enjoy it. I believe Rosalind and George got along with each other in real life and although it appeared awkward when they were dancing, the chemistry is not nonexistent.

The film opens on a ship going to the United States and Rosalind Russell, playing Beatrice Newnes, is shown being interviewed by scads of reporters. She is called “the richest girl in the world,” as farfetched as that sounds, and is constantly being questioned about who she will marry. It Had to Happen7She thinks it’s all fun and games as she smiles and answers their question while carrying her dog in her arms. However, when they ask her about a man named Rodman Drake, a man she left at the altar, she says emphatically, “That is a question I cannot answer,” and runs off. When she goes down into the steerage area, she meets Enrico Scaffa (George Raft) for the first time. She stands next to him as she tells the person in charge her information, and he stares at her the entire time without blinking. She doesn’t even notice and turns around, walking away, breaking her heel in the process. Enrico walks over and hands her the purse she left behind. It Had to HappenHe picks up her heel as well and a funny thing happens as she trips and falls, then he does the same and falls on top of her. Embarrassed, she quickly gets up and runs away from him. Clumsily, she has to keep picking up her things that she repeatedly drops along the way.  This has to be mentioned because Rosalind Russell was known for her comedy skills. Maybe she wasn’t known for them at this point in her career, but as her skills were honed in small, subtle scenes like this,  it is interesting to see how they blossomed as time passed.It Had to Happen5

Enrico and his pal Giuseppe Badjagaloupe (Leo Carrillo)are immigrants coming to the U.S. for the first time to get work. I must mention here that the spelling of Giuseppe’s supposedly Italian last name shows some ignorance in movies back then. I am no expert on the Italian language, but I do know that no Italian name would be spelled in this way. What they did was spell it the way it sounded to them. I have always found this strange and not very authentic. But you can’t always expect authenticity from a black and white film from 1936. Enrico and Giuseppe eventually get a job in construction. They make it a point to show that Enrico lets people walk all over them because he doesn’t like fights, but it doesn’t take long before the bullying American workers rile him up. It Had to Happen4By the time he and Giuseppe are working in construction and he is given the “honor” of holding up the red flag which stops traffic, he suddenly feels differently. It is also here that he meets Bea again. They haven’t seen each other since the boat, but he notices her and hands her the heel she dropped. Absolutely bowled over by the fact that he still had it with him, Bea explodes with peals of laughter. Rico yells at everyone who barks at him for stopping up traffic, including the mayor, who usually has special privileges. When Rico’s boss calls him a “dumb foreigner” for yelling at the mayor, Rico responds with a punch to the boss’s jaw. Now that Rico has been fired, the mayor snatches him and his pal up to work with him in politics, admiring Rico’s attitude. It Had to Happen3It doesn’t take long for Rico to become well known in politics as he keeps getting promoted and has a talent for getting important people out of trouble without doing anything illegal. He is an honest man and makes sure others know it.

Rico learns about a problem at a trust company where $4 million were embezzled out of the bank. The man behind this is Rodman Drake. Rico goes to his house, where he finds that the man has married Bea, the woman Rico has loved ever since he saw her on that boat. Bea recognizes him right away and acts very indifferently to him because he keeps showing up in her life. It Had to Happen6As she plays the piano in the living room, she keeps looking back at Rico, very wary of his presence. She soon learns what has happened at the company and that if Drake doesn’t give Rico the $4 million to put into the trust company himself, Drake will be indicted.

Back at Rico’s office, he has a secretary named Miss Sullivan (Arline Judge) who is clearly in love with her boss. However, she becomes jealous when Bea arrives at the office and she realizes Rico’s infatuation with her. After Bea promises Rico he will get the money to get her husband out of trouble, he constantly tries to ask her for a date, which she refuses each time. It Had to Happen2Finally, at the horse track, he bets her that if his horse wins the race, she has to go out with him. If her horse wins, he has to stop asking her. She agrees and after she excitedly sees her horse, Queen Anne, win, he sadly shakes her hand and with a tip of his hat, he takes his leave. Before he knows it, that evening, Bea has shown up at his apartment. Feeling sorry for him, she asks him out on a date herself. They go out on the town, dancing and drinking champagne all night. ItHadToHappen4The date ends with them sitting outside, looking at the moon, which Bea swears there are two of (too much champagne). When she gets home from the date, she realizes she is in love with him. She also finds her husband has come home again after being away in Cuba, running away from the scandal he is caught up in. She tells him she wants a divorce because she is in love with another man. He refuses and she relents, telling Rico she needs to stay with her husband because he doesn’t have anyone else or any prospects.

ItHadToHappen54However, Bea can’t stay away from Rico and eventually agrees to marry him after she has divorced her current husband. But when a group of crooked men start to make it look like Rico stole the $4 million from the trust company, he is suddenly in big trouble. By his lawyer’s advice, he decides to flee to Canada for a while and he wants Bea to come with him. She refuses to go anywhere with him, saying he is doing exactly what her husband did. ItHadToHappen101She tells him, “I thought I fell in love with a man. Sorry. My mistake.” This is a brutal blow to any male’s ego and Rico goes to the hearing and tells them exactly what happened—that he did everything honestly and only so the stockholders at the bank won’t lose their money because of some crooked man like Rodman Drake. The judge understands that Rico has caused no harm and lets him go. ItHadToHappen125Rico immediately runs over to Bea’s apartment, bursts into her bedroom, and pulls her out of bed, yelling at her that she will love him and marry him. It is almost as if he is ordering her to do so and surprisingly enough, she likes this kind of treatment and smiles at him as he tells her to kiss him… and again… and again.

This is a fairly good romance even if there some things that I found ridiculous. It is definitely worth a watch, especially for Rosalind Russell fans because this is one of her more rare movies.

 IMDB page for It Had to Happen

TCM overview of the film

The Casino Murder Case (1935)

rosalind russell paul lukas casino murder case on the set
Rosalind Russell and Paul Lukas filming a scene for The Casino Murder Case (1935)

“It was so bad, and I was so bad in it, that it gave my maid Hazel ammunition for seasons to come,” writes Rosalind Russell about the 1935 film The Casino Murder Case and her role in it. “’If you don’t behave,’ she’d say, ‘I’m going to tell people about that Casino Murder Case.’” This film was Russell’s first chance at a romantic lead, but it was forced upon her. She didn’t feel ready for leads, but she had to do it.

rosalind russell casino murder case
Rosalind Russell in The Casino Murder Case (1935)

The film stars Paul Lukas, who has a heavy Hungarian accent, and plays Philo Vance, previously played with great success by William Powell and once by Basil Rathbone. There were many film adaptations of the “murder cases” of Philo Vance, but it is difficult to say why they would cast someone like Paul Lukas in the role in 1935. He did not have the grace and charm that William Powell had, and because the character of Philo Vance was a New York city crime buster, it seems odd they would cast someone from Hungary.

The film revolves around an eccentric, dysfunctional family and the strange things that keep happening to them. We first see the matriarch of the family at an auction, bidding on worthless junk with the aid of her secretary/companion Doris (Rosalind Russell).

rosalind russell casino murder case
Rosalind Russell in The Casino Murder Case (1935)

Mrs. Llewellyn (Alison Skipworth) is outbid by Philo on an awful statue of Cupid, which he proceeds to break into pieces right outside the auction house. He had earlier received a letter that said in part that Lynn Llewellyn, Mrs. Llewellyn’s son, would experience an “awful tragedy” if he doesn’t act quickly. He is immediately intrigued by Doris and even offers to carry the purchases for her, but she tells him she doesn’t trust him (after seeing him break the Cupid) and leaves. Philo shows up at the Llewellyn house and this is when we first meet the rest of the family. First, there is Virginia (Louise Henry), who is married to Lynn (Donald Cook), but wants to leave the stuffy old house and go back to show business, which the elder Mrs. Llewellyn forbids. Next we have Amelia (Isabel Jewell), who is a sad young woman who feels she’ll never leave the big house, although she is engaged to a doctor who also lives there; she usually has a drink in her hand and drinks her sorrows and troubles away. Also there is Mr. Kinkaid (Arthur Byron), Mrs. Llewellyn’s brother who is completely uninterested in the goings-on most of the time. Besides a few other servants, there is Becky (Louise Fazenda), a funny, snooping maid who seems to have an opinion about everything.

After Philo Vance leaves the house after meeting everyone, Doris is leaving for some errands and he offers to give her a lift.

rosalind russell louise fazenda casino murder case
Rosalind Russell and Louise Fazenda in The Casino Murder Case (1935)

As they cheerfully drive down the road, Doris informs him that she knows he isn’t taking her to the library like she asked. He tells her it’s true, that he wants to take her back to his apartment to meet the district attorney about some trouble involving the Llewellyn family. One important thing to note about this scene is the wacky and wonderful way Rosalind opens her eyes wide, looks at him out of the corner of her eye, or rolls her eyes in reaction to something he has said. It is clear that even at this early point in her career, she was destined for comedy. She was already a master of funny facial expressions.

 paul lukas rosalind russell casino murder case
Paul Lukas and Rosalind Russell in The Casino Murder Case (1935)

In a later scene, Doris accompanies Philo to the casino, and Lynn asks her to please go back to the house to quiet things between Virginia and his mother, as they were usually bickering. When she goes back to the house, it is looming with creepy shadows and while she gets Philo on the phone, something extraordinary happens. Virginia has been poisoned there at the house, and at the same time, so has her husband back at the casino. Although Lynn survives the murder attempt, Virginia does not.  Later, Mrs. Llewellyn is found dead by a gunshot wound with a note by her side, admitting that she killed her daughter-in-law, Virginia. It is at this point that I glimpse a bit of bad acting on Rosalind’s part. She stands at the top of the stairs, puts her hand dramatically to her head, and screams out hysterically before fainting.

paul lukas rosalind russell casino murder case
Paul Lukas and Rosalind Russell in The Casino Murder Case (1935)

Although that is technically a dramatic part of the story, I laugh because it is ridiculous the way she does it. But it is likely Rosalind would not defend herself on this point because she thought she was rather bad in the movie.

Rosalind Russell provides a rather youthful female partner for Paul Lukas, who, at almost 44 years old, was 16 years older than her. Truthfully, I do not see the two as a plausible couple and do not see the chemistry radiating off of them in any of the (few) romantic scenes. And on another truthful note, it is revealed that the murder attempts on the Llewellyn family had something to do with something called “heavy water” and it appears Mr. Kinkaid is behind it. If heavy water, which has a larger than normal amount of the hydrogen isotope “deuterium”, is consumed in large quantities, it can result in death. Mostly, this film’s story is rather boring. Without the charm and charisma of a William Powell-type actor, the main character comes off bland, and the chemistry between the two romantic leads is almost nonexistent, which doesn’t help matters. I do not highly recommend this film. I would rather recommend one of the earlier film adaptations of the Philo Vance cases, especially the William Powell versions. However, if you are as big a fan of Rosalind Russell as I am and you must see it, then definitely do so!

casino murder case poster
Poster for The Casino Murder Case (1935)

My favorite in my hometown…

Hello, folks…



Say, have you ever eaten something so delicious that you feel angels in heaven are dancing in your mouth? That it’s purely paradise?! I feel like that right now. Ben & Jerry’s just came out with a new ice cream flavor, Red Velvet Cake. It is amazing. Go ahead and try it if you live in the United States 🙂 I eat a red velvet cake for my birthday every single year. That’s how in love with it I am. I realize that this is a bit off-topic for my blog, but I digress.

I don’t know how you feel about your favorite actor/actress (I am not going to assume it is Rosalind Russell just because you follow my blog!), but I absolutely delight in the fact that Roz has actually visited (no matter how accidental) the town in which I live. I’ll forever remember the story I read in a newspaper archive from 1935, I believe. She was on her way to Agua Caliente, which is right near the border of California and Mexico. However, she was driving herself down there from Los Angeles and she had a bit of car trouble. I distinctly remember her being quoted as stopping in “a little village called Vista” as she was running out of gas. She coasted her car down a big hill until she reached a small gas station. The gas station clerk asked her for the money to pay to fill up her car with gasoline. Another problem though—Roz did not have any money with her. So what did she do? She told the clerk who she was (no, that doesn’t always get you 100% out of things) and gave the clerk her fur stole as a “down payment” for the gas. I imagine since she gave a down payment (collateral?!) for her gas, she gave the money later? Or did she let the clerk keep her fur stole as a souvenir of meeting Rosalind Russell? Haha.

I laugh to myself every time I think of the “little village” of Vista that she ended up in. I have not been living in Vista very long (although I did live here and go to school here when I was very young), but I love this town and the fact that Roz, my idol, got lost here is so funny. No matter if she is acting on the screen or not, Roz never fails to amuse me. By the way, Vista is no little village anymore! Practically any town in the county of San Diego in southern California would not be considered a village because there are too many people here (and too many people who want to live here). But I can’t help but think of this little anecdote when I pass a heavily trafficked street in Vista called Vista Village Drive. I think… Was Roz in this area? Where was that little gas station? Trivial things, but fun.



My dear Vista “Village”
If you have any stories like this (because I’m sure we all idolize someone famous…), please tell me! And share with all of us… I’d love to hear it.

I’ll go back to the paradise that is in this carton of ice cream now… It was nice to write something to all of you… Thank you to Renata for inspiring me again… I just may try writing a film review and see how that goes!


P.S. I should share some more stories about Roz’s mishaps with automobiles, haha.
Take care, friends! <3 

The Story Behind "One Hundred Easy Ways"

An interesting story behind the creation of the song One Hundred Easy Ways from Roz’s Broadway musical Wonderful Town! Written by Roz herself:

“Right now I want to tell you about how one of the Bernstein-Comden-Green songs in the show, One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man, came to be written.

When Wonderful Town was in its tryout period on the road, before the Broadway opening, I suggested the trio write me a number about the fact that I couldn’t get a man. ‘It will help the audience understand the character I am trying to interpret,’ I said.

They looked puzzled. ‘You mean a blues song?’

‘Not a blues song,’ I explained. ‘That’s when you’ve had your man and he’s done left you. Maybe it will help if I tell you something about me. When I was a girl, I’d go to a football game with a boy and say, ‘The next play is going to be an end run,’ and he’d say, ‘You’re crazy. It’ll be a forward pass.’ Then they’d run an end, and I’d never see him again. Or I’d go out in a jalopy with a boy, and it would stall. He’d get out and open the hood. ‘I think it’s the carburetor,’ he’d say. ‘It’s not! It’s dirt on the points,’ I’d argue. ‘I’ll fix it.’ I never saw him again! On the porch or in the parlor a boy would put his arm around me and say, ‘Roz, you certainly are attractive.’ I’d cross my eyes and say, ‘Are you kidding?’ I never saw him again either. That kind of song.’

A few days later they were back with One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man. I knew it was show-stopper after hearing the first few lines.

I really understood the role of the girl in the song that Bernstein, Comden and Green wrote. I have suffered more at the hands of men than any five girls I know, but while suffering I’ve learned a few facts about the beast. I made my first discoveries in this area of life when I was a scrawny, freckle-faced six-year-old in my home town of Waterbury, Connecticut. I found that males are not as hot stuff and as omnipotent as they think they are.”

Here is the song from the show and you’ll see how funny it is (I posted it on YouTube a while back):