She Had to Say Yes
| She Had to Say Yes | |
|---|---|
 Poster | |
| Directed by | George Amy Busby Berkeley |
| Written by | John Francis Larkin (story) Rian James(screenplay) |
| Starring | Loretta Young Winnie Lightner Lyle Talbot Regis Toomey |
| Cinematography | Arthur L. Todd |
| Edited by | George Amy |
| Music by | Leo F. Forbstein |
| Distributed by | First National Pictures |
Release date | July 15, 1933 |
Running time | 63 minutes |
| Country | United States |
She Had to Say Yes is a 1933 Pre-Code film starring Loretta Young; it was directed by George Amy and Busby Berkley. Young plays a department store employee who is paid to date the store's better customers.[1][2] The film was promoted with the teaser, "We apologize to the men for the many frank revelations made by this picture, but we just had to show it as it was filmed. The true story of the working girl."[1]
According to Pre-Code scholar Thomas Doherty, the picture was part of a series of movies that drew inspiration from the "real-life compromises working girls made to get and retain employment" during the Great Depression.[1] A repeated theme during women's pictures in the Depression was the "threat of sexual violation" and the "hard necessity of risking virtue to keep a paycheck".[1] Often women in the Depression were subjected to sexual harassment, and had to endure indignities in a highly competitive job market. Young's character is the victim of unwanted sexual advances when she is sent out on dates with the firm's buyers, and decides to quit her job when her supervisor-boyfriend offers her money to reunite with him.[1] The film received a negative review in The New York Times when it was released.[3]
Plot
Sol Glass (Ferdinand Gottschalk) owns a clothing manufacturing company struggling to survive in the midst of the Great Depression. Like his competitors, Glass employs "customer girls" to entertain out-of-town buyers. However, his clients have become tired of his hard-bitten "gold diggers" and have started taking their business elsewhere. Tommy Nelson (Regis Toomey), one of his salesmen, suggests that they use their stenographers instead. Glass decides to give it a try.
When buyer Luther Haines (Hugh Herbert) sees Tommy's secretary and fiancee, Florence "Flo" Denny (Loretta Young), he wants to take her out. However, Tommy manages to steer him to the curvaceous Birdie (Suzanne Kilborn) instead. Later, with Birdie sick, Tommy reluctantly lets Flo go on a date with another buyer, Daniel "Danny" Drew (Lyle Talbot). They have a nice time together, but she is shocked when she finds out Danny expects sex. A contrite Danny apologizes and tells her that he has fallen in love with her. He has to go on a business trip, but telephones and writes Florence regularly.
Meanwhile, Flo's friend, fellow employee and roommate, Maizee (Winnie Lightner), shows her that Tommy is cheating on her with Birdie. She ends their engagement.
Losing respect for herself, Flo tells Glass that she will not go out with any more buyers. When he threatens to fire her, she quits.
Danny returns and takes Flo to dinner. Then, spotting Haines at another table, he asks her to help convince Haines to sign an important merger contract, the biggest deal of his life. She is disappointed by his request, but agrees to do it. She goes to dinner with Haines, but cleverly arranges with Maizee to have Mrs. Haines show up. Haines has to go along with the pretense that he is conducting business, and signs the contract.
When Haines later complains about Flo's methods, and claims that she and Tommy are living together, Daniel suspects that she is not as innocent as he believed, so he drives her out into the country to the mansion of his friends. Nobody is home, but he coaxes her inside and tries to force himself on her. Flo tries to get away, but finally stops resisting. However, when she asks him if that was all he ever wanted from her, Danny stops before anything happens. She leaves, only to run into Tommy, who had followed the couple. He also believes she is selling herself. Danny, overhearing their conversation, realizes that Flo is innocent, and forces Tommy to apologize. Danny begs her to marry him. After she whispers in his ear, he picks her up and carries her back into the mansion.
Cast
- Loretta Young as Florence Denny
- Winnie Lightner as Maizee
- Lyle Talbot as Daniel Drew
- Regis Toomey as Tommy Nelson
- Hugh Herbert as Luther Haines
- Ferdinand Gottschalk as Sol Glass
- Suzanne Kilborn as Birdie Reynolds
- Helen Ware as Mrs. Haines
Reception
Writing for The New York Times, Frank S. Nugent gave the film a mostly negative review, primarily due to the constant suspicions the two male leads have about Young's character when the film makes it fairly obvious from the beginning that Young's character is virtuous. Nugent added: "The unfortunate part of it is that the picture has some bright lines and threatens, here and there, actually to become amusing. Hugh Herbert and Winnie Lightner wheedled a few laughs from the stranded Strand visitors, but the gayety was short-lived. It would have been a relief to every one if Miss Young had only said "No!"[3]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e Doherty. pg. 131
- ^ She Had to Say Yes, tcm.com, accessed October 12, 2010.
- ^ a b Nugent, Frank S. "She Had to Say Yes" (1933) review The New York Times, July 29, 1933, accessed October 12, 2010
See also
References
- Doherty, Thomas Patrick. Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930-1934. New York: Columbia University Press 1999. ISBN 0-231-11094-4