Movie Monday: Christmas in Connecticut

Movie Monday: Christmas in Connecticut

Interestingly, Christmas in Connecticut was released in August 1945. However, according to IMDb, the move was purely strategic, “capitalizing on the post-war euphoria sweeping the nation following the end of World War II…recognizing the potential for success in the immediate post-war period, rather than waiting for the traditional holiday release.” A smart decision – the movie earned $3 million, more of a fortune in those days than now – a was one of the year’s most successful movies.

The movie features Barbara Stanwyck as Elizabeth Lane, a single, lifestyle writer who can’t boil water yet writes a regular column with recipes and homemaking tips and Dennis Morgan as Jefferson Jones, the returning soldier, a hero in the eyes of everyone. Sydney Greenstreet plays the publisher who sees a publicity opportunity and insists Elizabeth host a dinner for our intrepid soldier who has read all of her recipes while in the hospital.

Stanwyck who was orphaned at four years old and raised partially in foster homes, worked from a very

young age. At sixteen, she was selected as one of Ziegfield’s chorus girls. She moved into acting and the 1927 play Burlesque made her a Broadway star. Two years later she moved to Hollywood where Frank Capra chose her for his romantic drama Ladies of Leisure. She did well and by the late 1930s was a sought-after actress, and by 1944, she was the highest-paid actress in the US.

Dennis Morgan, not often remembered, yet an actor who appeared in dozens of films, got his start as a singer with a troupe in Chicago. He also spent some time as a radio announcer before moving to Hollywood in 1936 where he almost immediately found work with MGM, then Paramount who cast him as a leading man. Warner Brothers signed him as a contract player which was typical for the time and kept him busy.

British-born Sydney Greenstreet went into acting at the age of 61 and is probably best remembered for his roles in The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, and Passage to Marseille. He’d only been in Hollywood for four years when he appeared in Christmas in Connecticut, a “witty performance” according to one source. Making another eleven films, he would retire in 1949.

The movie is referred to by most sources as a screwball comedy which is probably accurate as reality must be suspended for most of the film’s duration. However silly, Christmas in Connecticut is warm and endearing and a feel-good flick worth watching. The remake in 1992 that doesn’t quite hit the mark, stars Dyan Cannon and Kris Kristofferson as the romantic couple, and Tony Curtis as her publisher with an update that has the “fraudulent homemaker as an actress…making a reality TV show.” I’d give it a miss.
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The American World War II Home Front in 29 Objects:

Unlike Europe the American mainland escaped physical devastation during World War II as it was not subjected to full-scale invasions. However, that didn’t mean the United States wasn’t impacted by the war. The ramifications of large economic, cultural, and societal changes forced Americans to reconsider entrenched beliefs and traditions.

Artifacts collected from across the nation tell the stories of the American people whose lives were shaped by this second “war to end all wars,” World War II.

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Photo Credits:
Movie poster: Theatrical Release Poster
Stills: Courtesy Warner Brothers

Movie Monday: Christmas in Connecticut

Movie Monday: Christmas in Connecticut

In late 1944 and into the early months of 1945 as it became apparent to Hollywood that World War II would soon be over, writers began to plot stories that featured returning servicemen. Some of the films were dramas, others such as Christmas in Connecticut, comedies. In fact, some critics have called the movie a “screwball comedy.”

Despite being a holiday film, producers released the movie in August 1945, benefitting from the “post-war euphoria that gripped America,” (IMDB), and it grossed between three and four million dollars on a budget of $864,000. Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, and Sidney Greenstreet, the movie is the brainchild of Aileen Hamilton, a jack-of-all-trades who was a screenwriter, dancer, singer, actress, and costume designer. Bette Davis was originally cast as the female lead, and Reginald Gardiner as the male lead. Gardiner was eventually given the role of the owner of the farm and the lead given to Morgan.

The plotline described by Rotten Tomatoes:

“While recovering in a hospital, war hero Jefferson Jones grows familiar with the Diary of a Housewife

column written by Elizabeth Lane. Jeff’s nurse arranges with Elizabeth’s publisher for Jeff to spend the holiday at Elizabeth’s bucolic Connecticut farm with her husband and child. But the column is a shame, so the publisher hastens to arrange a publicity ploy by setting up single, non-domestic Elizabeth on a country farm.”

Foibles, misunderstandings, and confusion combine to create a rom-com worthy of Nora Ephron or Garry Marshall. Stanwyck and Morgan have great on-screen chemistry and by the time they filmed Christmas in Connecticut had dozens of movie roles under their belts. As a contract player Morgan was cast in both supporting and headliner roles. Stanwyck who would eventually appear in nearly one hundred movies, got her start in entertainment early in life when she became a chorus girl in speakeasies as a teenager. She eventually became a Ziegfield girl and was given her first stage role by Willard Mack, and at some point, moved to Hollywood where she picked up bit parts. Being cast as the lead in Frank Capra’s Ladies of Leisure was her breakout role. In the 1950s she added television roles to her busy film career.

Have you seen this feel-good holiday movie?

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A Lesson in Love (The Strength of His Heart Limited Edition Anthology)

He thinks he’s too old. She thinks she’s too young. Can these teachers learn that love defies all boundaries?

Born and raised in London, Isobel Turvine knows nothing about farming, but after most of the students in her school evacuate during Operation Pied Piper, she’s left with little to do. Then her friend Margery talks her into joining the Women’s Land Army, and she finds herself working the land at a manor home in Yorkshire that’s been converted to a boys’ school. A teacher at heart, she is drawn to the lads, but the handsome yet stiff-necked headmaster wants her to stick to farming.

Left with an arm that barely works from the last “war to end all wars,” Gavin Emerson agrees to take on the job of headmaster when his school moves from London to Yorkshire, but he’s saddled with the quirky manor owner, bickering among his teachers, and a gaggle of Land Army girls who have turned the grounds into a farm. When the group’s blue-eyed, raven-haired leader nearly runs him down in a car, he admonishes her to stay in the fields, but they are thrown together at every turn. Can he trust her not to break his heart?

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