Cartoonist Shows You "How to Murder Your Wife"

When I was a kid, in the days before DVRs and even VCRs, the 1965 screwball sex comedy, How to Murder Your Wife, would occasionally pop up on local broadcast TV. (Of course, this was also before cable and streaming.) Though I saw many classic films on TV growing up, How to Murder Your Wife was one I never managed to catch in its entirety. However, when I noticed the film become available on Amazon Prime recently, I added it to my queue and finally watched it.

The primary reason for my curiosity in this film is that it's about a successful cartoonist named Stanley Ford, played by the great Jack Lemmon, whose profession and comic strip in the film (an action-adventure secret agent series called Bash Brannigan) are integral to the story. The film was directed by journeyman director Richard Quine and written by screenwriter George Axelrod.

In addition to being a cartoonist man-about-town, Ford is a confirmed bachelor who keeps a man servant in residence named Charles (the great character actor Terry Thomas) and lives in a pretty cool upscale multi-level bachelor pad studio in Manhattan. The film is racy for it’s time and it’s why I call it a “sex comedy”—Ford is pretty successful with the ladies and Charles, rather creepily, revels in his employer’s romantic escapades. (I’m glad now I never caught this film when I was young or it would have given me very skewed expectations of life as a cartoonist!)

The film opens cleverly with Ford in the middle of an exotic adventure with foreign-looking villains (one of whom is reminiscent of Odd Job from Goldfinger from the year before) that takes you through the streets and docks of Manhattan, as his man servant takes photos—it turns out these are reference photos for the comic strip. (While I’m pretty sure most cartoonists didn’t go to this extent to achieve verisimilitude, Ford notes later in the film that this is what makes his strip so popular—readers knew Bash wouldn't do anything he hasn't done himself. It's a conceit that becomes important later in the film.)

One morning, after a night of revelry at a bachelor party where a sexy, beautiful blonde pops out of a cake, Ford wakes up in bed with the girl, discovering that, in his alcoholic daze, he had married her the night before—and not only that, she’s Italian and speaks little English! For Ford, this is a tragedy of epic proportions—his man servant Charles even has a premonition about it at home when it happens. He immediately tenders his resignation, reminding Ford that when he took the job, he made it clear he only worked for bachelors.

Of course, wackiness ensues. While Ford seems to settle into the highs and lows of married life—the sex is great and she’s a great cook, keeps house, and takes care of him, she also keeps him up all night watching TV (to improve her English), has re-decorated his bachelor pad, and put a crimp in his carefree routine. As a result of his new domesticity, his comic strip turns into a gag strip about married life called The Brannigans.

Dismayed by what his life has turned into, he is driven to plot his wife's murder without getting caught—but, of course, only in the strip, so that he can return his character Bash back to his bachelor roots and secret agent life. And, in keeping with his commitment to realism, Ford carries out part of his plan in real life (short of actually dispatching his wife, of course). However, when his wife disappears around the same time the strip’s explicit portrayal of the murder appears in newspapers, Ford is suspected of foul play and arrested.

I’ll leave it at that so as not to spoil the rest of the film, but this is where I offer the caveat that the film, of course, is “of it’s time”—an era that popularized the trope that husbands and the American male are hen-pecked and women only want to marry so that they can spend their spouse's money shopping.

Adding to the films' chauvinism is the fact that the wife—played by Italian actress Virna Lisi in her U.S. film debut—doesn’t even have a name, identified only as “Mrs. Ford” in the credits. Without giving anything away, even the film’s “climax” is pretty egregious in this regard—yes, of course, it’s all played for laughs but it is undeniably politically incorrect and incredibly misogynistic given our more enlightened times (and I mean that genuinely without any intended irony or tongue in cheek—though it must be said that my wife mentioned to me that she loved this film growing up). The saving grace is the film’s final message when balance is restored—that love (and married life) does, indeed, conquer all.

That said, I've always enjoyed these 1960s' breezy PG "sex comedies" when I was a kid, such as Goodbye Charlie and Sex and the Single Girl (which Quine also directed, along with another personal favorite film of mine from the period, Paris When It Sizzles). The actors are great and the film looks terrific—Lemmon, of course, is always Lemmon and he engages in quite a bit of physical comedy that is impressive and considerable even for him. 

As for the actress Virna Lisi, while she doesn’t really have much to work with, she is nevertheless charming because her character is genuinely sweet and truly in love with her husband (he comes to realize that he is deeply in love with her as well).

And while, of course, not intended to be an accurate portrayal of cartoonists and comics, I nevertheless enjoyed the representation of the profession. You get to see him at the drawing board and inking. It should be added that the strips in the movie are terrific, done by professional cartoonist Mel Keefer, an experienced newspaper comic strip artist on titles like Perry Mason and Rick O'Shay.

I also discovered years later that one of my favorite cartoonists of all time—the great Alex Toth— did a series of teaser strips to promote the series in the Hollywood Reporter (signed “Stanley Ford,” natch) and include samples of that work below!

Below: Strips for the movie by Mel Keefer

Below: Promotional art for the film by Alex Toth

Hail to the Chief

After making my views known on this blog leading up to the election and immediately after —when the results had been all but settled despite Donald Trump’s baseless claims and relentless attempts to overturn the results—I thought I was done discussing politics for awhile. But I realized the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris required some final words to close the book on the Trumpster and an opportunity to end on a high note.

First, leave it to Donald Trump to not simply end on as ungracious note as possible as the biggest sore loser in history, but to actually make things worse every step of the way, turning the end of his presidency and the country into a dumpster fire as he left office—and impeached for incitement to riot and nearly sedition. His actions included his attempts to pre-emptively declare victory on election night; pursuing more than 60 frivolous court claims that were just about laughed out of courts (including the Supreme Court), even by judges he had appointed; the hiring of the ridiculously incompetent Sidney Powell and Rudy Guiliani (he of Four Seasons Landscaping fame); pressuring state election officials to unilaterally overturn voting results through a combination of begging and veiled (empty) threats, perhaps in violation of election laws; and demanding that his party and own vice president not certify the results despite it being Constitutionally mandated; and having it spectacularly all blow up in his face by playing a huge role in inciting a riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 that, while completely incompetent, nevertheless led to five deaths and a failed coup attempt.

While I’m sorry for the loss of life, the terror rained down on law enforcement and legislators, and the threat posed to what we have discovered is a fragile democracy, these acts of insurrection at the close of a disastrous, tumultuous and lawless term finally completely laid bare Donald Trump’s narcissistic malevolence for all the world to see, adding a perfectly appropriate malignant exclamation mark at the end of a presidency that will surely go down as the worst in U.S. history.

I give Biden full credit during this time for not engaging with Trump and staying high above the fray. While many people (myself included) understandably grew progressively angrier in righteous indignation at every turn, Biden quietly, competently and professionally went about his work, occasionally coming forward to reassure the country, particularly after the Capitol riots (and well before Trump did). During the transition, Biden acted with grace—while allowing Trump to slowly and self-torturously hang himself by the neck—and, dare I say it, presidentially. Finally, a grown up.

The inauguration perfectly captured Biden and Harris’s goals to restore dignity and respect to the White House and the country, as well as unity and a return to truth. I already greatly enjoy the tradition, symbolism, pomp and circumstance of events like presidential inaugurations, but even without cheering crowds, I was glad to still find the inauguration of President Joe Biden a moving and uplifting experience. It was note-perfect and restorative, from Biden’s reassuring and heartfelt inaugural address, Lady Gaga’s soaring rendition of the Star Spangled Banner and, of course, Amanda Gorman’s thrilling recitation of “The Hill We Climb.” The parade, military review, the presence of former presidents from either side of the aisle at both the inauguration and, later, Arlington National Cemetery for a laying of the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, were all moving celebrations of America and the peaceful transfer of power. And all of this happened only a few weeks after an attempted insurrection, albeit under the watchful eye of a a strong National Guard and law enforcement presence, but fortunately without any disruption.

I feel badly that Biden did not get to enjoy the trappings of a traditional inauguration, like the balls, but hopefully this is somewhat softened by the fact that Biden has been there before — both as a vice president and as a longtime member of Congress. The televised Celebration of America, hosted by Tom Hanks, nevertheless was a nice coda to the day.

Watching Biden in the leadup to the inauguration and his first few days of office, he actually comes off as one of the most humble and unassuming persons to be president. He has been generous in sharing the stage with Harris, a view I’m sure very much influenced by the unique partnership and friendship he formed serving as vice president under Barack Obama.

Will it be a successful presidency? Time and history will tell, and of course, the new President faces a much divided nation and a rival political party that has yet to reconcile with its own veer into radical extremism and cult of personality. But regardless, I just look forward to a presidency that is “normal,” inasmuch I do not have to be concerned and aggravated every day of the week, trusting that there is a responsible, mature and experienced individual in office who at least pays lip service and attempts to act in the interests of most honest, hard working people, and all Americans, rather than worry about what latest incompetence and self-serving misdeed has been committed in the name of pandering to a literally insane, cultish base that apparently prefers authoritarian rule over respect for our democracy and the Constitution.

As I said, being a glass half full kind of guy, I think we can take some comfort in knowing that, when it counted, our institutions held strong despite a relentless assault on our democracy. The courts and key election officials—including many from the GOP side—resisted the call to corruption and authoritarianism. And as the election both nationwide and, particularly, Georgia, showed, votes count. If people had not been energized and motivated, darkness and evil could have won. But it didn’t.

God bless America!

 

More Capsule Reviews in the Time of Coronavirus (5)

Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical

Obviously, there haven't been opportunities to see live theater or musicals lately, but when my wife told me she wanted to check out a streaming musical based on the Pixar film Ratatouille that grew out of a TikTok video that went viral, I was obviously apprehensive. Apparently, someone on TikTok composed, wrote and posted a song for a number from a “Ratatouille” musical to which other TikTok users began contributing from both the professional and amateur theater ranks, encompassing staging, costume design and more. It was eventually presented online as a fundraiser for the Actors Fund, as a streaming show.

Like many such productions, I planned to give it 10 minutes or so to see if it was worth my time — quite effectively, the show brings you in from the very start, with its “Hey, kids, let’s put on a show!” enthusiasm. But make no mistake, this is a nearly fully-realized, professional production, starting with the performers, all delightful, who include Titus Burgess as Remy the Rat, Andrew Barth Feldman as Linguini (who played “Dear Evan Hanson” on Broadway) and Wayne Brady. As one observer noted, the goal was to put on a “professional” production and the results show that there is a lot of talent out there (young and otherwise). In the credits, you get to see many of the contributors and snippets of the original TikTok songs—many of which are also on YouTube.

Watch the full musical:

Fandome 2: Superman Radio Show Re-Creation

Following the success of DC Fandome on August 22, 2020, Warner Brothers scheduled a follow up with additional material on September 12. Among the offerings was the re-creation of a 1940s episode of the Superman radio show, as a fundraiser for the Creative Coalition. The presentation, available online, featured a cast that rotated its parts among multiple actors, including, as Superman, Tim Daly (who played Superman on the animated series) and Daniel Dae, and others like Jason Alexander, Terry Crews, Giancarlo Esposito, Jason Isaacs, Richard Kind, Tony Shalhoub, and Henry Winkler.

While the show was fun and all the actors did a presentable job, as someone who was involved in a faux “radio show” as well, the show underscored how radio drama is an art in itself. Since voice and sound is the only dramatic tool for the medium, radio drama requires a bit more energy to avoid any dead air and keep the listener engaged. As an example, I thought Isaacs, as the villain, did especially well, throwing his whole body and voice into his performance.

It was a fun exercise—with so many table reads of classic movie and tv scripts being done in this age of coronavirus, the show was a nice addition.

Watch the radio show re-creation on YouTube: