Cinema Sunday: Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House

Today Cinema Sunday goes back to 1948 for a classic black and white comedy classic starring starring Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, and Melvyn Douglas.   

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is an adaptation of Eric Hodgins's popular 1946 novel about how Jim Blandings, an advertising executive, seeks to extricate himself,  his wife Muriel, two daughters, Betsy and Joan, and his maid Gussie from a cramped New York apartment to a home in the suburbs of Connecticut by making every wrong decision possible.  

As Jim and Muriel drive out to see the old Hackett Place with the real estate agent named Smith, Melvyn Douglas as Bill Cole dryly delivers the following narration.  

• Cole: Old Smith knows a sucker when he sees one.
• Smith casts a sideways glance at the goofy grin on Jim Blandings' face.
• Cole: He sees one. 

Despite being Jim's best friend, attorney and adviser, Jim is determined not listen to Bill trying to be reasonable as he makes mistake after mistake.

• Jim Blandings pays too much for the old Hackett Place,.
• He doesn't get an inspection of the old Hackett Place before buying it.
• When Jim does get an inspection done, the advice he receives is to tear it down.
• Not liking that advice, Jim hires another inspector whose advice is to tear it down. 
• Not liking that advice, Jim hires yet another inspector whose advice is to tear it down. 
• Jim then hires a crew to tear down the old Hackett Place without consulting with the lender who holds the mortgage on the old Hackett Place.
• The Blandings hire architect Henry Simms to design and supervise the construction of the new home which comes into increasing cost overruns as Jim and Muriel insist on so many outrageous additions and ammenities, the 2nd floor design winds up bigger than the 1st floor. 
• Muriel reads the train schedule wrong. Jim will have to get up at 5 AM to make the train to get into New York City by 9 AM.  

Through out all this, Bill Cole keeps trying to do what he can to mitigate the damage Jim is determined to do his finances.  

Also while dealing with the spiral frustrations of home ownership in the suburbs of Connecticut, Jim Blandings is under the gun to produce a winning slogan for a ham dinner entree called Wham!  And he's coming up short and is in danger of losing his job.

Long story made short, the house does get finished, the Blandings move in, Jim keeps his job. The final shot is of the Blandings family with Bill Cole and Gussies on the lawn of their new Connecticut home. Jim is reading the book the preceding movie was based on while inviting the audience to drop by for a visit some time. 

Which brings us to...

The "It's That Person Who Was In That Thing" Dept.

Louise Beavers makes her 2nd appearance here in a Cinema Sunday post.  She was in in Du Barry Was a Lady where she was Niagara, Lucille Balls's maid and confidante. Like a lot of African American women of the era, Louise was often cast in the role of someone's maid or housekeeper.  She's at again in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House as their maid, Gussie.   

Which leads to the next part of today's post...

"Let's Talk About Gussie"

Gussie seems be a beloved part of the Blandings household but she ultimately their maid, an employee, not a member of the family. Yet the assumption appears to be that Gussie is coming with the Blandings to Connecticut.

Who is this woman? Does she have family in New York City? What about her life in NYC? How it will it be affected by uprooting from the big city to Connecticut?

Of course none of this is addressed. It's just assumed she's coming to Connecticut with the Blandings. 

And then there's the part at the end when she single handedly saves Jim Blanding's cushy advertising job when Gussie (not Jim) comes up with the perfect WHAM slogan—"If you ain't eating WHAM, you ain't eating ham!"  

Jim Blandings gets to keep his upper middle class job in advertising while Gussie gets an extra $10 a week in her pay check.  (In current day money, that comes to about $100 or so.) And her likeness is used in the Wham ad campaign. How much do you reckon she gets for her likeness being used? I guess the amount falls between "not much" or "nothing".  

It all makes for a tidy happy ending in 1948 for the Blandings but damned if it doesn't feel a it unfair to dear Gussie here in 2022. 

The lack of justice for Gussie aside,  Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is a fun movie with great performances from Cary Grant and Myrna Loy as Jim and Muriel Blandings.  And as Bill Cole, Melvyn Douglas threatens to steal the movie with his dry and acerbic observations.  

All in all, it's a delightful movie. Just don't think about Gussie too much.  

"If you ain't eating WHAM, you ain't eating ham!"  

Damn it! I'm thinking about Gussie!