Take a Letter, Darling

Wednesday, November 16 at 7:30 PM — The Auditorium at NEIU — 3701 W Bryn Mawr Ave
Tickets: $10 at the door

TAKE A LETTER, DARLING
Directed by Mitchell Leisen • 1942
In His Girl Friday (1940), Rosalind Russell demonstrated her supreme competence in assaying an unsentimental, mile-a-minute role originally conceived for a man. In doing so, Russell established herself as Hollywood’s go-to girl boss, a factotum of feminine power and a magnet for masculine anxiety. Take a Letter, Darling cashes the check that His Girl Friday wrote, casting Russell as A.M. “Mac” MacGregor, a ruthless advertising executive who’s run through her share of fair-haired male secretaries. (They might be okay if they could type as quickly as they declare their treacly love for the boss — cause for immediate dismissal.) Enter Tom Verney (Fred MacMurray), a dreamy painter who needs a new gig to support his art. (Don’t worry: Fred is “properly masculine as the not-too-bright secretary,” Variety assured exhibitors.) Mac needs a man around the office for appearance’s sake, a beard who can signal to the wives of prominent clients that she isn’t on the prowl for stray husbands. Originally announced as a Preston Sturges project, Take a Letter, Darling felicitously wound up under the direction of Mitchell Leisen, a bisexual sophisticate who had risen through the studio ranks through his talent for costume design and set decoration. An emotionally versatile director whose glimmering style often softened the provocative implications of his films, Leisen here gently ribs the gender racket under cover of Paramount’s prim studio polish. (KW)
92 min • Paramount Pictures • 35mm from Universal
Preceded by: “Getting a Job” (Encyclopedia Britannica Films, 1954) – 16 min – 16mm