My Little Chickadee

My Little Chickadee
File:MY LITTLE CHICKADEE.jpg
Directed by	Edward F. Cline
Produced by	Lester Cowan
Written by	Mae West W. C. Fields
Starring	Mae West W. C. Fields
Music by	Frank Skinner
Cinematography	Joseph A. Valentine
Edited by	Edward Curtiss
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	February 9, 1940 (1940-02-09)
Running time	83 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$625,000
Box office	$2 million

My Little Chickadee is a 1940 American comedy-western film starring Mae West and W.C. Fields, and featuring Joseph Calleia, Ruth Donnelly, Margaret Hamilton, Donald Meek, Willard Robertson, Dick Foran, William B. Davidson, and Addison Richards. The film was released by Universal Studios. It was directed by Edward F. Cline. The original music was written by Ben Oakland (song "Willie of the Valley") and Frank Skinner.

West reportedly wrote the original screenplay, with Fields contributing one extended scene set in a bar. Universal decided to give the stars equal screenplay credit, perhaps to avoid the appearance of favoritism, but the move incensed West, who declined to re-team with Fields afterwards. The stars spoofed themselves and the Western genre, with West providing a series of her trademark double entendres.

Plot

The story is set in the American Old West of the 1880s. Miss Flower Belle Lee (Mae West) is a singer from Chicago who is on her way to visit relatives out west. While she is traveling on a stagecoach with three men and a woman named Mrs. Gideon (Margaret Hamilton), the town gossip and busybody, a masked bandit on horseback holds up the stage for its shipment of gold and orders the passengers to step out.

The masked bandit immediately takes an interest in the saucy blonde. As he makes his getaway with the gold, he takes her with him. Upon reaching the town of Little Bend, the others report the robbery and kidnapping to the sheriff (William B. Davidson). Flower Belle then walks into town, unharmed, and explains, "I was in a tight spot but I managed to wriggle out of it."

Later that evening, at the home of her Aunt Lou (Ruth Donnelly) and Uncle John (Willard Robertson), the masked bandit enters Flower Belle's second floor bedroom and they start kissing. However, his presence and departure is witnessed by Mrs. Gideon. She quickly reports what she has seen and Flower Belle angrily finds herself hauled up before the judge (Addison Richards). Offended by her indifferent manner, the judge asks angrily "Young lady, are you trying to show contempt for this court?" She answers: "On the contrary, your honor, I'm doing my best to conceal it!" Flower Belle is then run out of Little Bend.

She boards a train to Greasewood City. It makes an unscheduled stop to pick up con-man Cuthbert J. Twillie (W. C. Fields). When hostile Indians attack, Flower Belle saunters to a window and mows them down with two pistols, while Twillie dodges flying arrows and fights off the Indians with a child's slingshot. Flower Belle has little use for Twillie until she sees a stash of money in his bag. Believing him to be rich, she then plays up to him and they get acquainted. They have an impromptu wedding, officiated over by a passenger, Amos Budge (Donald Meek), a gambler who looks like a minister.

As she has only pretended to marry Twillie for "respectability", Flower Belle gets a separate hotel room in Greasewood City. Meanwhile, Twillie is made sheriff by the saloon owner and town boss Jeff Badger (Joseph Calleia), who has an ulterior motive: he hopes the new sheriff, who is clearly incompetent, will be unable to interfere with Badger's crimes. Flower Belle attracts the attention of Badger, newspaper editor Wayne Carter (Dick Foran), and every other man in town. While keeping her troublesome "husband" out of reach and out of trouble, Flower Belle encounters the masked bandit again.

Twillie attempts to consummate his "marriage" with Flower Belle, but she escapes and leaves a goat in their bed. Twillie, unaware of the substitution, attempts to make love to the goat, and is surprised when he discovers that it is not, in fact, Flower Belle.

One night, Twillie again attempts to consummate his "marriage" by entering Flower Belle's room disguised as the masked bandit. He is caught, accused of being the masked bandit, and is about to be hanged. With the noose around his neck, he makes his last request to the lynching party. "I'd like to see Paris before I die. Philadelphia will do!" However, Flower Belle saves Twillie. At one point, she kisses Badger, and recognizes that Badger is the masked bandit, musing: "That man's kiss is like a signature."

When Flower Belle and Twillie say good-bye, West and Fields spoof each other's signature line.

"Come up and see me sometime", he says.

"Mmm, I will, my little chickadee", she replies.

As Flower Belle sashays up the stairs, "The End" is playfully overlaid on her posterior.

Cast

• Mae West as Flower Belle Lee
• W. C. Fields as Cuthbert J. Twillie
• Joseph Calleia as Jeff Badger
• Joseph Calleia as Masked Bandit
• Dick Foran as Wayne Carter
• Margaret Hamilton as Mrs. Gideon
• Fay Adler as Mrs. 'Pygmy' Allen
• Gene Austin as Saloon Musician

• Fuzzy Knight as Cousin Zeb
• Anne Nagel as Miss Foster
• Ruth Donnelly as Aunt Lou
• Willard Robertson as Uncle John
• Donald Meek as Amos Budge
• William B. Davidson as Sheriff
• Addison Richards as Judge

Reception

Frank S. Nugent reviewed the film negatively for The New York Times, writing that "the film is at low tide most of the time in the quality of its humor, in the broad treatment its players and directors have given it, in the caliber of the audience it seems intended to please and in the generally bad odor it exudes." Variety wrote that the film "has its sagging moments, and the slim basic story cannot be taken seriously at any point. But there's sufficient broad humor and elemental comedy to satisfy generally." Harrison's Reports wrote that West and Fields "play up to each other very well and make a good team. Due to their efforts the picture offers good mass entertainment, in spite of the fact that the story is thin." Film Daily wrote that it was "all lusty fun" with "some amusing gags and situations." John Mosher of The New Yorker called West "as fresh and ebullient as ever" after her two-year absence from the screen.

My Little Chickadee was a box office success, earning $2 million in gross receipts.

In popular culture

• "My little chickadee" is the catchphrase most associated with W. C. Fields. He first used it during a scene in If I Had a Million (1932) to address co-star Alison Skipworth.
• "Come up and see me sometime" is a line West's character uses in her third film, I'm No Angel (1933). It is a reflection of the popular line from her second film She Done Him Wrong (1933) Actual quote: "Why don't you come up some time and see me? I'm home every evening." This was already misquoted and parodied as "Why don't you come up and see me sometime."
• My Little Chickadee was Mae West's first screen performance since Every Day's a Holiday (1937) for Paramount Pictures. This was her only performance for Universal, which now owns most of the pre-1950 Paramount sound film library. It was also the last successful film of her career, her three subsequent films would all fail at the box office.
• W. C. Fields also starred in a series of comedies for Paramount in the 1930s. This was his second performance for Universal.
• Margaret Hamilton played the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, which was released the year before this film. Fields had been considered for the role of the Wizard, but he declined the opportunity and My Little Chickadee was the film chosen to feature both actors.
• In Matthew Reilly's Shane Schofield series, Gina "Mother" Newman often protectively refers to Elizabeth Gant, as her "little chickadee".

External links

• My Little Chickadee at IMDb
• My Little Chickadee at the TCM Movie Database
• My Little Chickadee at AllMovie