Jack Benny in "The Meanest Man in the World" (1943) - based on George M. Cohan's play
82Pottsville, New York Lawyer Richard Clarke (Jack Benny) is just too nice. He refuses to charge his poor clients or accept morally questionable clients. Clarke is in love with pretty Janie Brown (Priscilla Lane), whose successful father, Arthur Brown (Matt Briggs), wants her to marry wealthy Bill Potts (Lyle Talbot). Arthur encourages Clarke to go to New York City to make a name for himself.
Clarke, accompanied by assistant, Shufro (Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson), gamely makes the move. Four months pass, bills accumulate and not a single client. Janie and Arthur think Clarke lives in luxury on Park Avenue, and come to visit. In a panic, Clarke and Shufro try to find a suitable apartment. Janie wants to marry immediately. Clarke insists that they wait for one month.
Clarke takes Arthur and Janie out for a tour of nightclubs. The next day, Clarke admits to his secretary, Miss Crockett (Anne Revere), that the club hopping used up the last of his money, and Shufro urges him to become meaner to attract clients.
Determined to practice being mean, Clarke goes for a walk, during which he steals a little boy's (Conrad Binyon) lollypop. A passing photographer (Hal K. Dawson) snaps a picture, then immortalized in the newspaper with the headline "Meanest Man In The World Takes Candy From Baby!"
Billionaire Frederick P. Leggitt (Edmund Gwenn),looking for an unscrupulous attorney, pays Clarke a large retainer to evict Leggitt's elderly sister-in-law Frances. Shufro arranges for a photographer to get a picture, and the publicity brings him even more clients. Janie is horrified to learn of Clarke's apparent change in character, and breaks off their engagement.
The public fear Frances has committed suicide. But Clarke secretly houses Frances in his new apartment. Clarke meets the equally drunk Janie in the bar, and when she hears a radio report that he is living in a love nest with an ex-Follies star, she slaps his face. A photographer captures the moment and it is published in the newspaper with a caption identifying Janie as Clarke's love nest partner. Infuriated, Arthur abducts Clarke and takes him to Janie's apartment, and after the couple are tied up, a Pottsville judge persuades Brown to allow him to marry them. Brown also agrees to get Clarke a job as attorney for the Pottsville bank, where he can reform and become a good husband. The delighted Janie then reveals that Shufro and Frances have already told her the truth about Clarke's "mean streak."
A 1943 American Black & White comedy film directed by Sidney Lanfield, produced by William Perlberg, screenplay by George Seaton and Allan House, based on the play "The Meanest Man in the World" by George M. Cohan, cinematography by J. Peverell Marley, starring Jack Benny, Priscilla Lane, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Edmund Gwenn, Matt Briggs, Anne Revere, Margaret Seddon, Helene Reynolds, Gary Gray, Lyle Talbot, Harry Hayden, Hobart Cavanaugh, Tor Johnson, and Gladden James. Final screen appearance of Jan Duggan. Released by 20th Century Fox.
This is based upon a play that starred George M. Cohan, who produced it on Broadway.
Having directed Jack Benny's finest screen performance in To Be or Not to Be (1942), the legendary Ernst Lubitsch oversaw re-takes of this later film between early November and November 10, 1942. Writer Morrie Ryskind, who had worked on the early stages of the screenplay, was brought back to create new dialogue for the re-takes. Neither contributor received an opening credit.
The story was filmed once before in the silent era in 1923 by First National with Bert Lytell and Blanche Sweet. Only a fragment survives of the silent.
This was presented on Theatre Guild on the Air February 17, 1952. The one-hour adaptation starred James Stewart, Josephine Hull, and Colleen Gray.
In March 1943, when the film was in wide release, a lawsuit brought by a group of lawyers from New Haven, Connecticut charged that this comedy "showed the legal profession in a disreputable light." The complainants asked for the movie to be withdrawn, but their plea was thrown out by Connecticut Superior Court Judge Patrick O'Sullivan.
On July 8, 1942, both The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety revealed that Twentieth Century-Fox was scrapping the film despite an investment of about $150,000 so far. For this project, Fox had given Benny approval of the script, director and co-star. Benny was unhappy with some of the screenplay, complaining it was too juvenile, and the studio quickly settled their differences.
The film was edited down to one of the shortest "A" features of the Forties, with a running time of merely 57 minutes. According to The Motion Picture Herald Production Digest, the movie's brief duration caused booking problems.
This delightfully amusing lightweight comedy is an overlooked gem. Barbs fly and provide much of the fun of this film, without slapstick. The story is silly, yet worth watching the great teamwork between Benny and Rochester for a few laughs.