''The Good Old Soak'' is a 1937 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

starring

Wallace Beery Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in '' Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in '' Grand Hotel'' (1 ...

and directed by J. Walter Ruben from a screenplay by A. E. Thomas based upon the 1922 stage play of the same name by

Don Marquis Donald Robert Perry Marquis ( ; July 29, 1878 – December 29, 1937) was an American humorist, journalist, and author. He was variously a novelist, poet, newspaper columnist, and playwright. He is remembered best for creating the characters A ...

. The picture's supporting cast features Una Merkel, Eric Linden, Betty Furness, and Ted Healy. Screenwriter Thomas was disturbed that MGM changed the title from the original "The Old Soak," to the "Good Old Soak." MGM did that because it felt Wallace Beery's fans considered the word "good" synonymous with Beery. Rollin Kirby, a distinguished political cartoonist on the ''New York World'' newspaper, and good friend of Don Marquis, got a laugh from Marquis when he suggested how appropriate it was that a man named Beery would portray the Old Soak himself. The story was previously made as a silent film by Universal in 1926 called '' The Old Soak'' starring Jean Hersholt.

Plot

Cast

as Clem Hawley * Una Merkel as Nellie * Eric Linden as Clemmie Hawley * Judith Barrett as Ina Heath * Betty Furness as Lucy Hawley * Ted Healy as Al Simmons * Janet Beecher as Matilda Hawley *

George Sidney George Sidney (October 4, 1916May 5, 2002) was an American film director and producer who worked primarily at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His work includes cult classics '' Bye Bye Birdie'' (1963) and '' Viva Las Vegas'' (1964). With an extensive back ...

as Kennedy * Robert McWade as Webster Parsons * James Bush as Tom Ogden * Margaret Hamilton as Minnie

References

External links

* 1937 films 1930s English-language films 1937 drama films Films directed by J. Walter Ruben American black-and-white films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films American drama films Adaptations of works by Don Marquis Films based on adaptations American films based on plays Films scored by Edward Ward (composer) 1930s American films English-language drama films {{1930s-drama-film-stub