I am watching James Cagney movies this winter.
This week I’m writing about Strawberry Blonde (1941). Some listings add a “The” to the name, but the original title was just Strawberry Blonde.
Here we have another Cagney film (like Yankee Doodle Dandy) that isn’t a gangster film but does show him as a bit of a rough guy. Rough, but ultimately good.
This movie, told in one long flashback, shows a slow transformation of Cagney’s character and leaves you wondering throughout the first part of the movie whether you like him or not.
By the end, you’re rooting for him and maybe for him to get a bit of revenge on some people too.
James’ character is Biff Grimes, a young and scrappy dental student with a good heart who lives in New York City. He’s obsessed with a strawberry blonde named Virginia Brush played by Rita Hayworth, who likes to walk past the barber shop each day and rile up all the men. I’m going to say upfront that I didn’t recognize Rita in this movie at all. First, I’m used to her as a brunette, second, I actually haven’t seen her in that many movies. (Summer of Rita? Hmmm….good idea! Spring has been reserved for Bette Davis.)
The only problem with this obsession is that his friend Hugo Barnstead (Jack Carson) is also interested in Virginia.
Hugo and Virginia work to push Virginia’s friend, Amy, a nurse and women’s rights activist played by Olivia de Havilland, on to Biff, especially after Hugo promises Virginia a wealthy life if she elopes with him.
Biff has no interest in Amy, who annoys him and says solicitous and suggestive things to him to show him that women are just as good as men. We get the impression, however, that Amy doesn’t believe everything she’s saying. She simply likes to shock people.
Eventually, though, love blooms in a very authentic way between Biff and Amy, but not without some mix-ups, difficulties, and trials along the way, culminating when Hugo reveals even more of his crooked ways after he hires Biff.
You’ll have to watch the movie to see what happens.
I love Olivia de Havilland’s character in this. She wants to be bold at the same time she doesn’t want to be. It’s like how James’ character wants to be a tough guy but yet doesn’t.
The movie is ahead of its’ time in my opinion, with so many suggestive (yet not crude) subjects raised, and witty banter exchanged back and forth between James and Olivia. I was very charmed by this movie, which I watched before I officially decided I was going to do a marathon of Cagney movies.
Each time I watch one of his movies I fall more in love with him as an actor. He was witty, charming, and that grin was so infectious.
The movie is based on a Broadway play called One Sunday Afternoon by James Hagan. It’s a bit of a musical, comedy, and drama, but not a super, super heavy drama. It was first made into a non-musical film by the same name as the play in 1933. That movie was directed by Stephen Roberts and starred Gary Cooper. Unlike the earlier picture, Strawberry Blonde was a hit.
Director Raoul Walsh remade the film again as a full musical in 1948, according to TCM.com, changing the name back to One Sunday Afternoon, but Strawberry Blonde still remained the more popular version.
The part of Viriginia was originally supposed to be played by Ann Sheridan, the Oomph Girl from Warner Pictures, (No, I have no idea what or who that is!) but instead Rita was loaned to Warners by Columbia for the role. Sheridan was in a contract dispute with Warner at the time and refused to do it.
All the better for Rita.
Felicia Feaster wrote for TCM.com, that Hayworth “brought her typical enigmatic, frosty perfection to the role. Her fortuitous securing of the role in The Strawberry Blonde helped establish her sex queen status as the “Love Goddess.” Though a confident mantrap on camera, Hayworth was just a shy, reserved girl off, causing Cagney to marvel at how, after her scenes, she would just “go back to her chair and sit there and not communicate.’”
Olivia was also praised for her role in the film.
Many critics commented on her gift for comedy and said it matched Cagney’s perfectly in this movie and I have to agree.
A bit of trivia about the movie:
- Hayworth received $450 per week for the film
- She also dyed her hair for the movie to fit the title name.
- This film marked the first time Hayworth was seen as a redhead and the only time that audiences heard her real singing voice.
- When Warner Bros. released Strawberry Blonde on February 21, 1941, “the studio knew it had a hit on its hands.” Walsh considered it his most successful picture to date, and he called it his favorite film.
- Cagney looked at the movie as a way to break out of playing tough guys and it was his brother William Cagney who suggested he take the project on as a gift to their mother Carrie, “who would only live a few more years.”
- Jack Warner (of Warner Bros) screened the 1933 film and wrote a memo to his production head Hal B. Wallis telling him to watch it also: “It will be hard to stay through the entire running of the picture, but do this so you will know what not to do.”
- James Cagney was past forty at the time of filming but was playing much younger, and was in fact only seven years younger than his on-screen father Alan Hale.
- The TCM print ran 99 minutes; the extra two minutes was due to a ‘follow-the-bouncing-ball’ sing-along after “The End”, to the main song “The Band Played On.”
- In March 1941, Warner Brothers distributed this film on a double bill with another comedy, Honeymoon for Three (1941) starring Ann Sheridan and George Brent.
- Even though IMDb and some other websites use the title “The Strawberry Blonde,” the Warner Bros. collateral at the time of release and the Warner Archives DVD do not include “The,” leaving the title as simply “Strawberry Blonde.”
- James Cagney and Olivia de Havilland previously co-starred in The Irish in Us (1935). They both also appeared in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935).
So, have you ever seen this one? What did you think of it?
If you haven’t seen it, I really would recommend it for a fun, lighthearted (for the most part) watch.
Next week I am watching Mister Roberts.
If you would like to follow along with my Winter of Cagney and watch some of the movies yourself, here is my schedule for the winter:
Yankee Doodle Dandy
The Strawberry Blonde
Mister Roberts
Angels With Dirty Faces
Public Enemy
Love Me or Leave Me
White Heat
Man of A Thousand Faces
Bonus: The Seven Little Foys
Additional sources:
If you want to find clips and thoughts about vintage movies and TV, you can visit me on Instagram on my Nostalgically Thinking Account (https://www.instagram.com/nostalgically_thinking/) or on my YouTube account Nostalgically and Bookishly Thinking here: https://www.youtube.com/@nostaglicandbookish
