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The Good Old Soak

The Good Old Soak
The Good Old Soak lobby card
Lobby card with Ted Healy and Wallace Beery
Directed byJ. Walter Ruben
Written byA.E. Thomas
Based onthe play
by Don Marquis
Produced byHarry Rapf
StarringWallace Beery
Una Merkel
Eric Linden
Judith Barrett
Betty Furness
Ted Healy
CinematographyClyde De Vinna
Edited byFrank Sullivan
Music byEdward Ward
Production
company
Release date
  • April 23, 1937 (1937-04-23) (Location)
Running time
67 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Good Old Soak is a 1937 American drama film starring Wallace Beery 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. 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.[1]

The story was previously made as a silent film by Universal in 1926 called The Old Soak starring Jean Hersholt.

Plot

Cast

References

  1. ^ Anthony, Anthony (1962). O Rare Don Marquis - A biography by Anthony Edward. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc. pp. 110 and 618.