MovieChat Forums > Beginner's Luck (1935) Discussion > Some thoughts

Some thoughts

posted 13 years ago by freebergjason
11 replies | jump to latest

I'm realitivly new to this board joining about a month ago.I am a huge fan of BL since I first saw it at the age of 4 or 5.I was glad to read all the posts on the board and see one of the things I did as an adolesent was to think about pretty adult women getting the BL treatment.I also pictured my friend's mothers in the role and I was ashamed of it but now I know it was just normal.
Another thing I picked up on was the possibility of adding things to improve the original.I agree that I believe it's pretty perfect and really should not be tampered with,but I do agrre that adding a couple of lines when the mother is fighting with the MC while the act is going on.Also Having the mother say someting while trying to stop her dress from rising is perfect.Another suggestion that I liked was having the mother as she is behind the prop get shot in the mouth with the peashooters is great.The last one is having the mom get the electric shock after she has lost her dress is good too,i'm not sure how that could be worked in and not interfere with the script.The others seem that they could be added without taking too much away from the original.
Another aspect that I would like to talk about is comparing BL to other movies or shorts or TV shows that showed a similar stripped humiliation scene.In general it's a minor or obscure scene that not to many people have seen or it's the Mission Impossible Lee Meriwether scene.To me the Meriwether scene has nothing to do at all with BL,but does show a 35ish extremely beautiful women in a sexy as hell slip which I didn't mind watching as did a coworker of mine that I showed and he remembered her better as he is older and he got a real charge watching that scene over and over.The three movies that come to mind as having scenes close or similar to BL are Mclintock where Maureen O'Hara gets stripped down thru a series of unfortunate incidents.The best part is she is really stripped down to the bare essentials and she does get tarred and feathered.The bad points are she goes thru to many scenes loosing to little clothing in each and it seems to contrived to be believible also Maureen is to far over the hill to make it that sexy.The next film is Zapped where Heather Thomas is the victim of a srtpping scene at a high school prom.Initially her gown is ripped off her leaving her in bra,panties garter belt,stockings and heels.Later Heather falls victim again to her bra being pulled off her as she winds up showing off her tits.Overall it is very unreal and just a fantasy scene.The last Film is the 1950 film The Petty Girl.This movie has Bob Cummings trying to get a beautiful but stuffey stuffed shirt college professor to pose for him in cheesecake photos.The professor is a young woman raised by stoggy and stuffey old college professors from a New England college.On a trip to NYC with another professor the girl(played by the extremely beautiful former model Joan Caulfield)winds up going to a nite club and having someone spill someting on her dress.She is taken to a back room and a woman cleans and dries her dress and is in the process of ironing it when the place is raided by the cops and her dress is taken by a nite club stripper and Joan is caught by the cops in white slip,black heels and black beret and has her photo taken and winds up in the newspapers on the front page.She is further humiliated in numerous scenes one where she is swimming with Cummings and gets her bathing suit caught on a fishing line and winds up loosing her suit and having to get to saftey in her birthday suit.Overall it does feature a young beautiful girl loosing her clothing several times but it reaches a point where it gets almost expected to happen.But I'd say overall that The Petty Girl is the best but still nowhere close to our BL.

[–] doug78595 13 years ago

As far as the films go I can remember all being discussed and mentioned here yrs back.I agree that in McLintock Maureen was a bit to old for the part and it was very contrived with her loosing some clothing and then more and more.The best part I agree is her tarring and feathering.In Zapped,I think everyone knew what was comming and it did nothing at all to add to the film.The Petty Girl I beleive was the closest thing to BL as it had a young beautiful woman getting stripped down several times,but it too became to obvious not like BL where Spanky's mother gets her dress caught and it starts to rise and then she is frozen on the stage as the prop goes into place and seals her fate.
As far as adding scenes I agree that all those sound really good and many people would like to see these added without damaging the quality of BL.

Lastly your point about thinking about your friend's mothers in a BL situation is something i've heard many many times over the yrs.So I guess it's a natural thing for young boys to put adult women in sexually compramising situations.

[–] richardschwerner 13 years ago

I found it funny that you brought up McLintock as it was taken from Shakespere's "The taming of the schrew" and done as a western.Spanky recited Shakespere's Julius Caesar in BL.Spanky's mother is a schrew who gets herself tamed in the end of BL.
O'Hara was 43 at the time in came out and way way to old for that kind of part.Even though she did get tarred and feathered ( I wish Kitty did in BL ) and finally a good spanking (maybe Kitty could have used one too)in the end it wasn't approprite for a beautiful sophisicated actress like Maureen O'Hara.
The adding parts to improve BL you must remember you are dealing with a classic and may screw it up and ruin it.But the things you brought up sound really good another one is to leghten the time she is caught by the curtain so we could see more of her struggle.

[–] freebergjason 13 years ago

I had heard that some time ago that McLintock was Shakespere's Tamming of the schrew done to a western.Maureen was way too old for that to happen to her it would have been great if it was done 10-15 yrs earlier as she was a very beautiful woman.I always thought it would have been great if Miss Kitty had been tarred and feathered after all was over in the ending.

[–] freebergjason 13 years ago

Other thoughts that I agree with from the other posters.The person who spoke of the sounds being made while Spank is on the stage and how this adds so much to the entire aura of BL is somwthing I really agree with the sound that is comming from one of the kids noisemakers and is heard several times during Spanky's act and at the end of Daisey's also there is a sound thats heard several times and it's a human laugh that really sounds like a chicken cackeling and I think this is great and adds to it as well.
One of the points I don't understand is the Grandmother and her actions during Spanky's stage show.She is very tight with the mother all along when they first arrive the mother peeks out to see the audience and she says something like nice crowd or something like that and they can be seen talking as acts leave the stage and they probably say something like go act or something.The only time she acts odd is where Spanky has his peep peep scene and she comes over laughing at the mother.Then when the act is about to start and the MC asks for Spanky and the mom goes behind the curtain and the MC manhandles her the granny looks at him as if he beat her up.She is still on heir side when she asks for lights and the MC almost smacks the mom in her face.The Granny is the shown later on laughing up a storm behind the mothers back as Spanky's act has collapased.Then to raise the curtain on her own daughter,I know some people say it could be her daughter-in-law and then it would be ok but I still think she is her daughter.
The question if Spanky's mother is a villan is a real good one.To be honest I'll take my answer from the Yahoo group and say I think Spanky's mother falls victim to the real villans of BL.

[–] cps617 13 years ago

I still say having her ladies group in the front row laughing at her would be priceless

[–] bigboy171975 13 years ago

Hi I'm glad you were busy today posting some nice topics and interesting ideas.I was glad tthat someone said McLintock was reall a western "Tamming of the schrew".Ther are many others Like "West side story " is a modern "Romeo and Juliet".There are many others.That brings us to "Beginner's Luck" this is the classic Greek comedy/tradgedy.One must remember the old "Three Stooges" opening credits that shows Two masks one laughing the other crying.most of the characters are laughing at the ending of BL of course not Spanky and certinly not his mother both of which are sad she is probably crying hysterically.The character of Spanky is the everyman caught between two powerful female forces.The kindly grandmother who is nurchring and out for the boys best interest but she is no way as powerful as Spanky's mother character,who wants whats good for her and she wants her own way all the time.The Grandmother must bide her time and wait to save the young boy from the mother character.
People ask is she the villan of the short - no not really.people say do you think Spanky's mother deserved the fate she was dealt -no in reality it was probably to extreme.One must remember once the MC says Spanky won the prize 5 minutes ago Daisy happily proclaims "THE DRESS IS IN THE BAG"!!!! The Yin and the yang tell us that now someone will loose their dress to even things out.The grandma has waited her turn and sees her chance and pulls down on the ropes and catches her victim and hauls her in.Once Spanky's mother is caught the grandmother has won the battle.It's just icing on the ake she is stripped of her dress and then freezes onstage only to have a spanky save attempt go array and the mother to wind up humiliated ,degraded and made a total laughing stock of with the stage prop in place.

[–] doug78595 13 years ago

One of the greatest posts ever ---Ralph!!!!!

You spelling and grammer are actually worse than mine you must have been really tired or something.I don't believe ,but I could be mistaken, that anyone ever brought this fact up before that "Beginner's Luck" was actually a classic Greek comedy/tradgey.

[–] bigboy171975 13 years ago

First I'd like to that Doug for his kind words.Comming from him it's a real compliment.

Now I'd like to move on to McLintock.Some poster said Maureen O'Hara was to much of an extremely beautiful woman who is very classy and sophisticated to have someting like this happen to her.Well I really have to disagree with it.First it's well known that the characters Wayne and O'Hara played were a continuation of two other movies "The Quiet man" where Wayne chases O'Hara and wes her only to have her sleep in a different room till he fights her brother and wins her dowery.And "Rio Lobo" whwere there are married but seperated for many yrs and she comes to his Cavalry Regiment to get their son who ran away from home and joined his father's regiment.
Having an actress like Maureen O'Hara being done by a stripped humiliation scene is fine with me any time -her character in this film and the two previous films with John Wayne call for her to be given and extreme comeuppeance.I do agree she is a bit too old it would have been great if she was 28-35 but what can we do.I to love the scene where she is tarred and feathered.

[–] obo-1 13 years ago

Regarding McClintock, in my own opinion I don't think Maureen O'Hara was too old for the part. And I found her odyssey from the second floor hotel room through town, into the horse trough, and ending up in front of the blacksmith's over the Duke's lap one of the all-time great scenes. Being a devoted fan of the female derrière I think Maureen looks particularly fetching while she was balancing on the teetering ladder. And in the interest of complete accuracy it was molasses and feathers that covered Maureen O'Hara. And by her own words Wayne did not pull any punches when using the coal shovel on her ample bottom.

For a comparable comeuppance to a duly deserving female check out 1953's Paris Model. Paulette Goddard tries to steal her boss away from his wife. Her plot fails and at the end of the vignette the back of her dress become snagged on a coat hook and she walks completely out of it. She lets out a squeal and tries to hide behind the booth.

obo

[–] hocman6464 13 years ago

Obo I agree with you completely. I don't think you could have found a better person then Maureen O'Hara for this role and don't forget the Duke's age at this point. Having a younger woman would not have made much sense. The ladder scence was just awesome, giving a grand view of her derriere.

As for BL I have always felt that showing more of the audience, especailly the woman, howling with laughter would bring a little more humiliation to the short. Also how aboue Daisy mom, Ruth Hiatt raising the curtain. Would have loved to see the backstages mom enjoying Kitty's stripping a little more.

PS Obo writes some awesome BL inspired stories.

[–] obo-1 13 years ago

Thanks for the plug hocman. My stories can be found on literotica.com and storiesonline.com. Comments and suggestions always welcome.