Theodora Goes Wild

Theodora Goes Wild
215px theatrical poster
Directed by	Richard Boleslawski
Produced by	Everett Riskin
Written by	Mary McCarthy Sidney Buchman
Starring	Irene Dunne Melvyn Douglas
Music by	Arthur Morton William Grant Still (both uncredited)
Cinematography	Joseph Walker
Edited by	Otto Meyer
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	November 12, 1936 (1936-11-12)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Theodora Goes Wild is a 1936 American romantic comedy film that tells the story of a small town which is incensed by a risqué novel, little knowing that it was written under a pseudonym by a member of the town's leading family. It stars Irene Dunne and Melvyn Douglas and was directed by Richard Boleslawski. The film was written by Mary McCarthy and Sidney Buchman. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Irene Dunne and Best Film Editing. It's often mentioned as a screwball comedy, due to a few of the elements in the story.

Prior to this film, Dunne had been cast in dramatic films. Theodora Goes Wild was her first comedy, and while it was reported in a biography of Cary Grant that she was unsure of herself in comedies, this extremely popular film proved to be the beginning of a new phase in her film career, as a screen comedienne.

Plot

Theodora Lynn (Irene Dunne) is a Sunday school teacher and former church organist in Lynnfield, Connecticut, raised by two spinster aunts, Mary (Elisabeth Risdon) and Elsie Lynn (Margaret McWade). She also happens to be, under the pen name Caroline Adams, the secret author of a bestselling book that has the straitlaced Lynnfield Literary Circle in an uproar. The book is serialized in the local newspaper, and the Literary Circle, led by outraged busybody Rebecca Perry (Spring Byington), forces the newspaper's owner, Jed Waterbury (Thomas Mitchell), to stop printing the salacious installments.

Theodora travels to New York City on the pretext of visiting her black sheep uncle, John (Robert Greig), but actually goes to see her publisher, Arthur Stevenson (Thurston Hall). Though Stevenson reassures an anxious Theodora that only he and his secretary know her identity, his wife Ethel (Nana Bryant) pressures him into an introduction, which the book's illustrator, Michael Grant (Melvyn Douglas), overhears. Intrigued, Michael invites himself to dinner with the Stevensons and Theodora. Theodora becomes annoyed when Michael smugly assumes that she is a teetotaler, so she orders a whiskey. As the night goes on, she becomes drunk. So does Ethel, forcing Arthur to take his wife home and leaving Theodora alone with Michael. When he makes a pass at her, she panics and flees, much to his amusement.

He tracks her down to her hometown and is immediately noticed outside her house whistling. Because she technically is not supposed to know anyone outside of Lynnfield, he coerces her into hiring him as a gardener, thus scandalizing her aunts and providing Rebecca Perry plenty to gossip about. Michael declares that he is going to break Theodora out of her confining routine, ignoring her protests that she likes her life just the way it is. Despite herself, she enjoys herself very much when Michael makes her go berrypicking and fishing with him. Finally, she gets up the nerve to tell the disapproving women of the Literary Circle that she loves him. When she tells Michael what she has done, he is less than thrilled.

The next day, Theodora finds that he has gone back to New York and left her. She tracks him down to his Park Avenue apartment. He admits he loves her, but then his father (Henry Kolker), the Lieutenant Governor, shows up, followed by Michael's wife, Agnes (Leona Maricle). The estranged couple are only remaining married to avoid causing a political scandal for Michael's father.

Theodora determines to free Michael just as he had done for her. He wants her to hold off until his father's term ends in two years, but she is unwilling to wait that long. To that end, she courts publicity by coming out of anonymity and revealing herself as the true Caroline Adams. She is staying in Michael's apartment even though he has moved out to get away from her, and she tells the press of her intention to publish a new book that details finding romance in her small town and searching for someone who will call her "baby" – a story that mimics her relationship with Michael. Meanwhile, Michael denies to the press that he has even met Theordora before. She finally crashes the Governor's ball and arranges for reporters to photograph her embracing Michael. Agnes seeks a divorce to avoid looking like a fool.

Theodora returns to Lynnfield and is warmly welcomed as a celebrity, even by her now-supportive aunts. She causes further talk when she brings a newborn baby with her. When Michael, now divorced, sees the child, he tries to flee, but then Theodora reveals that the baby belongs to Rebecca Perry's own secretly-married daughter.

Cast

• Irene Dunne as Theodora Lynn / "Caroline Adams"           
• Melvyn Douglas as Michael Grant
• Thomas Mitchell as Jed Waterbury
• Thurston Hall as Arthur Stevenson
• Rosalind Keith as Adelaide Perry
• Elisabeth Risdon as Mary Lynn

• Margaret McWade as Elsie Lynn
• Spring Byington as Rebecca Perry
• Nana Bryant as Ethel Stevenson
• Henry Kolker as Henry Grant
• Leona Maricle as Agnes Grant
• Robert Greig as John Lynn

Radio adaptations

Orson Welles adapted the story for his Mercury Theatre players for a January 14, 1940 episode of The Campbell Playhouse, with Loretta Young starring as Theodora.

External links

• Theodora Goes Wild at IMDb
• Theodora Goes Wild at the TCM Movie Database
• Theodora Goes Wild at AllMovie
• Theodora Goes Wild at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Theodora Goes Wild on Campbell Playhouse: January 14, 1940