''It Happens Every Thursday'' is a 1953 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Joseph Pevney and starring

Loretta Young Loretta Young (born Gretchen Young; January 6, 1913 – August 12, 2000) was an American actress. Starting as a child, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the fil ...

John Forsythe John Forsythe (January 29, 1918 – April 1, 2010) was an American stage, film/television actor, producer, narrator, drama teacher and philanthropist whose career spanned six decades. He also appeared as a guest on several talk and variety s ...

, and

Frank McHugh Francis Curry McHugh (May 23, 1898 – September 11, 1981) was an American stage, radio, film and television actor. Early years Born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, of Irish descent, McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents, Edward A ...

, loosely based on the 1951 autobiographical book of the same title by Jane S. McIlvaine. It was Loretta Young's final theater-released film, as she switched to television work after this movie. The film cost $617,085 to make, with Young receiving $75,000 for her appearance. After ''It Happens Every Thursday'', Young took a 33 year hiatus from film work of any kind until 1986 when she starred in the TV movie ''Christmas Eve'' directed by

Stuart Cooper Stuart W. Cooper (born 1942) is an American filmmaker, actor and writer. Career Cooper was a resident in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and 1970s where his most notable film appearance was as one of ''The Dirty Dozen'', Roscoe Lever, in 1967. ...

Plot

A married couple, Bob and Jane MacAvoy (

and

), and their son, Stevie (Harvey Grant), sell everything and move out to California to buy and start up a newspaper company, the Eden Archive. To the surprise of the MacAvoys, the Eden Archive is a bit worse for wear. A pregnant Jane MacAvoy begins to go into labor and gives birth in the upstairs of the Eden Archive to the couple’s second child: a daughter. To kickstart their paper, Jane has the idea of putting baby pictures of townspeople in the paper and let people take a shot at who the babies are as a guessing game, making the paper exponentially more popular. This turns into a location guessing game in which a picture of a mansion was shown on the front page. The mansion, unbeknownst to the MacAvoys, is now a prostitution house ran by an old lady, Mrs. Holmes (

Gladys George Gladys George (born Gladys Clare Evans; September 13, 1904 – December 8, 1954) was an American actress of stage and screen. Though nominated for an Academy Award for her leading role in '' Valiant Is the Word for Carrie'' (1936), she spent most ...

), whom the townspeople are not too keen on. This edition of the paper is flamed by the town, leading to the loss of a slew of subscriptions for the Eden archive. Jane, while strolling the town's businesses to persuade them to purchase ads in the paper, runs into Myron Trout ( Willard Waterman), the owner of a clothing store and presumed villain of the story, whom makes flirtatious advances toward her. Jane quickly rejects the advances and moves on, much to Trout's chagrin. The MacAvoys decide to socialize within the clubs of the town to gain more supporters. The couple also does a drawing for a new car to anyone who subscribes, leading to even more members. A drought has been going on for months in Eden, so Bob MacAvoy, after promising in the newspaper to bring rain, implements his

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

flying experience to use

dry ice Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide. It is commonly used for temporary refrigeration as CO2 does not have a liquid state at normal atmospheric pressure and sublimates directly from the solid state to the gas state. It is used primarily ...

and cumulous clouds to bring manually induced rain to Eden. However, it starts raining before Bob can conduct his experiment, but Jane, seeing the rain outside, put out in the newspaper that Bob made the rain appear. The rain stays for several days after, flooding the streets, and the town blames Bob for the disaster. Myron Trout, still upset about Jane's rejection of him, goes to the mayor to try to get him to kick the MacAvoys out of town. The town holds a meeting asking Bob to reimburse them for rain damage. Bob decides to take his old job back in

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and the MacAvoys are about to leave when the town has a change of heart and a

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

that Jane phoned came and explained that Bob did not in fact cause the rain. The MacAvoys decide to stay in town and buy a new

press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a fam ...

, continuing the Eden Archive. The title "''It Happens Every Thursday''" comes from a line and trope within the film in which their printing press breaks down every Thursday on printing day.

Cast

as Jane MacAvoy *

as Bob MacAvoy *

as Fred Hawley *

Edgar Buchanan William Edgar Buchanan II (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the ''Petticoat Junction'', ''Green Acres'', and ''The ...

as Jake *

Gregg Palmer Palmer Edwin Lee (January 25, 1927 – October 31, 2015), known by his stage name Gregg Palmer, was an American film and television actor. Born in San Francisco, California, Palmer served in the United States Army Air Corps as a cryptographer i ...

as Chet Dunne (as Palmer Lee) * Harvey Grant as Steve MacAvoy *

Jane Darwell Jane Darwell (born Patti Woodard; October 15, 1879 – August 13, 1967) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. With appearances in more than 100 major movies spanning half a century, Darwell is perhaps best remembered for her p ...

as Mrs. Eva Sptch * Willard Waterman as Myron Trout * Jimmy Conlin as Matthew *

Regis Toomey John Francis Regis Toomey (August 13, 1898October 12, 1991) was an American film and television actor. Early life Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was one of four children of Francis X. and Mary Ellen Toomey, and attended Peabody High ...

as Mayor Hull *

as Mrs. Holmes * Kathryn Card as Mrs. Dour * Edward Clark as Homer *

Eddy Waller Edward Carlingford Waller (June 14, 1889 – August 20, 1977) was an American stage, film and television actor. Early years Born in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, he was a son of the Rev. Thomas M. Waller, a Presbyterian minister, and Anna Ta ...

as James Bartlett

Reception

The film was met with generally positive reception as a feel-good story that was fine for the whole family. In the film review journal '' Harrison's Reports'', P.S. Harrison states: "A pleasing and amusing comedy-drama that should give good satisfaction to the general run of audiences, particularly the family trade." In the ''

Motion Picture Herald The ''Motion Picture Herald'' was an American film industry trade paper published from 1931 to December 1972.Anthony Slide, ed. (1985)''International Film, Radio, and Television Journals'' Greenwood Press. p. 242. It was replaced by the ''QP Heral ...

'', it's mentioned that ''It Happens Every Thursday'' was "An excellent small town picture. Not particularly strong box office, but all those who saw it enjoyed it."

References

Bibliography

* Dick, Bernard F. ''Hollywood Madonna: Loretta Young''. University of Mississippi Press, 2011.

External links

* * * {{Joseph Pevney 1953 films American comedy films 1953 comedy films Films directed by Joseph Pevney Universal Pictures films Films based on American novels American black-and-white films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films