''Lady Luck'' is a 1936 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

Charles Lamont Charles Lamont (May 5, 1895 – September 11, 1993) was a prolific filmmaker, directing over 200 titles and producing and writing many others. He directed several Abbott and Costello comedies and many Ma and Pa Kettle films. Biography A Calif ...

. It was made by

Chesterfield Motion Pictures Corporation Chesterfield Motion Picture Corporation, generally shortened to Chesterfield Pictures, was an American film production company of the 1920s and 1930s. The company head was George R. Batcheller, and the company worked in tandem with its sister stu ...

Plot

In New York City, Mamie Murphy is working as a manicurist when she hears on the salon's radio that she has won $2,500 on the racehorse Lady Luck in the sweepstakes draw, with the chance to win a further $150,000. Newspaper reporter Dave Haines is sent to interview Mamie because he already knows her and fancies her. She turns down his invitation to accompany him that evening to the Blue Moon nightclub, but accepts an invitation from "businessman" Jack Conroy to meet there. Conroy, who is actually a financially strapped playboy, is visited at his home by mild-mannered James Hemingway, who half-heartedly threatens him with a revolver and tells him to stay away from his wife. Conroy denies any involvement with her. Arriving at the Blue Moon about 9pm, Conroy wines and dines Mamie, while being watched scathingly by Mrs. Hemingway who is seated nearby. It's obvious that Conroy has in fact had a romantic liaison with her. The next day at the salon, Mamie signs a deal with theatrical agents Feinberg Goldberg Sternberg & O'Rooney that will give her a career in showbiz, but only if she wins the $150,000 sweepstake. The win is stipulated because it will give Mamie and any productions in which she appears an enormous amount of free publicity. That evening Mamie learns that she hasn't won anything at all when the real winner, an older woman also named Mamie Murphy, turns up at her door. The older Murphy offers to keep silent so the showbiz deal will go through. The horse race is held and Lady Luck wins. Mamie is now making newspaper headlines, and she and "Aunt" Mamie accept the offer from a real estate dealer to move into a plush apartment complete with servants for one month, for his publicity purposes. Mamie and Conroy publicly announce plans to marry. A maid at the new apartment overhears Mamie telling "Aunt" Mamie the whereabouts of her ticket. Soon after, Mamie and Aunt Mamie are drugged with laced coffee and sleep for hours. They find Conroy's dead body in the room when they awaken. Haines, Mamie, Aunt Mamie, Conroy's valet Briggs, Hemingway and his wife all come under suspicion, but eventually it's revealed that Blue Moon owner Tony Morelli and his wife Rita had planned to get their hands on the sweepstake ticket from the start and had set up the loan of the apartment with crooked servants for that purpose. Their plan was to get the ticket, pass off Rita as Mamie, and collect a fortune from a banker in exchange for the ticket. Conroy had unexpectedly arrived ahead of the banker, realized a plot was going on, and threatened to reveal the plotters to police so that Mamie's fortune and his marriage to her wouldn't be jeopardized. Tony had shot him and implicated Mamie and Aunt Mamie. The rich Aunt Mamie is attracted to Detective Lieutenant James Riley and they go off to a movie together. Mamie, although left with nothing, realises that may be better than the troubles brought on by fame and fortune, and resumes her feisty friendship with Dave Haines.

Cast

Patricia Farr Patricia Farr (born Arleine Rutledge Farr; January 15, 1913 – February 23, 1948) was an American film actress who appeared in films of the 1930s and 1940s. Despite being billed as leading lady in at least one (''Lady Luck'') of the films in w ...

as Mamie Murphy *

William Bakewell William Bakewell (May 2, 1908 – April 15, 1993) was an American actor who achieved his greatest fame as one of the leading juvenile performers of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Early years Bakewell was a native of Los Angeles, where he at ...

as Dave Haines *

Lulu McConnell Lulu McConnell (April 8, 1882 – October 9, 1962) was an American comic actress who performed in vaudeville, Broadway musicals, radio, and television. She was best known as a panelist on the comedic radio show ''It Pays to be Ignorant'', and for ...

as "Aunt" Mamie Murphy *

Duncan Renaldo Renault Renaldo Duncan (April 23, 1904 – September 3, 1980), better known as Duncan Renaldo, was a Romanian-born American actor best remembered for his portrayal of The Cisco Kid in films and on the 1950–1956 American TV series ''The Cisco Ki ...

as Tony Morelli *

Iris Adrian Iris Adrian Hostetter (May 29, 1912 – September 17, 1994) was an American stage, film actress and dancer. Life and career Adrian was an only child, born in Los Angeles, California, to Florence (née Van Every) and Adrian Earl Hostetter, who ...

as Rita *

Jameson Thomas Jameson Thomas (born Thomas Roland Jameson; 24 March 1888 – 10 January 1939) was an English film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1923 and 1939. He was born in St George Hanover Square, London. On the stage from his earl ...

as Jack Conroy *

Lew Kelly Lew Kelly (August 24, 1879 – June 10, 1944) was an American stage and film actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1928 and 1944. He was born Louis Kelly in St. Louis, Missouri, and died in Los Angeles, California. Selected ...

as Det. Lieutenant James Riley *

Vivian Oakland Vivien Oakland (born Vivian Ruth Andersen; May 20, 1895 – August 1, 1958), was an American actress best known for her work in comedies in Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s, most notably with the Hal Roach Studios. Oakland appeared in 157 film ...

as Mrs. Hemingway * Claude Allister (sic) as Briggs (Conroy's valet) *

Arthur Hoyt Arthur Hoyt (March 19, 1874 – January 4, 1953) was an American film character actor who appeared in more than 275 films in his 34-year film career, about a third of them silent films. Career Born in Georgetown, Colorado, in 1874, Hoyt mad ...

as Mr. Hemingway * John Kelly as Joe (bouncer at the Blue Moon) * Charles Lane as Mr. Feinberg

External links

* *{{Internet Archive film, id=LadyLuck, name=Lady Luck 1936 films American comedy films American black-and-white films Chesterfield Pictures films Films directed by Charles Lamont 1936 comedy films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films