''Tugboat Annie'' is a 1933 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

film directed by

Mervyn LeRoy Mervyn LeRoy (; October 15, 1900 – September 13, 1987) was an American film director and producer. In his youth he played juvenile roles in vaudeville and silent film comedies. During the 1930s, LeRoy was one of the two great practitioners of ...

, written by

Norman Reilly Raine Norman Reilly Raine (23 June 1894 – 19 July 1971) was an American screenwriter, creator of "Tugboat Annie" and winner of an Oscar for the screenplay of ''The Life of Emile Zola'' (1937). Early years Raine was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvan ...

and

Zelda Sears Zelda Sears (née Paldi; January 21, 1873 – February 19, 1935) was an American actress, screenwriter, novelist and businesswoman. Early life and background She was born as Zelda Paldi near Brockway Township, St. Clair County, Michigan, into ...

, and starring

Marie Dressler Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934) was a Canadian stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Depression-era film star. In 1914, she was in the first full-length film comedy. She ...

and

Wallace Beery Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in ''Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in ''Grand Hotel'' (193 ...

as a comically quarrelsome middle-aged couple who operate a tugboat. Dressler and Beery were

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

's most popular screen team at that time, having recently made the bittersweet ''

Min and Bill ''Min and Bill'' is a 1930 American Pre-Code comedy-drama film, directed by George W. Hill and starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery. Adapted by Frances Marion and Marion Jackson from Lorna Moon's 1929 novel, ''Dark Star'', the film tells ...

'' (1930) together, for which Dressler won the

Academy Award for Best Actress The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. ...

. The boisterous Tugboat Annie character first appeared in a series of stories in the ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

'' written by the author

which were supposedly based on the life of

Thea Foss Thea Christiansen Foss (8 June 1857 – 7 June 1927) was the founder of Foss Launch and Tug Company, Foss Maritime, the largest tugboat company in the western United States. She was the real-life person on which the fictional character "Tugboat ...

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

. There is also a theory that her character is loosely based on Kate A. Sutton, secretary and dispatcher for the Providence Steamboat Company during the 1920s. ''Tugboat Annie'' also features Robert Young and

Maureen O'Sullivan Maureen O'Sullivan (17 May 1911 – 23 June 1998) was an Irish-American actress, who played Jane in the ''Tarzan'' series of films during the era of Johnny Weissmuller. She performed with such actors as Laurence Olivier, Greta Garbo, William ...

as the requisite pair of young lovers. Captain Clarence Howden piloted Annie's tugboat "''Narcissus''" (real name ''Wallowa''), which was owned by Foss Tug and Barge of Tacoma and had been leased to MGM for the movie. Howden's son Richard Howden is seen rolling rope during the credits. Filmed in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington, ''Tugboat Annie'' used local residents as extras, including then-mayor John F. Dore. The tugboat used in the film, renamed ''

Arthur Foss ''Arthur Foss'', built in 1889 as ''Wallowa'' at Portland, Oregon, is likely the oldest wooden tugboat afloat in the world. Its 79-year commercial service life began with towing sailing ships over the Columbia Bar, Columbia River bar, and ended ...

'' in 1934, is the oldest wooden tugboat afloat in the world and remains preserved by

Northwest Seaport Northwest Seaport Maritime Heritage Center is a nonprofit organization in Seattle, Washington dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Puget Sound and Northwest Coast maritime heritage, expressed through educational programs and exper ...

in Seattle.

Cast

Reception

The film earned $1,917,000 in rentals in the United States and Canada and $655,000 overseas for a total of $2,572,000 and made a profit of $1.1 million.Scott Eyman, ''Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer'', Robson, 2005 p 191

Sequels

A sequel called ''

Tugboat Annie Sails Again ''Tugboat Annie Sails Again'' is a 1940 American comedy romance film directed by Lewis Seiler. The picture is a sequel to ''Tugboat Annie'' (1933). Marjorie Rambeau took over the late Marie Dressler's role, and the supporting cast features Alan H ...

'' was released in 1940, starring

Marjorie Rambeau Marjorie Burnet Rambeau (July 15, 1889 – July 6, 1970) was an American film and stage actress. She began her stage career at age 12, and appeared in several silent films before debuting in her first sound film, '' Her Man'' (1930). She was t ...

, Alan Hale,

Jane Wyman Jane Wyman ( ; born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007)"Actress, P ...

, and

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

, and another called ''

Captain Tugboat Annie ''Captain Tugboat Annie'' is a 1945 second sequel to the classic ''Tugboat Annie'' (1933), this time starring Jane Darwell as Annie and Edgar Kennedy as Horatio Bullwinkle. The movie was directed by Phil Rosen, and is also known as ''Tugboat Ann ...

'' in 1945 starring

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 ...

and

Edgar Kennedy Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 – November 9, 1948) was an American comedic character actor who appeared in at least 500 films during the silent and sound eras. Professionally, he was known as "Slow Burn", owing to his ability to por ...

. Many of the publicity shots for the former were taken aboard the

, which had starred as Annie's "Narcissus" in the original film. A

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

-filmed television series appeared in 1957, ''

The Adventures of Tugboat Annie ''The Adventures of Tugboat Annie'' is a 1957 Canadian-filmed comedy television series starring Minerva Urecal as Annie Brennan, the widowed captain of the tugboat "Narcissus," and Walter Sande as Horatio J. Bullwinkle, the captain of the "Salaman ...

'', starring

Minerva Urecal Minerva Urecal (born Florence Minerva Dunnuck; September 22, 1894 – February 26, 1966) was an American stage and radio performer as well as a character actress in Hollywood films and on various television series from the early 1950s to 19 ...

ran for 39 half-hour episodes.

References in other media

* In ''

The Railway Series ''The Railway Series'' is a series of British books about a railway known as the North Western Railway, located on the fictional Island of Sodor. There are 42 books in the series, the first published in May 1945 by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry. Twen ...

'' book, '' The Twin Engines'',

Gordon the Big Engine This article is about the characters that have appeared in the books of ''The Railway Series'' by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry and Christopher Awdry. Unless otherwise stated on this page, the technical notes come from actual notes laid out by Wilbert ...

references Tugboat Annie when he teases Donald and Douglas about their deep-toned whistles. * Mentioned in the AA " Big Book" in the personal story of

Dr. Bob Robert Holbrook Smith (August 8, 1879 – November 16, 1950), also known as Dr. Bob, was an American physician and surgeon who founded Alcoholics Anonymous with Bill Wilson (more commonly known as Bill W.). Family and early life Smith was ...

, one of the co-founders of

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...

. * 1990s indie rock band

Tugboat Annie ''Tugboat Annie'' is a 1933 American pre-Code film directed by Mervyn LeRoy, written by Norman Reilly Raine and Zelda Sears, and starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery as a comically quarrelsome middle-aged couple who operate a tugboat. Dr ...

was named for the character.

References

External links

* * {{Irving Thalberg 1933 films American black-and-white films 1933 comedy-drama films Films directed by Mervyn LeRoy 1930s English-language films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Tugboats in fiction Films produced by Irving Thalberg Seafaring films American comedy-drama films 1930s American films