Question 1

What pseudonym did W.C. Fields use as screenwriter, and what's the wordplay behind it?

Accepted Answer

W.C. Fields used the pseudonym 'Mahatma Kane Jeeves,' which is a play on words from stage plays of the era meaning 'My hat, my cane, Jeeves!' At the film's end, his butler hands him his hat and cane.

Question 2

How did director Edward F. Cline handle Universal's censors' objections to W.C. Fields' script?

Accepted Answer

Cline suggested Fields film the script their way, ignoring the censors' changes, predicting the front office wouldn't notice the difference—and they didn't.

Question 3

What connection does Shemp Howard's character Joe have to The Three Stooges through a musical cue?

Accepted Answer

Joe the Bartender, played by Shemp Howard of The Three Stooges, enters a bar while Egbert Sousé whistles 'Listen to the Mockingbird,' which was the Stooges' theme music in the mid- to late 1930s.

Question 4

What was the original name of the bar in the film, and why was it changed?

Accepted Answer

The bar was originally called 'The Black Pussy Cafe,' but the Production Code Administration rejected the name, despite Fields' protest that a real L.A. bar owned by his friend Leon Errol had the same name.

Question 5

Where did the motorcycle cop gag involving ditch-diggers originate?

Accepted Answer

The gag where a motorcycle cop drives through a trench and knocks out ditch-diggers was developed by Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline for Keaton's film 'Sherlock Jr.' (1924), and Cline recycled it for this film.

Loved this film?

Share with others

Loved this film?

Share with others

The Bank Dick

Customers also watched