Depression-era chorus girls get government-funded re-education and chaos ensues.
Oddly enough for a Roach comedy the premise of MIXED NUTS is grounded in topical political satire aimed at the New Deal, although the satire is of a very lightweight (and light-hearted) nature. The film begins at a city council meeting where an unidentified politician announces that the government has released $50,000 for the relief of unemployed plumbers. This prompts applause, but also a pointed question from an angry woman who wants to know what the government is going to do for the members of her profession: chorus girls. The politician glibly replies that the administration has set aside money—two million dollars, no less!—for the re-education of chorus girls, "to fit them for the better things in life."
Acting
Thelma Hill's exasperated chorine steals every frame.
Writing
Surprisingly sharp political satire for a Hal Roach short.
Director
James Parrott
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This short captures genuine 1934 anxiety about New Deal programs, packaged as harmless farce to slip past censors.
Thelma Hill was a Hal Roach regular who tragically died by suicide in 1938, making this one of her final preserved performances.
US
