A 1926 comedy where getting rich is the easy part — staying married is the oil well that runs dry.
Meyer Rubens and his wife, Esther, own a pressing-shop in New York's Lower East Side. Esther wants to move on up to the Upper West Side. She has a rich sister, Reba, who persuades Meyer to invest in the worthless oil stock sold by her husband. The stock proves to be not worthless and Meyer and Esther become overnight millionaires. But Reba thinks Meyer, who has no taste for high society, is holding her sister back socially, so she devises some schemes that involve catching Meyer in a compromising situation with other women, so her sister can file for a divorce.
Acting
George Sidney's expressive physical comedy as overwhelmed Meyer.
Costume
The visual gag of Lower East Side vs. Upper West Side fashion.
Direction
Raymaker's brisk 70-minute pacing keeps schemes spinning.
Director
Herman C. Raymaker
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Arthur Lubin, who plays Lew, later directed the 1960s 'Batman' series and gave Clint Eastwood his first credited role.
Released months before the 1927 stock market peak, the film's oil-stock windfall unintentionally documents pre-Crash optimism.
US
