Week Seventy-Nine
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"Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President" 1939 Tommy as Tommy Perkins |
MOVIE NAME: JOE AND ETHEL TURP CALL ON THE PRESIDENT
STUDIO: METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER
PRODUCER: EDGAR SELWYN
DIRECTOR: ROBERT B. SINCLAIR
DATE: 1939
TYPE: COMEDY-DRAMA
CAST:
ANN SOTHERN as Ehtel Turp , LEWIS STONE as The President, WALTER BRENNAN as Jim Martin , WILLIAM GARGAN as Joe Turp , MARSHA HUNT as Kitty Crusper , TOM NEAL as Johnny Crusper, JAMES BUSH as Henry Crusper , DON COSTELLO as Fred , MURIEL HUTCHINSON as Francine La Vaughn, TOMMY BUPP, as Tommy Perkins
SOURCE: A F I, Catalog of Feature Films 1931-1940
STORY: When Jim Martin, the mailman, is arrested for tearing up a registered letter addressed to the widow Kitty Crusper, Joe and Ethel Turp take the matter up with the authorities. When they find that nothing can be done because it is a federal matter, the Turp decide to call on the President. They drive to Washington and are seen by the President at the White House, because the president is curious to know what the average man is thinking. The Turps tell the president of the story about their beloved postman Jim, who years earlier, had fallen in love with Kitty O'Brien. Jim was about to ask her to marry him, when he finds out she is engaged to Henry Crusper. Jim leaves town to ride the mail train for twelve years until he learns of Henry's death, leaving Kitty alone to raise their son Johnny. Jim returns to his old job as mailman. Even Jim's kindly influence is unable to help Johnny, the bad seed. The night that Kitty and Jim are to announce their engagement, Johnny is involved in an armed robbery and blackmails Jim for money to leave town. After Johnny leaves, Kitty becomes ill and Jim forges letters to her from Johnny. Every week for two years, Kitty receives a letter from her son until Jim opens the registered letter from San Quentin, notifying Kitty that her son was killed in an attempted escape. Afraid that the news would kill her, Jim destroys the registered letter and is arrested. The president takes pity on Jim, and when the Turps return home to Brooklyn, they discover that the mailman has been pardoned.
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