I've Got Your Number
Encyclopedia
I've Got Your Number is a 1934
Warner Bros.
Pre-Code
romantic comedy film
directed by Ray Enright
.
Marie Lawson (Joan Blondell
) is conned by admirer Nicky (Gordon Westcott
), who tells her it is just a practical joke, into redirecting a phone call. However, Nicky uses what he learns to his own benefit, costing the intended recipient a lot of money. When the victim complains to Marie's boss, telephone repairmen Terry Riley (Pat O'Brien
) and John (Allen Jenkins
) are called in to see if the phone was tapped. When it is found not to be, Marie loses her job.
Terry is attracted to Marie and eventually talks her into a date. He also gets her hired by businessman John P. Schuyler (Henry O'Neill
), whom he had earlier saved from a live electrical wire.
When Marie runs into Nicky later, she lets slip that her new employer is expecting a delivery of $90,000 in bonds. As a result, Nicky is able to fool the courier into thinking he is Schuyler and giving him the bonds while Marie is distracted by a flood of calls from his accomplices. When she realizes what has happened, she goes looking for Nicky, but this only serves to make her look guilty. Terry is questioned by the police and then released so he can lead them to her hiding place. It works and she is arrested.
When an expensive lawyer shows up on her behalf, Terry becomes suspicious and taps his line with John's reluctant help. Finally, he is able to trace a call to where Nicky and his gang are hiding out. When he goes there, he is easily caught and placed in a bedroom after the phone is ripped out. However, he is not searched. He hooks up a spare phone he has and is able to contact John to bring help. The crooks are captured.
Terry and Marie get married, but on their wedding night, many of Terry's co-workers show up to "repair" their phone.
1934 in film
-Events:*January 26 - Samuel Goldwyn purchases the film rights to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the L. Frank Baum estate for $40,000.*February 19 - Bob Hope marries Dolores Reade...
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
Pre-Code
Pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood refers to the era in the American film industry between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines. Although the Code was adopted in 1930, oversight was poor and it did not become rigorously...
romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily"...
directed by Ray Enright
Ray Enright
Ray Enright was an American film director. He directed 73 films between 1927 and 1953.He was born in Anderson, Indiana and died in Hollywood, California from a heart attack.-Selected filmography:...
.
Plot
Switchboard operatorSwitchboard operator
In the early days of telephony, through roughly the 1960s, companies used manual telephone switchboards and switchboard operators connected each call by inserting a pair of phone plugs into the appropriate jacks. Each pair of plugs was part of a cord circuit with a switch associated that let the...
Marie Lawson (Joan Blondell
Joan Blondell
Rose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...
) is conned by admirer Nicky (Gordon Westcott
Gordon Westcott
Gordon Westcott , was an American film actor.He was a contract player with Warner Brothers and appeared in 37 films between 1928 and 1935, starring alongside such up and comers as Bette Davis, Loretta Young and James Cagney...
), who tells her it is just a practical joke, into redirecting a phone call. However, Nicky uses what he learns to his own benefit, costing the intended recipient a lot of money. When the victim complains to Marie's boss, telephone repairmen Terry Riley (Pat O'Brien
Pat O'Brien (actor)
Pat O’Brien was an American film actor with more than one hundred screen credits.-Early life:O’Brien was born William Joseph Patrick O’Brien to an Irish-American Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served as an altar boy at Gesu Church while growing up near 13th and Clybourn streets...
) and John (Allen Jenkins
Allen Jenkins
Allen Jenkins was an American character actor of stage, screen and television.-Early life:He was born David Allen Curtis Jenkins in Staten Island, New York on April 9, 1900.-Career:...
) are called in to see if the phone was tapped. When it is found not to be, Marie loses her job.
Terry is attracted to Marie and eventually talks her into a date. He also gets her hired by businessman John P. Schuyler (Henry O'Neill
Henry O'Neill
Henry O'Neill was a film actor known for playing gray-haired fathers, lawyers, and similarly dignified roles during the 1930s and 1940s.-Life and career:...
), whom he had earlier saved from a live electrical wire.
When Marie runs into Nicky later, she lets slip that her new employer is expecting a delivery of $90,000 in bonds. As a result, Nicky is able to fool the courier into thinking he is Schuyler and giving him the bonds while Marie is distracted by a flood of calls from his accomplices. When she realizes what has happened, she goes looking for Nicky, but this only serves to make her look guilty. Terry is questioned by the police and then released so he can lead them to her hiding place. It works and she is arrested.
When an expensive lawyer shows up on her behalf, Terry becomes suspicious and taps his line with John's reluctant help. Finally, he is able to trace a call to where Nicky and his gang are hiding out. When he goes there, he is easily caught and placed in a bedroom after the phone is ripped out. However, he is not searched. He hooks up a spare phone he has and is able to contact John to bring help. The crooks are captured.
Terry and Marie get married, but on their wedding night, many of Terry's co-workers show up to "repair" their phone.
Production
While filming, Blondell had to have an emergency appendectomy. The last scene had to be shot at her home because she was not allowed to travel.Cast
- Joan BlondellJoan BlondellRose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...
as Marie Lawson - Pat O'BrienPat O'Brien (actor)Pat O’Brien was an American film actor with more than one hundred screen credits.-Early life:O’Brien was born William Joseph Patrick O’Brien to an Irish-American Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served as an altar boy at Gesu Church while growing up near 13th and Clybourn streets...
as Terry Riley - Glenda FarrellGlenda Farrell-Career:Farrell came to Hollywood towards the end of the silent era. Farrell began her career with a theatrical company at the age of 7. She played Little Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin...
as Bonnie, aka "Madame Francis", a fake medium who uses a telephone to fool her victims into thinking they are speaking to their dead loved ones - Allen JenkinsAllen JenkinsAllen Jenkins was an American character actor of stage, screen and television.-Early life:He was born David Allen Curtis Jenkins in Staten Island, New York on April 9, 1900.-Career:...
as John - Eugene PalletteEugene PalletteEugene William Pallette was an American actor. He appeared in over 240 silent era and sound era motion pictures between 1913 and 1946....
as Joseph Flood, Terry's exasperated boss - Henry O'NeillHenry O'NeillHenry O'Neill was a film actor known for playing gray-haired fathers, lawyers, and similarly dignified roles during the 1930s and 1940s.-Life and career:...
as John P. Schuyler - Louise BeaversLouise BeaversLouise Beavers was an African-American film and television actress. Beavers appeared in dozens of films from the 1920s to the 1930s, most often in the role of a maid, servant, or slave. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Beavers was a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, one of the four African-American...
as Crystal, Bonnie's accomplice - Gordon WestcottGordon WestcottGordon Westcott , was an American film actor.He was a contract player with Warner Brothers and appeared in 37 films between 1928 and 1935, starring alongside such up and comers as Bette Davis, Loretta Young and James Cagney...
as Nicky