Jimmy Conlin

In one of his rare performances without Bud Abbott, Lou Costello plays a rubbish collector and inventor. When radiation in a nearby cave turns his girlfriend into a giantess, antics ensue as he tries to shrink her using one of his inventions. —The West Virginian <vhdl40d@prodigy.com> Dorothy Provine plays Emmy Lou Raven who is in love with Artie Pinsetter, but he won't marry her until he is a great scientist. Distraught, she runs into Dinosaur Springs where the radiation turns her into a giant. A misunderstanding with her father forces Emmy and Artie to get married, but further confusion results when Emmy comes to town for the first time since her transformation and causes a panic. —William C. Uchtman <aesgaard41@hotmail.com>

A little squirrel with lots of charm accidentally helps two poor, down-but-NOT-out families overcome their obstacles. With Christmas Eve just around the corner, fading song-and-dance performer Joe Mahoney finds himself forced to part ways with his extraordinary, indispensable, kilt-wearing companion Rupert, the squirrel. In the meantime, another struggling vaudevillian, Louie Amendola, moves into the cold flat of miserly landlord Frank Dingle with his family, unbeknownst to them that an unexpected Christmas miracle is about to take place. However, as the underemployed Amendolas have a taste of the good life thanks to the godsent gift, the police start to suspect foul play. Does stealthy Rupert have something to do with their newfound happiness? —Nick Riganas A Christmas Wish is a heartwarming holiday classic about a New York family (led by Durante) who is down on their luck at Christmas time. Shortly before Christmas, they move into a ground floor apartment where Rupert the squirrel lives in the attic rafters. Just when it seems that the holiday will come and go without so much as a Christmas tree, Rupert acts as the family's guardian angel, not only saving Christmas, but changing their lives forever. The film is enlivened with the warmth and sweetness of an unforgettable love story between Terry Moore (of Mighty Joe Young) and Tom Drake (of Meet Me in St. Louis). Rupert the Squirrel (created using George Pal's Academy Award winning animation technique) will charm young and old alike. Jimmy Durante shines when he sings Jingle Bells and other well-loved Christmas carols in the evocative voice that made him one of America's recording legends. —Anonymous

In Tulsa, after a rancher dies during a feud with a major oil company, his daughter, driven by revenge, starts digging for oil herself. It's Tulsa, Oklahoma at the start of the oil boom and Cherokee Lansing's rancher father is killed in a fight with the Tanner Oil Company. Cherokee plans revenge by bringing in her own wells with the help of oil expert Brad Brady and childhood friend Jim Redbird. When the oil and the money start gushing in, both Brad and Jim want to protect the land but Cherokee has different ideas. What started out as revenge for her father's death has turned into an obsession for wealth and power. —A.L.Beneteau <albl@inforamp.net> Tells of the burgeoning oil industry in 1920s Oklahoma centered on Tulsa, which has experienced an economic boom because of it, and the often confrontational juxtaposition with the established cattle ranching community, the two industries largely fighting for use of the same land. On one far end is oil man Bruce Tanner, who believes in pumping out as much oil as quickly as possible to maximize wealth no matter the consequence to others. On the other end is native landowner and rancher Jim Redbird, who is not averse to the extra income from pumping for oil on his land as long as it does not negatively affect his ability to ranch. In the middle is geologist Brad Brady who initially comes into the business to maximize the possibility of striking oil as opposed to pure speculation, but who ends up believing a better use of his efforts is to advocate for the best use of the land for both industries. The story centers on Jim's friend Cherokee Lansing, one-quarter Cherokee hence her name, she the daughter of a rancher. She initially wants retribution not only for the lost income from the oil industry, but for the death of her father a direct result of oil on the land. She however begins to believe a better focus for her efforts is to beat the oil men at their own game by finding and pumping as much oil as possible, which could jeopardize her burgeoning romantic relationship with Brad. —Huggo

When the Daughters of Dixie nominate a candidate for State Senator, the local political machine run by Northerners fears its candidate will be defeated, and chooses her husband as a candidate in order to split the anti-machine vote. The first Eagle-Lion film stars Kenny Delmar as Senator Beauregard Claghorn, his "Allen's Alley" resident-character heard on Fred Allen's radio program. Claghorn was a blustery, one-man-Chamber-of-Commerce for all things Southern, who had no tolerence for anything north of the Mason-Dixon line, although he made allowances for South Philly. The character inspired the creation of one of the most popular of the Warners' cartoon characters, Foghorn Leghorn, who re-worked most of the originals material and style. The title of this movie is a stock line- "it's a joke, son"---he would feed a befuddled Fred Allen each week. In the film, Claghorn gets into some financial difficulties and is forced by a machine-political gang to enter a race for state senator against his wife (Una Merkel) who appears to have a good chance to beat the political hack backed by the machine. Claghorn is in to siphon votes and ensure his wife's opponent will win and is expected to run a campaign that will defeat himself and his wife. But, he runs to win and the machine's henchies abduct him. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

This story begins with the wedding of Gerry (Claudette Colbert) and Tom Jeffers (Joel McCrea), and the wedding follows with the caption, "And they lived happily ever after... or did they?" Time then flashes forward about four years to the Jeffers apartment where the Wienie King (Robert Dudley) is touring the Jeffers apartment as a likely rental because the Jeffers aren't able to make their bills. While the Wienie King and his wife tour the apartment, an embarrassed Gerry hides in closets and the bathroom, ducking away from touring eyes. The Wienie King happens upon Gerry hiding in the bathtub behind a shower curtain and takes an immediate liking to her so much that he decides not to take her apartment and gives Gerry $700 to pay her bills. Meantime, Tom is meeting with a hopeful investor to discuss his idea of building an airport that stretches over the city. The investor doesn't seem very keen on Tom's idea. When Tom gets home and finds out that Gerry has taken money from a stranger, he's upset. Gerry calms him down, but then suggests that they get a divorce because she feels as a single woman she can get him the money he needs to build his airport. Gerry takes Tom out to dinner with the last 14 dollars they have after she finished paying the bills that day, and they both get pretty drunk. When they get home, Gerry is still discussing divorce, but discussions stop as Tom helps Gerry remove her dress. The next morning, Gerry packs her suitcase and writes Tom a good-bye letter. She tries to pin the letter to the blanket but accidentally pokes Tom waking him up. Tom chases Gerry to the streets, but a penniless Gerry manages to get away in a taxi and thanks to the kindness of strangers, in this case the members of the Ale and Quail Club, she manages to get a ticket and a private car on a train to Palm Beach. The Ale and Quail Club get a bit drunk and decide to shoot up their train car, so Gerry sneaks away for some peace. She climbs into a berth which happens to be the berth above the berth of millionaire John D.Hackensacker III (Rudy Vallee) who comes to Gerry's rescue with loads of clothes, jewelry, etc., after Gerry loses her belongings due to the fact that the Ale and Quail Club train car has been disconnected from the train and abandoned. Gerry and John decide to abandon the train themselves and take John's yacht to Palm Beach. As this is happening Tom meets the Wienie King who has decided to take a different apartment in the building. The Wienie King gives Tom money to catch a plane to Palm Beach to stop Gerry from getting a divorce. When Tom meets the train, he finds out that Gerry has dumped the train for a yacht. Tom then waits for Gerry at the dock. Tom then meets John and John's sister the Princess Centimillia (Mary Astor) who takes an immediately liking to Tom. Gerry introduces Tom to everyone as her brother, and a slightly disagreeable Tom goes along with this plan solely to get time to convince Gerry to come to her senses. Gerry talks John into investing in Tom's airport. The Princess wants to marry Tom and John wants to marry Gerry. In the end, Gerry and Tom realize that they love each other and can't divorce. They both confess to the Princess and John. John decides to invest in Tom's airport anyway even though he loves Gerry. John then says, "If only you had a sister." Gerry says, "I do. A twin sister." As they express surprise over this revelation, Tom further reveals that he also has a twin brother. The movie then ends with Gerry and Tom standing side by side at the wedding of their twin siblings to the respective Hackensacker siblings where the movie ends as it begins, "And they lived happily ever after... or did they?"