Traveling Saleslady

When her father refuses to give her a job in his toothpaste company, Angela Twitchell sets out on her own in "Traveling Saleslady." She's going to prove him wrong, that the business world is not place for a woman. And does she ever in this film.

Joan Blondell plays Angela and Grant Mitchell plays her dad, Rufus. While billed as a comedy romance, this film hardly has any of the latter, and very little of the former. Angela teams up with Elmer, played by Hugh Herbert, who has invented unique flavored toothpastes. She then offers the product to her dad's competitor, with the proviso that she still owns the product and gets to go on the road to sell it.

That she does, much to the consternation of her dad's top salesman, Pat O'Connor (played by William Gargan), for whom Angela has eyes. A very good supporting cast of various characters contribute to this film. It was a glowing tribute to "women's lib" long before that movement of the late 1960s. Indeed, Hollywood made any number of movies ahead of that time in which women were cast in business and professional roles. Some were comedies - much better than this one, and others were dramas, mysteries and other genres.

As a comedy, "Traveling Saleslady" just isn't very funny. It has very little humorous dialog. And the funny situations are light at best. Part of the problem may be with Blondell herself. She was a favorite for lead roles at Warner Brothers during the Golden Era, especially comedy. But in this genre she always seemed to have one face - a wide-eyed, perky, smiling, agreeable, go get-em persona. So, when the dialog, action or scene doesn't mesh with that persona, what otherwise would be funny is a thud or just a pass over.

Here are a couple of the few good lines in this film.

Harry, "Is that you, Claudette?" Claudette, "Errr, ya got me. How are ya, Harry?" Harry, "Oh, me, I'm pretty OK, uh, except I caught cold last Tuesday. No, maybe it was Wednesday." Claudette, "Well, try to remember. I must know." Harry, "Let me see. My birthday was on Tuesday..." Claudette, "You sure?" Harry, "No.... no, when did I catch cold?" Claudette, "Listen, Harry, when you do remember, telephone me."

Martha, "Pat, pat!" Pat, "What do you want?" Martha, "I wanna go to Niagara Falls." Pat, "Can you swim?" Martha, "No, but I can cook."

This movie was ahead of its time. It's all about the power of women. That's something we're very familiar with these days, but they were not quite as familiar with back in the 1930's. But that's okay, it was the 1930's not 2023. So I cut them a little slack. There is no need to cut this movie any slack because it's marvelous.

This is a comedy full of wit and energy. It's extremely well-written and never backs down. The actors never back down either. They play it with all the energy they can muster. All the players are wonderful.

Basically, two toothpaste companies are battling it out. A salesman for one and a saleswoman for the other are also battling it out, face to face. Both of them are extremely ambitious and extremely ruthless. They are also attracted to each other.

The fun never stops in this non-stop fun fest. Feast your eyes and ears on this fabulous comedy from the 1930's, a decade that has never been topped for screwball comedies. This one is a gem.

... among the usual constrained unfunny comedies of the early production code era. Angela Twitchell (Joan Blondell) is the only child and go-getter daughter of toothpaste tycoon Rufus Twitchell (Grant Mitchell). The problem is, Mr. Twitchell won't let Angela go get anything. He has prehistoric ideas about women being too emotionally unstable and just not smart enough to be involved in business of any kind.

Angela meets up with an ex-bootlegger who has discovered how to get the flavor of his various bootleg formulas into toothpaste, but has been futile at his efforts to get Mr. Twitchell to talk to him - Elmer, played by Hugh Herbert. So Angela decides to get back at dad and take Elmer to dad's competitor. She tells the competitor that she will "rent" Elmer's formulas and labor to him for one year, providing she is allowed to be on the sales staff and get a percentage of her sales as income. The competitor agrees.

So Angela is out on the road, in competition with Pat O'Connor (William Gargan), representing Twitchell, who seemed like a big sleaze bag to me at first. For example, Angela gets no consideration from the first sales call she makes, which is on Glenda Farrell playing Claudette the buyer for a drugstore concern. O'Connor is leading Claudette on and thus Claudette only deals in Twitchell products. O'Connor is there when Angela strikes out, and is condescending and arrogant to her, amused by the idea of a saleslady. But he is not amused long. The rest of the picture is basically a battle of wits between Angela as a figurative Bugs Bunny and O'Connor as a figurative Daffy Duck. And we all know how cartoons go that have those two in them. A rare feminist situation in 1935 American films, compounded by the fact that O'Connor does not know Angela's true identity.

Hugh Herbert is portioned out in small doses, and that makes him work in this film as too much of his typical confused and inane act can get old fast. The double entendres don't come fast and furious as they would have in the precode era, but a few do get through if you listen carefully enough. Even our two feminist characters in this film show a bit of prejudice. Before their first meeting - Angela as saleslady and Claudette as the head of buying for her drugstore - both women assume the other is a man and are putting on their face assuming that will help them with the man they are assuming they will be dealing with.

And who can't help like a film that shows the sales route of the two rival toothpaste salespersons as lines of toothpaste meandering across a map of the U.S? Highly recommended.

Joan Blondell stars as the daughter of a tooth paste baron (Grant Mitchell) who doesn't believe in women in the workplace or in embracing modern advertising. Blondell is bored and wants a job but daddy says NO! So she goes to a competitor with a new idea from a nutty professor (Hugh Herbert) with the proviso that she gets to be the traveling saleslady.

Blondell immediately runs into competition from daddy's crack salesman (William Gargan) and the two spend the rest of the film sparring and falling in love. Glenda Farrell also stars as the head of a drug store chain, also in love with Gargan.

Lots of fun, fast pacing, and many snappy lines make this a top B comedy of the 30s.Very modern in its view of women, big business, etc.

Ruth Donnelly is the mother, Al Shean is the competitor, Bert Roach (very funny) as the male wallflower, Mary Treen is a secretary, and Johnny Arthur is also a secretary.

Good roles for Blondell, Farrell, and Gargan---and all three underused by Warners.

Joan Blondell wants a job in the toothpaste firm owned by her father, Grant Mitchell. Hugh Herbert has developed a line of flavors for toothpaste and he wants to sell them to Mitchell. Mitchell is a fuddy-duddy and turns them both down without listening. So Miss Blondell goes to Mitchell's competitor, Al Shean, who is delighted with the idea, agreeing a a penny per tube, a place in the lab for Herbert, and a saleslady job for her. Soon she is tangling with Mitchell's top salesman, William Gargan, and the lady doesn't play fair, especially with her husband, George Barnes, in charge of the camera.

Director Ray Enright keeps the pace up, and added Glenda Farrell as a drugstore-chain owner who dates Gargan, so the words fly as as fast as the situations. Keep an eye out for Ruth Donnelly, Johnny Arthur, Bert Roach..... well, the usual cast of fine character comedians that Warners could draw on in this period.