A Word to the Wives...

Here's an industrial film pushing everyone to get newhouses instead of buying old ones, making the point that the kitchen and laundry rooms are much more convenient.

And so they were. But there's another reason that people bought new homes in the 1950s, a reason that eventually carved out the inner cities: the market for new homes was aimed at World War II and Korean War veterans, who could get lower rates on their mortgages; my parents were both WWII vets, and my father wept when he burned the mortgage in the 1970s; he knew he'd never be able to borrow money at 3% ever again.

This one plays like a TV situation comedy without any laughs.

"A Word to the Wives" not only stars a hyperactive Darren McGavin, but was directed by none other than Norman Lloyd. Most short films that were made during the 1950s had some type of product promotion or useful advice. However, it's not really all that clear what exactly is going on with this particular effort.

The plot? Jane (Janet Riley) is tired of her old house, so her friend Alice (Marsha Hunt) convinces her to take a few days off to see her mother and let Jane's husband George (McGavin) and her son Jimmy (no actor credit) suffer in the old house by themselves.

Without giving anything away, the acting by McGavin is so over-the-top even for him that it's rather perplexing. He is "acting" in the most obvious sense of the word and even looks into the camera at one point, breaking the fourth wall for no reason.

However, he is so bad, it's very funny and it carries over into the rest of the short film. There is no obvious product placement, apart from the water heater (another unintentionally hilarious scene) and the advice seems to be that if a wife really wants something expensive from her husband, trick him into buying it.

This particular short received new life this year when it was riffed by Mary Jo Pehl and Bridget Nelson for Rifftrax. Their riffing, particularly for the live MST3K Reunion was hilarious, but they had plenty of bad material to work with.

"A Word to the Wives..." appears to be a giant commercial about kitchens and modern appliances. It's all very silly as the wives in the story keep breaking into salesperson jargon and keep throwing out words like 'efficiency' and the like! Oddly, this half hour infomercial stars some talented actors--Darren McGavin and Martha Hunt. And, it was directed by a talented director, Norman Lloyd. WHY they made this...well, that's beyond me. It plays much like a film you might have seen at a World's Fair...talking about the kitchen of the future. A strange curio and one that most folks would be bored to tears watching despite its stars.