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of her. MGM was not the kind of studio to condescend to screwball comedy;
on the few occasions that it went slumming, MGM came up with a pastiche
of screwball, slapstick, and romance which is exactly what Live turned out
to be. First, there was the meet cute, a staple of both romantic comedy and
screwball. Rosalind makes her entrance during a fox hunt when her horse
56 THE LADY AND THE LION
gallops over a stone wall, throwing her into Robert Montgomery s canvas.
Montgomery no sooner delivers a diatribe against the privileged class, to
which Rosalind belongs, than the two of them are joined in matrimony.
Despite her blue-chip upbringing, Rosalind adapts to her husband s
bohemian lifestyle because it is so alien to anything she has ever known.
MGM made it easier for her with its mythical depiction of Greenwich Village
as a haven for eccentrics, one of whom (Robert Benchley) becomes a per-
manent member of their household. All that Rosalind had to do was look
amused, marveling at the quaintness of it all.
The script had become a comic grab bag in which people are humiliated
and objects destroyed all in the name of fun. Rosalind must register delight
at the antics of Montgomery and Benchley as they snip off men s ties, includ-
ing the tie of an important gallery owner (Monty Woolley), whom they mis-
take for an imposter. Since neither Montgomery nor Benchley was adept at
physical comedy, their antics were annoyingly sophomoric. Rosalind was
spared; she only had to laugh.
Frank Capra s 1930s films, which codified the conventions of screwball
comedy, must have influenced the writers, who added a dash of social con-
sciousness to Live. Although one expects Montgomery to free himself from
Helen Vinson s clutches and return to Rosalind, his decision to speak to a
class of aspiring art students comes as a surprise, since he had earlier declined
the invitation. Yet when Montgomery addresses the group in the final scene,
he delivers a Capraesque speech about the importance of artistic integrity
and the folly of easy money.
Because Rosalind s frame called for gowns that seemed to flow down
her body, she was usually given a wardrobe that guaranteed her a place on
somebody s best-dressed list. In Man-Proof (1938) her bridal gown was
even more elaborate than the one in Reckless: it sported a train that trailed
down an entire staircase, as befits a woman of wealth. Although Rosalind
had replaced Myrna Loy in Rendezvous, she now found herself cast in a
secondary role in Man-Proof, playing Loy s competition for the affections of
Walter Pidgeon.
THE LADY AND THE LION 57
Rosalind was fortunate in not being the female lead. Loy had the
thankless role of Pidgeon s former inamorata who still carries the torch after
Pidgeon marries wealthy Rosalind. When Rosalind discovers that her hus-
band has renewed his relationship with Loy, she confronts the two of them,
delivering an unusually long monologue, in which she admits that Pidgeon,
whom she characterizes as an ordinary man, only married her for her
money. She delivers the lines reflectively in a voice slightly tinged with rue-
fulness but without any trace of self-pity. The speech is such a model of civil-
ity that, after Rosalind exits, Loy can only express her admiration: There
goes a general in any woman s army. The resolution is predictable: Pidgeon,
chastened, returns to Rosalind; and Loy, to Franchot Tone, whose love she
finally acknowledges.
Four s a Crowd (1938), Rosalind s first loan-out to Warner Bros., was
the studio s attempt to capitalize on the Errol Flynn Olivia de Havilland suc-
cess, The Adventures of Robin Hood, released four months earlier. Flynn and de
Havilland had become a popular screen couple ever since they appeared
together in Captain Blood (1935), the first of six films in which they
co-starred. The other two making up the crowd are Rosalind and Patrick
Knowles the latter as the publisher of the newspaper where Rosalind is an
ace reporter and where Errol Flynn had once been managing editor before
he discovered that there was more money in public relations.
Rosalind s Jean Christy was the precursor of Hildy Johnson in His Girl
Friday, breezing into the newsroom with the bouncy self-confidence that
only a true professional can exude. It might have taken a while for audi-
ences to get used to Rosalind in a tailored suit, although she did get a few
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