1937 – What's in the Basket

Bonus 10. Thirteen Women (1932) and When’s Your Birthday? (1937): A Racist Final Destination

We’re looking to the stars this week for a research-free discussion of two very different cinematic approaches to astrology: Thirteen Women (1932), a proto-slasher starring Myrna Loy, and the Joe E. Brown comedy When’s Your Birthday? (1937). We talk about the impact of the Production Code on Hollywood’s handling of racial subject matter, the only screen appearance of the tragically infamous Peg Entwistle, Billy Wilder’s later mastery of Brown’s occasionally unappealing schtick, and—of course—hitchhiking babies.

Bonus 07. Postal Inspector (1936) and Telephone Operator (1937): People Have Always Been Scammin’

On this week’s bonus episode of What’s in the Basket, we brave the floodwaters for a research-free look at Ricardo Cortez, Bela Lugosi, and Patricia Ellis in Postal Inspector (1936) and Judith Allen and Alice White in Telephone Operator (1937). We learn that Alice White was Jughead, FDR was Alexa, and everyone in Old Hollywood was a tax evader.

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