My Little Chickadee (1940)
My Little Chickadee is a western comedy released in 1940 by Universal Pictures. The plot centers on a seductress from a small town (Mae West) who develops a romantic involvement with a bandit until she’s forced into marriage with a con artist. The story for the film was written primarily by Mae West herself.
My Little Chickadee was billed with several taglines during its promotional period, including "It’s the lafftime of a lifetime! … as Wild Bill Fields tries to tame the West!" and "She… brought out the WEST in him!... he was a bad man full of Brimstone… until he met the Sagebrush Siren!" and "Together for the first time!"
Cast and Crew of My Little Chickadee
My Little Chickadee was directed by Edward F. Cline and produced by Lester Cowan. Although Mae West and W.C. Fields are credited equally as writing the screenplay, Mae West wrote the vast majority of the script while Fields only contributed a single scene. Frank Skinner composed the musical score. Joseph A. Valentine served as chief cinematographer, and Edward Curtiss edited the film.
My Little Chickadee includes plenty of stars, including Mae West (as Flower Belle Lee) and W.C. Fields (as Cuthbert J. Twillie). The supporting cast includes Joseph Calleia, Dick Forn, Ruth Donnelly, Margaret Hamilton, Donald Meek, Fuzzy Knight, Willard Robertson, George Moran, and Jackie Searl.
My Little Chickadee was released on February 9, 1940, and has a running length of 83 minutes.
Plot Synopsis for My Little Chickadee
My Little Chickadee is set in the Old West in the 1880s. Flower Belle Lee is a Chicago singer who is traveling out west to visit some relatives. Flower is riding on a stagecoach along with three traveling companions, including three men and Mrs. Gideon, a gossip. Suddenly, the stagecoach is hijacked by a masked bandit who demands their gold shipment and asks the passengers to get out.
The masked bandit takes a liking to Flower, and when he escapes with the loot, he takes Flower with him. When the stagecoach reaches Little Bend, the passengers file a report of the kidnapping and robbery to the local sheriff. Suddenly, Flower arrives in town and reports that she was able to escape unscathed. In the evening, Flower is visiting with her Uncle John and Aunt Lou at their home, when the masked bandit enters the house through Flower’s window on the second story of the house, and the two share a kiss.
Mrs. Gideon sees the two before the masked bandit leaves. Mrs. Gideon gossips about the incident to the townspeople, who are promptly outraged and place Flower before a judge. Subsequently, Flower is run out of town and takes a train headed for Greasewood City.
The train makes an unexpected stop to retrieve Cuthbert J. Twillie, the conman played by W.C. Fields. Indians attack the train, and Flower shoots two pistols out of a window, killing the Indians. Meanwhile, Twillie dodges the Indians’ arrows and fights back with a slingshot. Flower is disinterested in Twillie until she sees a stack of money tucked into his bag. She assumes that he’s rich, and flirts with him in order to get acquainted. The two quickly get married, and the wedding is overseen by Amos Budge, a gambler.
Flower reveals that she only married Twillie in order to gain respect, and as such, she takes a separate room at the hotel in Greasewood City. The town boss and saloon owner Jeff Badger makes Twillie the sheriff of the town. Badger, Wayne Carter (the local newspaper editor), and several other men in town become romantically interested in Flower. Flower fends off her would-be suitors, keeps Twillie out of trouble, and eventually meets with the masked bandit once again.
During one evening, Twillie comes into Flower’s room posing as the masked bandit. Twillie is then accused of being the real masked bandit, and is set to be hanged. However, Twillie previously kissed Badger and knew that he was the real masked bandit. Flower intervenes and saves Twillie.
Flower and Twillie say their goodbyes, and Flower ends up with Badger.
Additional Information about My Little Chickadee
Despite mediocre critical reviews, My Little Chickadee grossed over twenty million dollars in the US alone. The film was the most successful movie of 1940 with the sole exception of Gone With The Wind.
The phrase "my little chickadee" was originally associated with Fields, who first spoke the line in the film If I Had A Million in 1932. However, in My Little Chickadee, Mae West speaks the line to Fields, while Fields uses West’s signature line: "Come up and see me sometime."
Dick Foran told both Mae West and W.C. Fields that they were rewriting each other’s lines, in order to prolong the production of the film and extend his employment. West and Fields disliked each other, and spent extra time rewriting their own scenes.