The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)

In director Irving Weis' romantic comedy and farce, noted for its Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay (Sidney Sheldon), it told about three main characters: a bachelor-playboy artist, an impressionable teenaged girl, and a female judge - with all its entangling implications:

• in the opening municipal court scene, Richard "Dickie" Nugent (Cary Grant) - a womanizing, handsome, and well-dressed bachelor-playboy - had been arrested after a brawl in The Vampire Club - an LA nightclub (instigated by two women fighting over his attentions); although it was his third such charge, he was released by presiding, serious-minded, single Judge Margaret Turner (Myrna Loy), who disregarded the contrary advice of her Asst. DA Tommy Chamberlain (Rudy Vallee), her part-time, prissy and stuffy yet hopeful boyfriend
• afterwards, Nugent appeared as a guest art lecturer to Sunset HS students in a school assembly, where 17 year-old teenager Susan Turner (a grown-up Shirley Temple in a more adult role), who happened to be the ward and younger sister of Judge Turner, was in the audience with her HS boyfriend Jerry White (Johnny Sands)
• after the assembly, Susan interviewed Nugent for her HS newspaper and immediately became love-smitten and infatuated with him - she imagined him as her 'knight in shining armor' - literally - as he walked away from her; and soon after, she confessed to her older sister: "I'm in love with him - don't you realize that?"

• Susan also brazenly decided to sneak out of her house and visit Nugent in his apartment to model a dress for him; Nugent was confronted there and accused of being a trouble-making seductor by both the Judge and ADA Tommy Chamberlain; Nugent retaliated and slugged Chamberlain in the nose
• another similar court case ensued, when Nugent was charged with assault and again called before Judge Turner; after speaking with the court psychiatrist Matt Beemish (Ray Collins), Susan's and the Judge's uncle, Nugent was encouraged to accept an unusual compromised sentence
• to Nugent's utter surprise and against the Judge's "better judgment," he was ordered to date Susan; the Judge's objective was to 'cure' or end Susan's obsessive romantic interest (as the Judge stated: "Just until she gets over you" and her feelings wear out); to complicate matters, both sisters had boyfriends who were jealous of Nugent
• there were many instances of the repeated and popular bobby-soxer word-play game or exchange - a hip sing-song dialogue; it was first recited between Nugent and Susan when he arrived to pick her up for the high school picnic: - "Ready poot, let's scoot." - "Greet." - "Greet." - "You remind me of a man." - "What man?" - "A man with the power." - "What power?" - "The power of hoo-do." - "Hoo-do?" - "You do." - "Do what?" - "You remind me of a man." - "What man?" - "A man with the power." - "What power?"
• there were a number of typical youth settings that awkwardly paired Nugent with Susan at HS events, including a basketball game, a malt shop, and then a high school picnic; in the latter, Nugent competed with other juveniles (including Jerry) in an obstacle course race - and with the assistance of Susan bribing his competitors to lose, Nugent won the race
• meanwhile, Judge Turner was beginning to fall in love with Nugent; she invited him to dinner and dancing at the Tick Tock Club, where the elegantly-dressed couple were constantly interrupted on the dance floor and at their table by various group renditions of "Happy Birthday" and "Happy Anniversary," and a succession of individuals, including Susan and her ex-boyfriend Jerry (who had just been drafted), the Judge's aspiring boyfriend Tommy, and one of Nugent's former girlfriends Agnes Prescott (Veda Ann Borg)

• the evening soon spun out of control into another uncomfortable situation (when Susan began acting as a wronged female and threatened to break up with Nugent); exasperated, Judge Turner reprimanded Nugent: "I've had enough of this and I've had enough of you. Everywhere you go, you attract trouble!" and then stormed off before everybody exited; left alone at the table, the waiter came by and asked Nugent (who had been doused by an overturned glass): "Would there be anything else?" - and Nugent replied: "For instance?"; Susan was soon convinced to return to her appropriately-aged boyfriend Jerry
• in the final scene at the airport, the reluctant Judge Turner and Nugent were set up by her cupid-playing Uncle Matt Beemish to board the same TWA airplane - and spend vacation time together in Chicago; when they realized they would be fellow passengers at the gate, Margaret turned to him and initiated the familiar bobby-soxer word game beginning with: "You remind me of a man"; she ended the recitation with the question: "Give up?" - he quickly replied "Give up. Let's go," and took her arm