It is believed that actress Thelma Todd carried on a lengthy affair with comedian Charley Chase during the time of their collaboration in the early thirties. According to biographer Andy Edmonds, Chase's wife Bebe was not overly concerned with her husband's monogamy and looked the other way while Chase enjoyed his fling -- even socialized with the up-and-coming actress, with the understanding that the Chases' domestic arrangement would not be disturbed.

One gets a sense of what Todd the party girl must have been like -- either carousing with Chase or playing hostess at her Palisades nightclub -- in Whispering Whoopee (1930). Todd appears as one of three floozies hired by real estate swindler Chase to "entertain" a trio of stuffy government officials. As the evening wears on, the middle-aged bureaucrats exhibit a wild side themselves and the evening climaxes in a raucous seltzer bottle battle.

Producer: Hal Roach
Director: James W. Horne
Music: Leroy Shield (uncredited)
Cast: Charley Chase (Charley), Thelma Todd (Miss Todd), Anita Garvin (Miss Garvin), Dolores Brinkman (Miss Brinkman), Kay Deslys (Miss Deslys), Eddie Dunn (Ricketts, the Butler), Dell Henderson (Mr. Henderson), Carl Stockdale (Mr. Stockdale), Tenen Holtz (Mr. Holtz), Edward Dillon (Mr. Richmond, the Landlord).
BW-21m.

by Bret Wood