In the romantic comedy Day-Time Wife (1939) Linda Darnell and Tyrone Power play Jane and Ken Norton, a married couple approaching their second anniversary. Unfortunately, cracks in the relationship are already beginning to show when Jane discovers that Ken has an extracurricular love life with his secretary Kitty (Wendy Barrie). To give him a taste of his own medicine, Jane secretly takes a job as a secretary to womanizing architect Bernard Dexter (Warren William) and soon finds herself getting more than she bargained for.

20th Century Fox initially cast actress Loretta Young in the role of Jane. However, when Young rejected the idea of getting second billing, Fox decided to use it as an opportunity to try out their new up-and-coming starlet Linda Darnell opposite Tyrone Power for the first time. Darnell was just a teenager at the time on the cusp of stardom while Power was an established matinee idol trying his hand at comedy after years of performing mostly in dramas. Darnell tried to act sophisticated on the set, but everyone was painfully aware that she was still essentially a schoolgirl despite her mature beauty. "I would be kissing Tyrone Power," said Darnell some years later, "and the school teacher would come and tell me it was time for my history lesson. I never before or since have been so embarrassed."

Luckily, audiences embraced the pairing of Darnell and Power. Day-Time Wife was the first of four films that they made together over the next few years at Fox.

Director: Gregory Ratoff
Screenplay: Art Arthur, Robert Harari (screenplay); Rex Taylor (story); Sam Hellman (contributor to screenplay, uncredited)
Cinematography: Peverell Marley
Art Direction: Richard Day, Joseph C. Wright
Film Editing: Francis Lyon
Cast: Tyrone Power (Ken Norton), Linda Darnell (Jane), Warren William (Bernard Dexter), Binnie Barnes (Blanche), Wendy Barrie (Kitty), Joan Davis (Miss Applegate), Joan Valerie (Mrs. Dexter), Leonid Kinskey (Coco), Mildred Gover (Melbourne), Renie Riano (Miss Briggs).
BW-72m.

by Andrea Passafiume