The Quarterback
Cast & Crew
H. Bruce Humberstone
Wayne Morris
Virginia Dale
Lillian Cornell
Edgar Kennedy
Alan Mowbray
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Mild-mannered Jimmy Jones, a college student at Pacific Coast University, realizes that his fast-talking twin brother Bill has come to town when he is accosted by Townley, the owner of a nightclub, who demands that he pay back his gambling debts. Bill is then mistaken for Jimmy when he kicks a football at the team's practice, and the impressed coach offers Jimmy an athletic scholarship. The fast-thinking Bill suggests that he impersonate Jimmy on the football team while his brother continues his studies, and the two get Pops, a team booster, to go along with their scheme and hide Bill. This leads to confusion when both brothers begin to court Jimmy's girl friend, Kay Merrill. One night, Bill, pretending to be Jimmy, gets fresh with Kay, and as a result, Kay refuses to see him anymore. Kay's anger causes Jimmy's grades to suffer, prompting Bill, once again as Jimmy, to apologize to Kay. Things become even more complicated when both brothers fall in love with Kay and Townley orders Bill to throw the championship game. The night before the big game, a despondent Jimmy goes to Townley's club and gets drunk, and the next day, Bill convinces him to enter the hospital so that he will not have to play in the game. In an effort to convince Jimmy to play, Pops tells Kay about the twins, while the coach pulls Jimmy from his sick bed. On the bench, Jimmy stalls entering the game, while Bill, hitchhiking out of town, listens to PCU's defeat on the radio. As Jimmy gets trampled on the field, Bill returns to town, enters the game and wins the championship. After the game, the angry Townley confronts Jimmy who, with his newfound confidence and the aid of his brother, defends himself against Townley and his thugs. After finishing his studies, Jimmy becomes a professor and marries Kay, who gives birth to twin boys.
Director
H. Bruce Humberstone
Cast
Wayne Morris
Virginia Dale
Lillian Cornell
Edgar Kennedy
Alan Mowbray
Jerome Cowan
Rod Cameron
William Frawley
Walter Catlett
Frank Burke
Grant Withers
Eddie Dunn
J. Anthony Hughes
Jean Phillips
Wanda Mckay
Carol Adams
Kay Stewart
Charles Morton
Dewey Robinson
Jack Mulhall
George Anderson
Edward Arnold Jr.
Jack Chapin
Leonard Mellin
Edwin Stanley
John Rogers
John Harmon
Russell Hopton
Robert Winkler
Elsie Prescott
Kathryn Bates
Tommy Baker
Barbara Pittes
Bobb Pittes
Gene Delmont
Crew
John Coonan
Jeff Cravath
Haldane Douglas
Hans Dreier
Gene Garvin
Charles Gemora
Stanley Goldsmith
Jack Lawrence
William Le Baron
John Leipold
Harold Lewis
Frank Loesser
Alma Macrorie
Matty Malneck
Paul Mann
Robert Pirosh
Joseph Sistrom
Irvin Talbot
Irvin Talbot
Leo Tover
Anthony Veiller
Stephen Weiss
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Touchdown. Although the onscreen credits list Irvin Talbot as music director, Daily Variety credits both Talbot and John Leipold with the film's score. Hollywood Reporter production charts add Frank Fay to the cast but his participation in the final film has not been confirmed. According to reviews, some scenes were shot on location at UCLA, and forty USC and UCLA football players participated in the making of this picture. Technical advisor Jeff Cravath was a USC line coach.
