Sailors on Leave
Cast & Crew
Albert S. Rogell
William Lundigan
Shirley Ross
Chick Chandler
Ruth Donnelly
Mae Clarke
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Navy sailors and ex-vaudevillians Swifty Hooper and Mike Haynes get their pal Chuck Stephens in hot water when they tell their shipmates that Chuck will inherit $25,000 if he marries before he is twenty-seven years old. Chuck, who believed Swifty and Mike's tale about the inheritance, has borrowed lots of money against it and is furious when he finds out about their deception. When the ship docks in San Pedro, California, it is only four days before Chuck's birthday and his other shipmates determine to find him a bride, even though he is a confirmed misogynist. Swifty, Mike and Chuck are forced to go along with their efforts because of the loans taken out against the supposed inheritance, but they secretly agree that Chuck will refuse all of the women his friend suggest. Swifty and Mike learn that one of their former co-workers, Linda Hall, who hates sailors as much as Chuck hates women, is now employed at Aunt Navy's nightclub and they decide to introduce Chuck to her. Realizing that Linda may be the way out of his dilemna, Chuck tells his friends that he will marry only her, while simultaneously repulsing her with his rude behavior. Linda is intrigued by Chuck's odd behavior, however, and deduces that it is caused by an inferiority complex. One evening, Chuck's friends engineer a romantic date for Chuck and Linda, during which Chuck gives her a stolen bracelet unwittingly purchased by his dense friend Dugan. Worried that Linda is falling for Chuck, Swifty and Mike dress up as the "ex-Mrs. Stephens" and Chuck's "aunt," but Linda sees through their disguises and jumps to the conclusion that Chuck is using them to propose to her. On their way back to the boat, Swifty and Mike run across another of their old pals from vaudeville who is now using an "electro-magnetic" belt as a scam to sell a strengthening tonic. They borrow the belt and enter Mike in a wrestling match with Bonecrusher Blake in the hope that they can win enough bets to pay off Chuck's debts. Although the belt does stun Bonecrusher at first, the referee discovers the device and Mike is disqualified. Meanwhile, Linda and Chuck learn that the bracelet is stolen, and, wanting to get out of their wedding, which will be held that night at Aunt Navy's club, Chuck tells the police that Linda has the bracelet. Linda is arrested, but Chuck's scheme backfires when his shipmates parade a line of women before him and tell him to marry one of them or else. As the midnight deadline approaches, Chuck realizes that he loves Linda and orders Swifty and Mike to bail her out. Chuck is nearly forced to marry Bessie the Blonde, but Linda arrives and they are married, although their final vows come after the deadline. While Chuck is promising to somehow pay back his friends, an insurance agent arrives and gives him a $5,000 check for helping to retrieve the bracelet. Although Linda is at first furious when she realizes that Chuck was responsible for her arrest, he quickly seals their marriage with a kiss.
Director
Albert S. Rogell
Cast
William Lundigan
Shirley Ross
Chick Chandler
Ruth Donnelly
Mae Clarke
Cliff Nazarro
Tom Kennedy
Mary Ainslee
Bill Shirley
Garry Owen
William Haade
Jane Kean
Crew
Art Arthur
Malcolm Stuart Boylan
Albert J. Cohen
Herbert Dalmas
Gaetano Donizetti
Cy Feuer
Phil Ford
Joseph James Giblon
Emily Robinson Head
Frank Loesser
John Victor Mackay
Edward Mann
Sol Meyer
Ernest Miller
Adele Palmer
Murray Seldeen
Jule Styne
Al Wilson
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Gobs in Blue and Sailor Be Good. According to news items, Jane Frazee was originally set for the female lead but was replaced by Shirley Ross when Frazee was detained by her work in Universal's Hellzapoppin'. A August 12, 1941 Hollywood Reporter news item stated that former wrestler Sammy Stein was to appear in the picture. Although there is a wrestling match in the film, in which "Mike Haynes" wrestles with "Bonecrusher Blake," it has not been confirmed that Stein played "Bonecrusher." Hollywood Reporter noted that the song "Stay Away from the U.S.A.," by Eddie Cherkose and Jule Styne, had been purchased for Bill Shirley, but he does not sing it in the completed film. Songwriter Frank Loesser was borrowed from Paramount for his work in the picture.
