Zeus

Make Your Own Bed (1944)

• Director
  • Peter Godfrey
• Writers
  • Francis Swann(screen play)
  • Edmund Joseph(screen play)
  • Richard Weil(adaptation)
• Stars
  • Jack Carson
  • Jane Wyman
  • Irene Manning

  After several years' faithful service in supporting roles, Jack Carson was awarded his first Warner Bros. starring vehicle with 1944's Make Your Own Bed. Carson's costar is the pert Jane Wyman, with whom he'd previously been felicitously teamed in Princess O'Rourke. The nonsensical story is set in motion by wealthy industrialist Walter Whirtle (Alan Hale), who believes himself to be the target of a Nazi spy ring. Whirtle hires private detective Jerry Curtis (Carson) to protect him-intending to get full "value for money" by having Curtis double as the family butler. Coming along for the ride is Jerry's girlfriend Susan Courtney (Jane Wyman), who agrees to pose as Whirtle's maid. The problem is that Jerry and Susan are assumed to be a married couple, leading to all sorts of risque complications. Meanwhile, Whirtle's scatterbrained wife Vivian (Irene Manning) allows herself to be swept off her feet by obnoxious house guest Boris Murphy (George Tobias). After several slaptick setpieces, the plot rushes to a conclusion when the Whirtle household is invaded by those pesky Nazi spies (remember?) The film's level of humor can be ascertained by the fact that the comedy highlight occurs when practically everybody in the cast is bound and gagged. Relentlessly silly, Make Your Own Bed nonetheless served its purpose in establishing Jack Carson as a bankable leading man.