Robert Benchley

A woman disguises herself as a child to save on a train fare and is taken in charge by an army man who doesn't notice the truth. (imdb)

On the eve of WW2, a young American reporter tries to expose enemy agents in London. (imdb)

After a ancestor of Wallace Wooley has burned Jennifer, a witch and her father, they cursed his whole family, that the sons will always get the wrong wife. In the 20th century, the witch comes back to give Wallace Wooley a love drink, so he falls in love with her the night before his wedding to Estelle Masterson... (imdb)

Ginger Rogers, a working girl, shares a Greenwich Village apartment with Norman Foster, an artist-night watchman. They share the apartment on a shift basis never seeing each other. Ginger develops a hearty dislike for Foster until she meets him. (imdb)

Playwright tries to stop his wife from retiring so he can star her in his next play. (imdb)

A struggling painter takes a job as a secretary to a female advertising executive. While working to obtain an account from a tobacco company, they end up falling in love. (imdb)

A humorous look at the problems people have trying to sleep.

Benchley's lecture on detective work includes topics such as: types of criminals to be detected; getting a confession; and escorting a criminal to prison. Guess who ends up behind bars. (imdb)

A bohemian artist and socialite fall in love. As she becomes accustomed to the lifestyle of her artist husband, he finds success and begins to change. The couple runs the risk of losing the disparate qualities that attracted them to one another initially.

After his wife discovers a telltale diamond bracelet, impresario Martin Cortland tries to show he's not chasing after showgirl Sheila Winthrop. Choreographer Robert Curtis gets caught in the middle of the boss's scheme. Army conscription offers Robert the perfect escape from his troubles- or does it? (imdb)

Dr. Benchley lectures the women's club on the unusual but important title-topic (imdb)

A playful dragon is reluctant to be the ferocious fire-breather that an old knight is expected to slay.

Flying Tiger Fred Atwell sneaks away from his famous squadron's personal appearance tour and goes incognito for several days of leave. He quickly falls for photographer Joan Manion, pursuing her in the guise of a carefree drifter. (imdb)

Journalist Marion Hargrove enters the Army intending to supplement his income by writing about his training experiences. He muddles through basic training at Fort Bragg with the self-serving help of a couple of buddies intent on cutting themselves in on that extra income. (imdb)

A hat-check girl at the Stork Club (Hutton) saves the life of a drowning man (Fitzgerald). A rich man, he decides to repay her by anonymously giving her a bank account, a luxury apartment and a charge account at a department store. When her boyfriend (DeFore) returns from overseas, he thinks she is a kept woman. (imdb)

A group of starving, but young and willing, actors band together to share finances and an apartment. (imdb)

A man and his wife have a less-than-enjoyable time at the movies. (imdb)

Faith and Hope Banner, sisters, are "convention hostesses" in a hotel. A body is discovered next door as the magician's convention is leaving and the mortician's convention is arriving, and the sisters, with help from manager Wilburforce Puddle, try to hide it. Complicating matters, Hope's boyfriend, Tommy, is a newspaper reporter in the hotel covering some labor negotiations (imdb)

An American caricaturist falls in love with a woman he meets at a park and attempts to woo her. Meanwhile, having had bad luck in his work he catches a break by basing his strips on his father's betrothed family.

A newsreel photographer neglects his love life to get the perfect shot. (TCM.com)

A young girl finds herself attracted to one of her father's business partners. (imdb)

One can only imagine the reaction of arch-conservative MGM head Louis B. Mayer when Song of Russia first tumbled over the spools in the studio projection room. It must be remembered, however, that back in 1944 it was politically expedient for Hollywood to offer hosannas to America's Russian allies, and to gloss over the less-attractive aspects of the Stalin regime. (allrovi.com)

Covering a quarter-century of American 'syncopated" music (Ragtime, Jazz, Swing, Blues, Boogie Woogie)from prior to WWI through prohibition, the stock-market crash, the depression and the outbreak of WWII. A romance between singer Kit Latimer, from New Orleans, and Johnny Schumacher, in which they share and argue over musical ideas ensues. (imdb)

Spoiled sports hero learns hard lessons. (imdb)

Joe Doakes, like most men, is unable to cope with personal emergencies or those in a position of authority (real or imagined). (imdb)

A candidate has laryngitis, so his assistant must make a speech in his place. Both the speaker and his audience are soon befuddled. (imdb)

Assistant Treasurer Benchley reports on the annual expenditures of the club for its home for "boys between the ages of 14", and other projects. (imdb)

A woman sets out to prove that a writer's ideas about "savages" are wrong. She goes to the jungle and finds a "primitive" man to bring back, unaware that it is actually the writer himself disguised as a "savage." (imdb)

Corliss Archer, 15, and Mildred Pringle, 17, are best friends, and get into some mischief together which causes their parents to start fighting over who is a bad influence on whom. Their fight also has an affect on Mildred and Lenny Archer, Corliss' brother, who elope one weekend when Lenny's home on leave from the Army. Fearing that the Pringles would want the marriage annulled, the couple decides not to tell anyone about it except Corliss. (imdb)

Benchley tries his best to demonstrate the routine one should follow to start the day right. (imdb)

Humorist Robert Benchley discusses the issue of food and how different situations can affect one's ability to consume and digest food, using his stock everyman and slightly bumbling character Joe Doakes to dramatize such situations. Situations that can impede digestion include receiving bad news resulting in stress, being in love, and feeling scared. Snacking or nibbling between meals can ruins one's appetite at meal time. (imdb)

Chorus girl Patsy Shaw crashes a high-society party, meets playboy Charlie Breen, they fall in love, and are on their merry way to wedded bliss. However, Charlie's snobbish, ever-loving mama doesn't think that Patsy is worthy and sets out to prove it. (imdb)

Humorist Robert Benchley illustrates the fine points of attending an American football game. (imdb)

As he is now working on his income tax, Joe Doakes conducts the latest in his series of "how to" lectures, this time on income tax. He provides a general overview on the theory behind the income tax, and to where the money goes. He then goes through the income tax form, and what goes into specific line items. When he doesn't know what goes into a line item, he checks the fine print in the instructions and accompanying Schedules. (imdb)

American journalist Jo Anne Benson travels with photographer Dan Jordan to a trip to Mexico, Cuba and Brazil for a magazine story encountering a variety of South American entertainers. (Wikipedia)

Winners of the Lucky Stars National Dance Contest - one woman from each of the United States - are welcomed to Palm Springs. Palm Springs being the desert playground for the movie stars, the women are introduced to the cavalcade of stars vacationing in Palm Springs at the time. The stars are doing a multitude of recreational activities.

Benchley, a newspaper columnist who writes on issues of etiquette, receives a telephone call from two men working deep in a manhole, they who are arguing about what to do if a woman fell into their manhole while they're eating. One argues that they should stand up, the other arguing that they should tip their hat. Although they don't ask, Benchley also gives them advice on the proper etiquette surrounding telling a story that someone wants to hear.

After a new dog owner decides on which dog to buy at the pet store, this short soon becomes a lesson in how NOT to train a dog.

Sneeversport is excited for opening day home game taking place in new Municipal Park baseball field. But first they must endure monotonous and rambling speech by City Treasurer Benchley, who surprises when he finally throws the first ball.

Humorist Robert Benchley offers a tongue-in-cheek lesson on how to avoid eye strain while reading.

With his wife gone for the evening, a man is left alone at home. Left alone to their own devices, men tend to be more thoughtful and analytical in deciding what to do than women. This man decides to figure out how the cuckoo clock on the wall works, clean out the bedroom closet where his wife has left things to accumulate, and fix the fire in the fireplace.

Benchley shows how to budget one's time during lunch hour to get things done efficiently. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned.

Joseph A. Doakes goes into a shop looking for a gift for his son, and the clerk shows him a box of magic tricks. After a store employee demonstrates several of them, Doakes purchases a number of them and starts demonstrating them for his son, who is totally bored. For some unknown reason, the tricks worked better in the store than they do at home, even though instructions are included. In the final trick, Doakes makes himself disappear.

A lecturer tells the audience that it is National Take Care Week. He tells the story of a man who gets stung in his garden and the problems the man has when he seeks treatment at the doctor's office.

Robert Benchley answers questions sent in by people. The first question is about inflation; the second is about if elephants can be used in modern warfare; and the third, what would happen if Russia was involved in a stalemate in Upper Rhodesia.

When Joe Doakes listens to a quiz show on the radio and knows all the answers, his wife encourages him to go on a quiz show himself. He appears on a new show called "Why Daddy?", where a child and an adult compete against each other, with less than stellar results.

At the turn of the century, Duke and Chester, two vaudeville performers, go to Alaska to make their fortune. On the ship to Skagway, they find a map to a secret gold mine, which had been stolen by McGurk and Sperry, a couple of thugs... (imdb)

Humorist Robert Benchley is shown at what appears to be the head table at a dinner honoring producer David O. Selznick. However, Mr. Selznick has not yet appeared. While they wait for him to arrive, Benchley shows excerpts from (and provides commentary for) many of the films he produced at Paramount, RKO, and MGM.

In this screwball comedy a WW2 US pilot bombs a Japanese aircraft carrier, is assumed to be dead, and then is misquoted in the press as fondly remembering his days back home walking his dog Piggy. Instead of his dog Piggy he is thought to be in love with Peggy, a girl he worked with. The usual farce ensues after he returns home alive and tries to play along with the mistake to save embarrassment for all.

A girl is desperate to get to Washington D.C. to be with her lonesome brother, a wounded G.I. She persuades Bing Crosby to let her join his caravan.

A humorous look at the trials and tribulations of fatherhood. (David Glagovsky ) IMDB

Lecturer Robert Benchley outlines some of the pet peeves that wives have with their husbands.

Police officer Benchley shows us the antisocial potential of inanimate objects such as shoelaces and handkerchiefs.

Mr. Benchley examines the pressures faced by expectant fathers.

After some investigation, Robert Benchley finds his nerves are in a bad state. He has the jitters so bad he can't hold his cup still enough to drink his coffee, and he thinks the arrival of some plumbers is just a giant conspiracy to keep him unnerved.

A comic training film designed to help sailors readjust to civilain life after World War II.

Robert takes a train ride to Washington, DC, on "important business."

Joe Doakes is lamenting to his wife the lack of variety in his meals. In particular, he misses eating stewed tomatoes, the fruit which he believes incorrectly is being rationed as a war measure. Mrs. Doakes knows that tomatoes aren't rationed, but she doesn't correct him, especially after he announces that he will grow enough tomatoes to feed the entire block.

Blunderer Robert Benchley is going to show some house guests the film he and his wife took on a vacation trip. He sets up the projector and the reel begins...and nothing good happens for Benchley from this point.

A family man tries to spend a quiet Sunday at home, but his wife and children have other ideas.

Benchley, in this MGM short (production number B-723), in his usual befuddlement state, demonstrates the proper (?) method of sub-letting an apartment; he manages to show all the worst features.

A businessman goes home early to surprise his family and is treated with suspicion, mostly by his wife's bridge club.

A zoology professor gives a lecture on the title subject. He tells the audience that there is a newt in a tank of water seen on a table. The tank is filled with what looks like seaweed, and the professor can't seem to get his hands on the animal during the lecture.

Benchley fills in for a music critic on a radio show. His performance is less than stellar.

When a look-alike patient visits a psychoanalyst, it soon becomes difficult to determine who is analyzing whom.

A brief, illustrated lecture on digestion. Aburdist humor is the hallmark of this pseudo-scientific description of biting, chewing, swallowing, and digesting food. The on-screen narrator begins with teeth, "little sentinels" as he calls them, and the tongue. Then it's on to the stomach: he describes the stomach's workings as if it were an office or a factory.

A bookish historian is married to a steely Southern belle who raises horses, an animal that he doesn't care for. However, the cute young neighbor girl doesn't feel that way about him and makes no bones about letting him know it. (imdb)

A 14-year-old boy lies about his age and enlists in the United State Marine Corps without his family's consent or knowledge. He is sent into battle in the Pacific war-zone, decorated, and spotted in a newsreel by his family. The family asks the War Department to discharge him and send him home. A complicated period of adjustment follows for both the boy, who is no longer a boy even at age 15, and his family.