On September 6, 1936, the classic screwball comedy My Man Godfrey premiered; it entered general U.S. release on September 17. Directed by Gregory La Cava and starring William Powell and Carole Lombard, the film follows a wealthy socialite who hires a “forgotten man” living in a city dump as her family’s butler. Set against the Great Depression, its rapid-fire comedy turns economic inequality into a satire of class, privilege, and social responsibility.
The production carried a real-life irony: Powell and Lombard, whose characters’ unlikely romance ends in marriage, had divorced about three years before filming. Their friendly professional reunion produced memorable on-screen chemistry and helped make the film both a critical and commercial success. My Man Godfrey received six Academy Award nominations and became the first film nominated in all four acting categories—though it did not win any Oscars. It remains one of the defining comedies of Hollywood’s golden age.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
