Hold 'Em Jail is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film starring Wheeler and Woolsey. They play a couple of boobs who are wrongfully convicted for firearm possession and sent to prison, where they somehow end up playing on the warden's football team.

Hold 'Em Jail
Directed byNorman Taurog
Written byWalter DeLeon (screenplay)
S.J. Perelman (screenplay)
Eddie Welch (screenplay)
Mark Sandrich (screenplay)
Tim Whelan (story)
Lew Lipton (story)
John P. Medbury (radio dialogue)
Albert Ray (continuity)
Produced byHarry Joe Brown (associate producer)
David O. Selznick (executive producer)
StarringWheeler and Woolsey
Edna May Oliver
Edgar Kennedy
Betty Grable
CinematographyLeonard Smith
Edited byArthur Roberts
Music byMax Steiner
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release date
  • September 16, 1932 (1932-09-16)
Running time
66 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$408,000[1]
Box office$511,000[1]

Warden Edgar Kennedy is not above framing innocent people into prison and blackmailing them into playing on his football team in exchange for being eventually proven innocent.

Wheeler and Woolsey are wise to the racket, but Kennedy has to treat them with kid gloves because his old maid sister (Oliver) is in love with one of them.

HOLD 'EM JAIL ad from The Film Daily, 1932

Rare for the duo, the film is a straight comedy with no musical numbers. It is also noteworthy for giving Betty Grable her first substantial role after appearances as a Goldwyn Girl and in bit parts. The title is a pun on the then-popular college football cheer, "Hold 'em, Yale."

Cast

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Box office

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According to RKO records the film recorded a loss of $55,000.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Richard Jewel, 'RKO Film Grosses: 1931-1951', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 14 No 1, 1994 p57
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