Love Before Breakfast

Love Before Breakfast
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Walter Lang
Produced by	Edmund Grainger
Written by	Short story: Faith Baldwin Film story: Claude Binyon (uncredited) Treatment: Harry Clork Doris Malloy Preston Sturges (all uncredited) Add'l Dialogue: Gertrude Purcell (uncredited) Screenplay: Herbert Fields
Starring	Carole Lombard Preston Foster Cesar Romero
Music by	Arthur Morton Franz Waxman
Cinematography	Ted Tetzlaff
Edited by	Maurice Wright
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	March 9, 1936 (1936-03-09)
Running time	70 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Love Before Breakfast is a 1936 romantic comedy film starring Carole Lombard, Preston Foster, and Cesar Romero, based on Faith Baldwin's short story Spinster Dinner, published in International-Cosmopolitan in July 1934. The film was directed by Walter Lang from a screenplay by Herbert Fields assisted by numerous contract writers, including Preston Sturges.

Plot

Kay Colby (Carole Lombard) is a Park Avenue beauty with two suitors: fiancé Bill Wadsworth (Cesar Romero) and Scott Miller (Preston Foster). To clear his way, Scott buys the oil company Bill works for and sends him to Japan. Then he sends his own girl friend, Countess Campanella (Betty Lawford), to Hawaii to get her out of the way as well. Kay is upset by Bill's leaving, and annoyed by Scott pressing his suit, but Scott has the assistance and approval of Kay's mother (Janet Beecher) in his efforts, and the advice of his friend and business partner, Brinkerhoff (Richard Carle).^[1]

Cast

Carole Lombard as Kay Colby
Preston Foster as Scott Miller
Cesar Romero as Bill Wadsworth
Janet Beecher as Mrs. Colby
Betty Lawford as Countess Campanella
Richard Carle as Brinkerhoff
Forrester Harvey as chief steward
Joyce Compton as Mary Lee
Diana Gibson as the secretary

Production

Love Before Breakfast had the working title of Spinster Dinner, the title of the Faith Baldwin short story it was based on. Several months before filming began, it was reported that Melvyn Douglas would take the male lead.

Carole Lombard was under contract to Paramount, who lent her to Universal for this film, in exchange for Margaret Sullavan going there to do So Red The Rose. Lombard also brought technical staff from Paramount, including photographer Ted Tetzlaff and costume designer Travis Banton.^[2]

Lombard, who had the contractual right to reject scripts, didn't like the ones she was presented for Love Before Breakfast, including those written by Preston Sturges, Claude Binyon, Samuel Hoffenstein, Harry Clork, Doris Malloy and William Conselman. Eventually, she accepted Herbert Fields's script.^[2]

Love Before Breakfast was in production from 16 December 1935 to 27 January 1936,^[3] and was released on 9 March 1936.

Notes

External links

Love Before Breakfast at the Internet Movie Database
Love Before Breakfast at the TCM Movie Database
Love Before Breakfast at AllMovie

Films directed by Walter Lang

The Red Kimona (1925)
The Earth Woman (1926)
The Golden Web (1926)
Money to Burn (1926)
The Ladybird (1927)
The Satin Woman (1927)
Sally in Our Alley (1927)
By Whose Hand? (1927)
The College Hero (1927)
The Night Flyer (1928)
The Desert Bride (1928)
The Spirit of Youth (1929)
Hello Sister (1930)
Cock o' the Walk (1930)
The Big Fight (1930)
The Costello Case (1930)
Brothers (1930)
Command Performance (1931)
Hell Bound (1931)
Women Go on Forever (1931)
No More Orchids (1932)
The Warrior's Husband (1933)
Meet the Baron (1933)
Whom the Gods Destroy (1934)
The Party's Over (1934)
The Mighty Barnum (1934)
Carnival (1935)
Hooray for Love (1935)
Love Before Breakfast (1936)
Top of the Town (1937)
Wife, Doctor and Nurse (1937)
Second Honeymoon (1937)
The Baroness and the Butler (1938)
I'll Give a Million (1938)
The Little Princess (1939)
Susannah of the Mounties (1939)
The Blue Bird (1940)
Star Dust (1940)
The Great Profile (1940)
Tin Pan Alley (1940)
Moon Over Miami (1941)
Week-End in Havana (1941)
Song of the Islands (1942)
The Magnificent Dope (1942)
Coney Island (1943)
Greenwich Village (1944)
State Fair (1945)
Claudia and David (1946)
Sentimental Journey (1946)
Mother Wore Tights (1947)
Sitting Pretty (1948)
When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948)
You're My Everything (1949)
Cheaper by the Dozen (1950)
The Jackpot (1950)
On the Riviera (1951)
With a Song in My Heart (1952)
Call Me Madam (1953)
There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)
The King and I (1956)
Desk Set (1957)
But Not for Me (1959)
Can-Can (1960)
The Marriage-Go-Round (1961)
Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961)

Preston Sturges

Film

Written and directed	The Great McGinty (1940) Christmas in July (1940) The Lady Eve (1941) Sullivan's Travels (1941) The Palm Beach Story (1942) The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944) Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) The Great Moment (1944) The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947) Unfaithfully Yours (1948) The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949) Vendetta (uncredited, 1950) The French, They Are a Funny Race (1955)

Written only	The Big Pond (dialogue, 1930) Fast and Loose (add'l dialogue, 1930) Strictly Dishonorable (play, 1931) They Just Had to Get Married (uncredited, 1932) Child of Manhattan (play, 1933) The Power and the Glory (1933) The Invisible Man (uncredited, 1933) Twentieth Century (uncredited, 1934) Thirty-Day Princess (1934) We Live Again (adapter, 1934) Imitation of Life (uncredited, 1934) The Good Fairy (1935) Diamond Jim (1935) Next Time We Love (uncredited, 1936) Love Before Breakfast (uncredited, 1936) One Rainy Afternoon (lyrics, 1936) Hotel Haywire (1937) Easy Living (1937) College Swing (uncredited, 1938) Port of Seven Seas (1938) If I Were King (1938) Never Say Die (1939) Remember the Night (1940) New York Town (uncredited, 1941) Safeguarding Military Information (1942) I'll Be Yours (1947) Strictly Dishonorable (play, 1951) The Birds and the Bees (prev. screenplay, 1956) Rock-A-Bye Baby (prev. screenplay, 1958) Unfaithfully Yours (prev. screenplay, 1984)

Plays

List of actors who frequently worked with Preston Sturges