How to Commit Marriage
Encyclopedia
How to Commit Marriage is a 1969
comedy
film
directed by Norman Panama
, featuring Bob Hope
and Jackie Gleason
in their only movie together. The film also stars Jane Wyman
as Hope's wife, Tina Louise
as record-producer Gleason's love interest, Leslie Nielsen
as the straight man, and Irwin Corey as a middle eastern guru
named "The Baba Zeba." Also in the cast is young Tim Matheson
making his film debut.
This was Jane Wyman's final film appearance.
The rock band The Comfortable Chair
appears as a hippie rock group, performing their song "A Child's Garden."
Poe, a music promoter, has a hunch something is amiss. He doesn't want the kids to get married, so before the wedding he exposes the Bensons' secret. Nancy and David decide marriage isn't necessary. They will live together instead, travel around the country with a rock band and heed the advice and wisdom of a Hindu mystic called The Baba Zeba.
Frank and Elaine are seeing other people. He is involved with a divorcee, Lois Grey, while she is developing an interest in Phil Fletcher, who also is recently divorced. Poe, meanwhile, continues to see his mistress, LaVerne Baker.
Then one day, Nancy finds out she is pregnant. The Baba Zeba persuades her to put up the baby for adoption. Frank and Elaine conspire behind their daughter's back to adopt their own grandchild.
Complications arise, resulting in Frank trying to bribe the guru and even disguising himself as one of the Baba Zeba's robed followers. By the end, all ends well for everybody, the Bensons getting back together and Poe proposing to LaVerne.
1969 in film
The year 1969 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Last year for prize giving at the Venice Film Festival until it is revived in 1980...
comedy
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed by Norman Panama
Norman Panama
Norman Panama was an American screenwriter and film director born in Chicago, Illinois. He collaborated with a former schoolfriend, Melvin Frank to form a writing partnership which endured for three decades...
, featuring Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
and Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
in their only movie together. The film also stars Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman was an American singer, dancer, and character actress of film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...
as Hope's wife, Tina Louise
Tina Louise
Tina Louise is an American actress, singer, and author. She is best known for her role as the "movie star" Ginger Grant on the television situation comedy Gilligan's Island .-Early life:...
as record-producer Gleason's love interest, Leslie Nielsen
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
as the straight man, and Irwin Corey as a middle eastern guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
named "The Baba Zeba." Also in the cast is young Tim Matheson
Tim Matheson
Tim Matheson is an American actor, director and producer. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the smooth-talking Eric 'Otter' Stratton in the 1978 comedy National Lampoon's Animal House and has had a variety of other well-known roles, including providing the voice of the lead character...
making his film debut.
This was Jane Wyman's final film appearance.
The rock band The Comfortable Chair
The Comfortable Chair
The Comfortable Chair was a west coast sunshine-rock band that released a 1969 self-titled album The Comfortable Chair.The Comfortable Chair was a west coast sunshine-rock band that released a 1969 self-titled album The Comfortable Chair....
appears as a hippie rock group, performing their song "A Child's Garden."
Plot
Nancy, the 19-year-old daughter of Frank and Elaine Benson, wants to marry David, the 20-year-old son of Oliver Poe. What the bride doesn't know is that her parents are about to get a divorce.Poe, a music promoter, has a hunch something is amiss. He doesn't want the kids to get married, so before the wedding he exposes the Bensons' secret. Nancy and David decide marriage isn't necessary. They will live together instead, travel around the country with a rock band and heed the advice and wisdom of a Hindu mystic called The Baba Zeba.
Frank and Elaine are seeing other people. He is involved with a divorcee, Lois Grey, while she is developing an interest in Phil Fletcher, who also is recently divorced. Poe, meanwhile, continues to see his mistress, LaVerne Baker.
Then one day, Nancy finds out she is pregnant. The Baba Zeba persuades her to put up the baby for adoption. Frank and Elaine conspire behind their daughter's back to adopt their own grandchild.
Complications arise, resulting in Frank trying to bribe the guru and even disguising himself as one of the Baba Zeba's robed followers. By the end, all ends well for everybody, the Bensons getting back together and Poe proposing to LaVerne.
Cast
- Bob HopeBob HopeBob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
as Frank Benson - Jackie GleasonJackie GleasonJackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
as Oliver Poe - Jane WymanJane WymanJane Wyman was an American singer, dancer, and character actress of film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...
as Elaine Benson - Leslie NielsenLeslie NielsenLeslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
as Phil Fletcher - Maureen ArthurMaureen ArthurMaureen Arthur is an American actress.Arthur appeared in numerous movies and television programs from the late 1950s through the early 1990s as well as on Broadway....
as Lois Grey - Tina LouiseTina LouiseTina Louise is an American actress, singer, and author. She is best known for her role as the "movie star" Ginger Grant on the television situation comedy Gilligan's Island .-Early life:...
as LaVerne Baker - Tim MathesonTim MathesonTim Matheson is an American actor, director and producer. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the smooth-talking Eric 'Otter' Stratton in the 1978 comedy National Lampoon's Animal House and has had a variety of other well-known roles, including providing the voice of the lead character...
as David - JoAnna CameronJoanna CameronJoanna Kara Cameron, sometimes listed as JoAnna Cameron, is an American actress who played the title role in the children's television program The Secrets of Isis.-Early life:...
as Nancy - Irwin Corey as the Baba Zeba