Misbehaving Husbands
Misbehaving Husbands is a 1940 American comedy of errors film directed by William Beaudine for Producers Releasing Corporation. The film had the working titles of "At Your Age" and "Dummy Husbands". Harry Langdon, Betty Blythe, Esther Muir and others in the cast were stars in silent films. It was Gig Young's film debut. Plot. Absent-minded department store owner Henry Butler (Harry Langdon), forgetting his wedding anniversary, ends up working late and missing the surprise party thrown by his wife, Effie (Betty Blythe). Trying to get away from work, he is spotted with a mannequin, which he  is intends to get repaired, by a friend of his wife who thinks it is a blonde girl with whom Henry is having an affair. Other bystanders think it is a murder victim and call the police. Henry is picked up by the police and kept for interrogation until the wee hours of the morning, but his troubles are just starting. Effie has overheard the gossip spread amongst her party guests and, seeing Henry come home with one of the mannequin's shoes and blonde hair on his clothes, fears the worst. She is urged on by her friend, Grace  Norman (Esther Muir), and an unscrupulous lawyer, Gilbert Wayne (Gayne Whitman), to file for a divorce. Henry and Effie both have their own lawyers who advise that since neither one will leave the family home they need witnesses that the couple are living apart to facilitate the divorce proceedings. Due to Henry's alleged violent temper, Effie's lawyer also demands she have a bodyguard; a thug named Gooch who stays at the home. When Effie decides to stop the divorce, a little scene is staged by the lawyer. His girlfriend, Nan, poses as the blonde Henry was supposedly seeing  and convinces Effie to proceed. It is only then that the live-in witnesses, her niece Jane (Luana Walters) and Henry's friend Bob Grant (Ralph Byrd), notice that the shoe Henry brought back that night is about a size four; too small for Nan. Jane also notices that Gooch and Nan seem to recognise each other and trick Gooch into calling Nan. They overhear her location on an extension phone and get the truth out of her. A drunken Henry drags the mannequin all over town, only to meet the police, Effie and her lawyer waiting for him at  home. Quotes. Effie to Jane: "I'm going to get tight!" Bob to Jane: "You've been reading too many detective stories." (Ralph Byrd played Detective Dick Tracy, in four movie serials and two feature films, from 1937 to 1947, and on television.) Henry: "All this, fuss, over one, little shoe!"