My title refers to Walter's(Jack Whiting) query, upon being presented by fiancé Nancy(Betty Grable) with the charred remains of a trout on his dinner plate. Seems Nancy has been kept so busy going out on dates with her many male admirers that she never learned to cook. In contrast, her comparatively homely stay-at-home sister Letty(Martha Raye} is famous for her cooking, as well as dress making. Nancy even steals the fancy dress Letty made for herself to wear at a large picnic, to further impress the men. Letty was supposed to be back in time from a trip to Pradise Lake with Walter's brother Jim(Bob Hope) to cook the trout for a group of navy men, but she and Jim suffered a series of misadventures out in the woods, and have called for Walter and Betty to rescue them at a small inn out in the middle of nowhere.
This is a delightful, if very corny and very contrived, comedy, with a touch of a musical. Martha, Betty, and Hope had great chemistry, all with extensive vaudeville or minor film role experience and all with musical, as well as comedic, talent. This was still Hope's first year in full length films, and Betty was still considered a supporting musical player. Thus, Martha, despite being also a relative newcomer to full length films, is given first billing.Jack Whiting also had had a long career as a song and dance man, but only limited experience in films, and seemed to be relatively lacking in comedic talent and film charisma. This would be his last film.
Throughout the film, Betty and Martha are rivals for Walter's romantic attention, while Walter and Jim compete for Nancy's romantic acceptance. This asymmetry in romantic preferences is the root of most of the comedy and melodrama, with Jim and Martha often scheming , individually or together, ways to keep Nancy and Walter from tying the knot. All the time, these two profess no romantic interest in each other, but the audience(and Betty) know they were meant for each other. Thus, at the same time, Betty keeps scheming ways to get them together.
This film is often described as a musical comedy but, despite the fact that all 4 stars had recognized song and dance talents, there are only 2 catchy Rainger and Robin songs and one dance performed by the stars. Betty and Martha get one song each, with Martha singing "A Little Kiss at Twilight" twice, once in a somber mood and again, in a joyous mood, near the end. Betty sings and dances to "What Goes On Here in My Heart": quite a catchy tune. For about a minute, she and Whiting look rather like Astaire and Ginger on the dance floor. Also, there is an opening "The USA and You",also good, sung by a group of sailors on their ship. Thus, the music, while rather limited, is good.
Letty is characterized as being not only comparatively homely, with an unusually wide mouth, but rather clumsy and accident prone, lacking in social graces, rather scatter-brained, and slow mentally: a perfect partner for Jim, but totally inappropriate for his more socially dominant brother Walter, whom Letty pines for. Letty is making a battleship-shaped cake for Walter, and lots of food for a large picnic. She hopes to win a cooking contest with her cake, but the inexperienced photographer takes a shot of her legs, instead of the cake , when a bullfrog hops into the kitchen, causing Letty to stand on a chair. This will become quite relevant in the last part of the film when, based on this photo, Letty is judged to have the most beautiful pair of legs in the nation, and thus wins many expensive prizes. This turn of events. along with Nancy's disastrous cooking, causes Walter to change his mind about which sister he wants to marry. Now, Letty is happy, but the story isn't finished yet! I won't tell anymore.One of her prizes is a pair of expensive looking dogs,one of which she mockingly names:Nancy. Very ironically,6 years later, Martha would be the supporting actress to Betty in "Pin Up Girl", which featured the famous GI photo of Betty, emphasizing her legs.
This is one of 4 films that Martha and Hope were both in. I haven't seen the rest, so can't compare. Apparently, they were a couple in "College Swing", which also included Betty in a supporting musical role. Martha and Judy Garland seemed so similar in their talent and long childhood vaudeville careers, seems like Martha should have had an equal film career. They even shared one of their many husbands in David Rose, and both seemed emotionally unstable at times. But Martha was about 5 years older and, unlike Judy and Betty, stopped making films during the US participation in WWII, to entertain and nurse the troops in person.