{{short description|1936 film}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = Love Before Breakfast | image = Love Before Breakfast (1936 poster).jpg | alt = | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = Walter Lang | producer = Edmund Grainger | writer = '''Short story:'''<br>Faith Baldwin<br>'''Film story:'''<br>Claude Binyon (uncredited)<br>'''Treatment:'''<br>Harry Clork<br>Doris Malloy<br>Preston Sturges<br>(all uncredited)<br>'''Add'l Dialogue:'''<br>Gertrude Purcell ''(uncredited)''<br>'''Screenplay:'''<br>Herbert Fields | narrator = | starring = Carole Lombard<br>Preston Foster<br>Cesar Romero | music = Arthur Morton<br>Franz Waxman | cinematography = Ted Tetzlaff | editing = Maurice Wright | studio = Universal Pictures | distributor = Universal Pictures | released = {{Film date|1936|03|09}} | runtime = 70 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = | gross = }} '''''Love Before Breakfast''''' is a 1936 American 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 Honolulu 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).<ref>TCM [https://web.archive.org/web/20121020132535/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/81942/Love-Before-Breakfast/ Full synopsis]</ref>
==Cast== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} * 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 * Bert Roach as Party Host * Diana Gibson as the secretary * John Rogers as Dickson * Donald Briggs as Stuart Farnum * George Beranger as Charles * Jack Mower as Doorman * Alphonse Martell as Headwaiter at Dubin's * Dennis O'Keefe as College Boy * Ada Mae Vaughn as College Girl * Theodore von Eltz as Clerk * E.E. Clive as Yacht Captain * Edward Earle as Quartermaster {{div col end}}
==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.<ref name=tcmnotes />
Lombard, who had the contractual right to reject scripts, did not 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.<ref name=tcmnotes>TCM [https://web.archive.org/web/20121020132535/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/81942/Love-Before-Breakfast/ Notes]</ref>
''Love Before Breakfast'' was in production from 16 December 1935 to 27 January 1936,<ref>IMDB [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027908/business Business data]</ref> and was released on 9 March 1936.
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{IMDb title|0027908}} * {{AFI film|5951}} * {{TCMDb title|81942}}
{{Walter Lang}} {{Preston Sturges}}
Category:1936 films Category:1936 romantic comedy films Category:1930s screwball comedy films Category:American romantic comedy films Category:American screwball comedy films Category:American black-and-white films Category:Films scored by Franz Waxman Category:Films based on short fiction Category:Films directed by Walter Lang Category:Universal Pictures films Category:Films based on works by Faith Baldwin Category:1936 English-language films Category:1936 American films Category:English-language romantic comedy films