# You're Telling Me! > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/You're_Telling_Me! > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/You're_Telling_Me!.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You're_Telling_Me! > Source revision: 1339476201 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 1934 film by Erle C. Kenton This article is about the 1934 film starring [W.C. Fields](/source/W.C._Fields). For the 1942 film starring [Hugh Herbert](/source/Hugh_Herbert), see [You're Telling Me (film)](/source/You're_Telling_Me_(film)). This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "You're Telling Me!" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) You're Telling Me! Directed by Erle C. Kenton Written by Walter DeLeon W.C. Fields Paul M. Jones J.P. McEvoy Julian Leonard Street Based on Mr. Bisbee's Princess by Julian Leonard Street Produced by Emanuel Cohen William LeBaron Starring W.C. Fields Larry "Buster" Crabbe Joan Marsh Adrienne Ames Cinematography Alfred Gilks Edited by Otho Lovering Music by W. Franke Harling Arthur Johnston John Leipold Tom Satterfield Distributed by Paramount Pictures Release date April 5, 1934 (1934-04-05) Running time 67 min. Country United States Language English ***You're Telling Me!*** is a 1934 American [pre-Code](/source/Pre-Code) comedy film directed by [Erle C. Kenton](/source/Erle_C._Kenton) and starring [W.C. Fields](/source/W.C._Fields). It is a remake of the 1926 [silent film](/source/Silent_film) *[So's Your Old Man](/source/So's_Your_Old_Man)*, also starring Fields. Both films are adapted from the short story *Mr. Bisbee’s Princess* by [Julian Leonard Street](/source/Julian_Leonard_Street). It was released by [Paramount Pictures](/source/Paramount_Pictures). ## Plot Sam Bisbee is an [optometrist](/source/Optometrist) and amateur inventor. His daughter Pauline is in love with Bob Murchison, but Bob's upper-class mother disapproves of the Bisbee family. Sam's wife Bessie is ashamed of Sam because he prefers to act as himself rather than feigning sophistication. Pauline is the one woman who truly loves Sam, accepting her father as he is. Sam receives a letter from a tire company expressing interest in one of his inventions, a puncture-proof tire that can resist bullets. However, his opportunity becomes a disaster when he mistakenly uses a police car as the subject of his demonstration. When the car's tires fail to resist Sam's bullets, he must flee the irate police. On the train trip home, feeling that he has failed completely, Sam contemplates committing suicide by drinking a bottle of [iodine](/source/Tincture_of_iodine), but decides against it at the last minute. On the train, he meets a woman who also has a bottle of iodine. Mistakenly thinking that she is also considering suicide, Sam tries to dissuade her by telling her about his own troubles. He does not know that she is Princess Lescaboura, engaged in agood-will tour of the area. She is moved by Sam's story and secretly decides to help him. The next day, the Princess visits Sam's town and informs its residents that he once saved her life. As a result, the townspeople, including Mrs. Murchison, suddenly see Sam as admirable. Sam, believing the Princess is posing as royalty to help him, quietly congratulates her on her successful ruse. At a new golf course, Sam is given the honor of driving the first ball. After a number of random events foil Sam's attempts to hit the ball, Mr. Robbins, the president of the tire company, arrives at the course. He excitedly tells Sam that they have found his car and tested his tires, and want to manufacture them. He offers Sam $20,000 for his invention, but the princess says that she wants the patent for her own country. She bids against Robbins until Robbins finally offers $1,000,000 plus a [royalty](/source/Royalty_payment) for each tire, which Sam accepts. Later, Sam's family is wealthy and respected, and his daughter Pauline is married to Bob. Sam is happy, but he still doesn't realize the Princess is genuine. As she is about to leave, she says, "Goodbye, Sam—I want to thank you for a lot of fun!” Sam says, "The pleasure's mutual," then leans closer and says, "We certainly put that princess stuff over, didn't we?" To which she replies, "You're telling *me!*" ## Cast - [W.C. Fields](/source/W.C._Fields) as Sam Bisbee, optometrist - [Adrienne Ames](/source/Adrienne_Ames) as Princess Lescaboura - [Joan Marsh](/source/Joan_Marsh) as Pauline Bisbee - [Larry "Buster" Crabbe](/source/Buster_Crabbe) as Bob Murchison - [Louise Carter](/source/Louise_Carter) as Mrs. Bessie Bisbee - [Kathleen Howard](/source/Kathleen_Howard) as Mrs. Edward Quimby Murchison - [Del Henderson](/source/Dell_Henderson) as Crystal Springs mayor Brown - [Nora Cecil](/source/Nora_Cecil) as Mrs. Price, town's spinster - [George Irving](/source/George_Irving_(American_actor)) as Mr. Robbins, president of National Tire Co. - James B. "Pop" Kenton as Doc Beebe, Sam's friend - [Robert McKenzie](/source/Robert_McKenzie_(actor)) as Charlie Bogle, Sam's friend - [Tammany Young](/source/Tammany_Young) as the Caddy ## Production The sequence at the golf course is largely the routine that formed the nucleus of Fields' earlier short film *[The Golf Specialist](/source/The_Golf_Specialist)*. This was filmed at the Lakeside Golf Club in [Burbank, California](/source/Burbank%2C_California), which was also used in Fields' short *[The Dentist (1932 film)](/source/The_Dentist_(1932_film))*. The triumph of Fields' character over his circumstances, and the happy ending thanks to a windfall profit, would be repeated later in 1934 in *[It's a Gift](/source/It's_a_Gift)*. The film received only a cursory review in William K. Everson's 1967 book *The Art of W.C. Fields* as it was unavailable because of ownership issues. The issues were resolved and the film is included in the Universal DVD set *W.C. Fields Comedy Collection, Volume Two*. Everson mentions that the name of the film's minor character Charlie Bogle was adopted as Fields' writing pseudonym for several of his later films. ## See also - [National Recovery Administration](/source/National_Recovery_Administration) (NRA), the logo displayed at start of film ## External links - [*You're Telling Me!*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026017/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) v t e Films directed by Erle C. Kenton Salome vs. Shenandoah (1919) Down on the Farm (1920) Love, Honor and Behave (1920) A Small Town Idol (1921) A Fool and His Money (1925) The Danger Signal (1925) Red Hot Tires (1925) The Love Toy (1926) Other Women's Husbands (1926) The Sap (1926) The Palm Beach Girl (1926) The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary (1927) The Girl in the Pullman (1927) Bare Knees (1928) Name the Woman (1928) Nothing to Wear (1928) Companionate Marriage (1928) Golf Widows (1928) The Street of Illusion (1928) The Sideshow (1928) The Sporting Age (1928) Trial Marriage (1929) Father and Son (1929) Song of Love (1929) Mexicali Rose (1929) A Royal Romance (1930) X Marks the Spot (1931) Left Over Ladies (1931) The Last Parade (1931) Guilty as Hell (1932) Island of Lost Souls (1932) From Hell to Heaven (1933) Disgraced! (1933) Big Executive (1933) Search for Beauty (1934) You're Telling Me! (1934) Party Wire (1935) The Best Man Wins (1935) The Public Menace (1935) Devil's Squadron (1936) Counterfeit (1936) She Asked for It (1937) The Devil's Playground (1937) Little Tough Guys in Society (1938) The Lady Objects (1938) Everything's on Ice (1939) Escape to Paradise (1939) Remedy for Riches (1940) Petticoat Politics (1941) Melody for Three (1941) Naval Academy (1941) They Meet Again (1941) Flying Cadets (1941) North to the Klondike (1942) The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) Frisco Lil (1942) Pardon My Sarong (1942) Who Done It? (1942) It Ain't Hay (1943) House of Frankenstein (1944) She Gets Her Man (1945) House of Dracula (1945) The Cat Creeps (1946) Little Miss Big (1946) Bob and Sally (1948) One Too Many (1951) Secrets of Beauty (1951) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [You're Telling Me!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You're_Telling_Me!) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You're_Telling_Me!?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.