Lunedi Lunacy

Thanks to my FB friend Richard I came across this bit of unintentional bit of lunatic camp from The Search for Beauty from 1934.  It may just be me but this little paean to health and fitness bears a striking resemblance to later propaganda films used in Europe and Russia to promote a fit and healthy youth.

After winning the Olympic gold  in swimming in 1932 Buster Crabbe launched a career in movies as Tarzan, Flash Gordon and as the hero of this Pre-code comedy-drama with Ida Lupino.  Amongst other things it includes a plot about attempts to turn a health and fitness magazine into a porno rag and some very revealing men's locker room scenes.

And include in the cast as Ida Lupino's sister was the curvacious and decidedly bodacious Miss Toby Wing.  I've always wanted to include a picture of Miss Wing on the blog so here's my chance.  Toby was one of the original Goldwyn Girls and went on to appear mostly in B movies until 1938.  Never a big star she made most of her fortune in endorsements than retired to a not uneventful life.

By the end of 1934 movies had become moral: evil was punished, wrongs were righted and women knew their place in the world.   And Miss Wing was to lead us from the paths of righteousness no more. Lunacy indeed!

September 8 - 1888: In London, the body of Jack the Ripper's second murder victim, Annie Chapman, is found.