Directed by Edward Sedgwick, Speak Easily is a pre-Code comedy gem starring Buster Keaton, Jimmy Durante, and Thelma Todd. Released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film showcases Keaton’s signature deadpan delivery and physical comedy, paired with Durante’s zany energy. It’s the second of three films that teamed Keaton and Durante, following The Passionate Plumber (1932) and preceding What! No Beer? (1933).
Plot Summary
Professor Timoleon Zanders Post (Keaton) is a shy, socially awkward classics professor who’s lived a sheltered life. His assistant tricks him into believing he’s inherited $750,000, prompting Post to leave academia and explore the world. On a train to New York, he meets a struggling dance troupe and becomes enamored with dancer Pansy Peets (Thelma Todd). Mistakenly disembarking in a small town, Post ends up financing the troupe’s journey to Broadway, believing he can turn their act into a hit. Chaos ensues when a spoiled diva tries to hijack the show, and Post’s clumsy stage antics accidentally make the production a roaring success.
Cast Highlights
- Buster Keaton as Prof. Timoleon Zanders Post
- Jimmy Durante as James, the troupe’s manager
- Thelma Todd as Pansy Peets
- Hedda Hopper as Eleanor Espere
- Sidney Toler, Henry Armetta, and Edward Brophy in supporting roles
Behind-the-Scenes Trivia
- The film features the song “Singin’ in the Rain”, referenced by Durante—three years before it became iconic in the 1952 Gene Kelly musical
- Despite an onscreen copyright notice, the film’s copyright was never registered, placing it in the public domain
- Keaton later reused several gags from this film when writing (uncredited) for the Marx Brothers’ A Night at the Opera
- Both Keaton and Hedda Hopper—first and fifth billed—died on the same day, February 1, 1966
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