Young and Willing

For the first time on DVD from ClassicFlix comes Young and Willing (1943): a free-wheeling farce starring William Holden, Susan Hayward and Eddie Bracken.

A troupe of ambitious young actors—three men and three women—reside in the same apartment. But it's all perfectly innocent, of course, as they're hoping to get their big break by auditioning for eccentric producer Arthur Kenny (Robert Benchley) who lives in the apartment directly below.

Perpetually broke, the struggling performers’ accommodations are being paid for by the father of Dottie Coburn (Martha O'Driscoll); who is unaware of his daughter's potentially scandalous and risqué living arrangement, however, he's quickly brought up to speed by her visiting school chum Muriel Foster (Florence MacMichael). To save their reputation and launch their career, our determined sextet of thespians resort to every bit of subterfuge to convince Dottie’s father of her innocence and producer Kenny that they're worth taking a chance on!

Francis Swann's stage hit Out of the Frying Pan went before Paramount Pictures' cameras in late 1941 as Young and Willing before finally being released by United Artists in 1943. Two members of the original Broadway cast reprised their roles for the silver screen adaptation (scripted by Virginia Van Upp): Mabel Paige, who plays dotty landlady Mrs. Garnet, and Flo MacMichael, who steals scene after scene as the little girl-sounding (though not as innocent as she seems) Muriel.

Directed by Edward H. Griffith, Young and Willing features several Paramount hopefuls who'd go on to bigger things including future Oscar winners Susan Hayward (I Want to Live!) and William Holden (Stalag 17) plus familiar television faces Barbara Britton (Mr. and Mrs. North) and James Brown (The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin). Eddie Bracken, Robert Benchley, Martha O'Driscoll, Jay Fassett, Paul Hurst, Olin Howland, and Billy Bevan round out the expert comedy cast.