{"id":15975,"date":"2011-10-12T06:00:43","date_gmt":"2011-10-12T10:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975"},"modified":"2015-02-11T13:35:41","modified_gmt":"2015-02-11T18:35:41","slug":"the_toast_of_new_york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975","title":{"rendered":"The Toast of New York (1937)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>Guest blogger Jacqueline Lynch writes:<\/p>\n

“The Toast of New York<\/a>\u201d (1937) turns character actor Edward Arnold<\/a> into a romantic lead. This alone makes this uneven movie a delight.<\/p>\n

Based on the true life and financial skullduggery of 19th-century entrepreneur James Fisk, Jr., the film has\u00a0Arnold plays Fisk the Robber Baron with the aplomb of a swashbuckler. In tow are Cary Grant <\/a>and Jack Oakie<\/a> as his junior partners. They follow his lead from scheme to scheme like courtiers to a king.<\/p>\n

Both, interestingly, play their roles in a subdued, understated manner. To some extent, their parts as written are subordinate to\u00a0Arnold\u2019s bombastic\u00a0Fisk, but one expects more broad playing from Oakie in his stooge-like character. He is unusually restrained.<\/p>\n

Cary Grant even more so. He is deferential to Arnold in business matters, and carefully avoids confrontation in a personal matter — Arnold\u2019s new friend, lovely Frances Farmer<\/a>. She is the showgirl, Josie Mansfield (who, incidentally had died only a few years before this movie was made), who Fisk takes on as his prot\u00e9g\u00e9 and, probably, love interest. Their romantic involvement, with barely a suggestion of intimacy, is really left for us to assume. It\u2019s not just the Production Code that prevents the movie from being more explicit about their relationship. Jim Fisk is so in love with money there\u2019s little room for anything else in his life (though in real life he found time for both).<\/p>\n

Josie\u00a0thinks so, too, but is so grateful to her benefactor for\u00a0the jewelry and the publicity for her career that she takes great pains to ignore her attraction for\u00a0Grant. Cary, meanwhile, brushes her off with coldness bordering on anger, but it is just to mask his own attraction for her. He does not want to hurt Arnold by running off with his boss\u2019s showgirl.<\/p>\n

Donald Meek<\/a> has a great role as\u00a0Fisk\u2019s fellow Robber Baron, Daniel Drew, the scripture-quoting cheapskate who wants to snatch the Erie Railroad from Cornelius Vanderbilt so bad he can taste it, and so enters into a partnership with the devil, Jim Fisk.\u00a0Meek and\u00a0Arnold are a study in contrasting temperaments (one reticent and cautious, one bold and risk-taking), physical types (one small and weak-appearing, and one large, appearing bolder still in uniforms the like of which might be worn by a vain dictator), and voices (the wizened whine of Meek, and the booming, barrel-chested baritone of Arnold). They are a little like the Laurel and Hardy of Wall Street.<\/p>\n

Billy Gilbert<\/a> has a minor role, too, as a frustrated photographer.<\/p>\n

The movie begins at the outbreak of the Civil War, as Messrs. Arnold, Grant, and Oakie are playing a peddlar\u2019s con game in the south. They are \u201couted\u201d as Yankees, and make a mad dash for the Mason-Dixon line — just over that bridge — to escape certain death by vigilantes and the townspeople they cheated. Then Arnold decides smuggling cotton to the north, defying the Union blockade, would be a better racket. It is one of many speculative ventures that lead the trio from ruin to wealth, to ruin, to wealth.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The climatic scenes of the movie are the most dramatic, and involve\u00a0Fisk\u2019s attempt to corner the gold market, sending Wall Street into a tizzy. His rivals are frantic on the floor, while\u00a0Arnold sneers over the merciless ticker tape. The price of gold rises and rises, and Wall Street shudders, storming over to Fisk\u2019s place to kill the gold-eating monster. They don\u2019t have to bother; President Grant (not seen in the movie) releases gold reserves and saves the day. (He should see the price of gold today.)<\/p>\n

The montage of piling coins and falling stocks, with a ticker tape run wild, are images not unfamiliar to the generation that watched this movie in theaters. It had been only some eight years since the Crash of \u201929 brought their worlds down upon them, so what we might view as a quaint and possibly over-dramatic representation of the financial panic of 1869 was to them a personal reminder of human frailty and financial Armageddon.<\/p>\n

But this is perhaps nothing in comparison to the mind blowing image of Edward Arnold as a romantic rival to Cary Grant. It\u2019s Mr. Arnold\u2019s movie, right down to the melodramatic ending, and one can\u2019t help feeling glad he\u2019s got the spotlight.<\/p>\n

Jacqueline T. Lynch is a freelance writer and published playwright currently maintaining three blogs.\u00a0 This piece is from <\/em>Another Old Movie Blog<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, about classic film against the backdrop of the culture which produced it.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest blogger Jacqueline Lynch writes: “The Toast of New York\u201d (1937) turns character actor Edward Arnold into a romantic lead. This alone makes this uneven movie a delight. Based on the true life and financial skullduggery of 19th-century entrepreneur James…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":45466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1488,5586],"coauthors":[1710],"class_list":["post-15975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-articles","tag-1930s-movies","tag-cary-grant"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Toast of New York (1937)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Toast of New York (1937) starring starring Edward Arnold, Cary Grant is reviewed. This 1937 classic movie also starred Frances Farmer. See if you agree with the review.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Toast of New York (1937)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Toast of New York (1937) starring starring Edward Arnold, Cary Grant is reviewed. This 1937 classic movie also starred Frances Farmer. See if you agree with the review.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MovieFanFare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Movies-Unlimited\/88679322377\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-12T10:00:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-02-11T18:35:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/TOAST-OF-NEW-YORK.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"199\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"guest-blogs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"guest-blogs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=15975#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=15975\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"guest-blogs\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b6e5289d8e138a3b8a39e674487e681b\"},\"headline\":\"The Toast of New York (1937)\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-12T10:00:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-02-11T18:35:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=15975\"},\"wordCount\":774,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=15975#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/10\\\/TOAST-OF-NEW-YORK.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"1930s Movies\",\"Cary Grant\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Movie Articles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=15975#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=15975\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=15975\",\"name\":\"The Toast of New York (1937)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=15975#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=15975#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/10\\\/TOAST-OF-NEW-YORK.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-12T10:00:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-02-11T18:35:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b6e5289d8e138a3b8a39e674487e681b\"},\"description\":\"The Toast of New York (1937) starring starring Edward Arnold, Cary Grant is reviewed. This 1937 classic movie also starred Frances Farmer. See if you agree with the review.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=15975#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=15975\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=15975#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/10\\\/TOAST-OF-NEW-YORK.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/10\\\/TOAST-OF-NEW-YORK.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":199},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=15975#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Toast of New York (1937)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"MovieFanFare\",\"description\":\"Movie Articles, Movie Reviews, New DVD Releases\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b6e5289d8e138a3b8a39e674487e681b\",\"name\":\"guest-blogs\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/99bd099efc61762d4db4576fd62edd7950d55ad80f522b55768c9d0088b62a19?s=96&d=mm&r=g743f36eecdafdcb993559db6426b4239\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/99bd099efc61762d4db4576fd62edd7950d55ad80f522b55768c9d0088b62a19?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/99bd099efc61762d4db4576fd62edd7950d55ad80f522b55768c9d0088b62a19?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"guest-blogs\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviesunlimited.com\"],\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com?author_name\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Toast of New York (1937)","description":"The Toast of New York (1937) starring starring Edward Arnold, Cary Grant is reviewed. This 1937 classic movie also starred Frances Farmer. See if you agree with the review.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Toast of New York (1937)","og_description":"The Toast of New York (1937) starring starring Edward Arnold, Cary Grant is reviewed. This 1937 classic movie also starred Frances Farmer. See if you agree with the review.","og_url":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975","og_site_name":"MovieFanFare","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Movies-Unlimited\/88679322377","article_published_time":"2011-10-12T10:00:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-02-11T18:35:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":199,"url":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/TOAST-OF-NEW-YORK.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"guest-blogs","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"guest-blogs","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975"},"author":{"name":"guest-blogs","@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b6e5289d8e138a3b8a39e674487e681b"},"headline":"The Toast of New York (1937)","datePublished":"2011-10-12T10:00:43+00:00","dateModified":"2015-02-11T18:35:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975"},"wordCount":774,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/TOAST-OF-NEW-YORK.jpg","keywords":["1930s Movies","Cary Grant"],"articleSection":["Movie Articles"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975","url":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975","name":"The Toast of New York (1937)","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/TOAST-OF-NEW-YORK.jpg","datePublished":"2011-10-12T10:00:43+00:00","dateModified":"2015-02-11T18:35:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b6e5289d8e138a3b8a39e674487e681b"},"description":"The Toast of New York (1937) starring starring Edward Arnold, Cary Grant is reviewed. This 1937 classic movie also starred Frances Farmer. See if you agree with the review.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/TOAST-OF-NEW-YORK.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/TOAST-OF-NEW-YORK.jpg","width":300,"height":199},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=15975#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Toast of New York (1937)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/","name":"MovieFanFare","description":"Movie Articles, Movie Reviews, New DVD Releases","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b6e5289d8e138a3b8a39e674487e681b","name":"guest-blogs","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99bd099efc61762d4db4576fd62edd7950d55ad80f522b55768c9d0088b62a19?s=96&d=mm&r=g743f36eecdafdcb993559db6426b4239","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99bd099efc61762d4db4576fd62edd7950d55ad80f522b55768c9d0088b62a19?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99bd099efc61762d4db4576fd62edd7950d55ad80f522b55768c9d0088b62a19?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"guest-blogs"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.moviesunlimited.com"],"url":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com?author_name"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15975"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=15975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}