Invitation to Happiness (1939)

 Irene Dunn plays an impulsive society girl; Fred MacMurray plays a no-frills prizefighter. They marry (just like Jack Dempsey and his many trophy wives) in the waning days of the Roaring 20s. MacMurray begins training so diligently for the championship that he neglects his wife and son (Billy Cook). Fed up, mother and child walk out. Ten years later, MacMurray, looking not one scintilla older, finally gets his championship bid. He also regains his family, after all concerned promise to pay more attention to one another. Invitation to Happiness is what Variety used to call a "Four-Hanky Picture." Sidebar: The director was Wesley Ruggles, who refused to allow a certain member of the supporting cast–Wesley’s big brother Charlie Ruggles–to inject any "funny stuff." Charlie begged for one brief comic sequence, and Wesley complied; he just didn’t bother to tell Charlie that the scene would be cut even before the first preview.

Irene Dunne, Fred MacMurray, Charlie Ruggles, Billy Cook, William Collier, Sr.

1939, B&W, 95 minutes