Possible tickling scene in the movie Devil-May-Care (1929)

[bobhurl]

Quite by chance, I came across this page in the french film magazine Cinémonde, on the 10th of March 1932, in the readers' letters section, p. [171] :
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t51174182s/f17.item
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t51174182s/f17.item.zoom

Among the short missives, we can read (I translate) :

"A group of young girls [from].
What an enthusiasm, what a love for the handsome Ramon! Admiration partly deserved, moreover, because he is a very good actor. I would not say that I would go so far as to imitate you, to roll under Ben-Hur's chariot or to have the soles of my feet tickled with a crumb broom to please him... But that does not take anything away from his personality!"

There were different kinds of crumb brooms at that time: one was long and curved, with a side handle, and the other was rounded or flat with a small straight handle.
Here some illustrations:

Do you think it tickles?

This issue is partly dedicated to the actor Ramon Novarro for the release of the film Mata Hari with Greta Garbo. Reading this text, it seemed obvious to me that the author was referring to a movie scene, because the other image evoked (rolling under Ben-Hur's chariot) clearly evokes the movie Ben-Hur, shot in 1925, with Ramon Novarro in the lead role.

So I went looking for films shot by Ramon Novarro, and accessible online, until I came across this extract - unfortunately isolated - from the film Devil may care, shot in 1929. In this scene, we see Ramon Navarro frantically scrubbing a woman's shoe with a polish brush that could be mistaken for a crumb broom, singing the song Charming, while the film's heroine, played by Dorothy Jordan, looks on. Could this be the scene in question? Look how he brushes this boot from all sides, including under the sole:

I didn't find the whole movie, and I wonder if there is another scene where he also rubs Dorothy Jordan's feet. Or maybe the reader was referring to that specific scene - which would be a disappointment - but we might have to understand the lyrics of the song to see if there is a connection (my spoken English is too bad).

Or maybe it's another movie to discover.

In the meantime, I found two interesting photos of Dorothy Jordan:

 

[bobhurl]

Well, I just found the whole movie - I really didn't look properly! - and there's no tickling scene in it :

So, if someone could tell if the lyrics of the song above contain a clue, it might help to know if the "group of young girls" was referring to this scene, or if we should look for another movie.

Best.

 

[CoatOfArms]

I admit your post intrigued me and I watched the movie, but I don't think it has any tickle scene and the song doesn't seem to make any reference to tickling. So firstly I thought that maybe someone, as you suggested, was referring to the shoe polishing scene, which would be disappointing. But then I thought that the note you found is very specific, it talks about the sole of the feet tickled by the crumb collector, so I couldn't believe someone could be so mistaken. So I tried to search for another movie starring Ramon and I think I have found something interesting.

There is a film called "Call of the Flesh" from 1930. Ramon Novarro plays Juan and Dorothy Jordan plays Maria. Here is the summary of the plot:

Cantina performer Juan aspires to opera singing under mentor Estaban's guidance. He falls for Maria, an escaped nun. Torn between marrying her and pursuing his ambitions, Juan faces opposition.

There is a short tickle scene, where Maria (Dorothy Jordan) has her shoe taken off by Juan (Ramon Novarro) and he tickles her foot. If you google the title and a year, you should be able to find the full film, the tickle scene takes place at about 35:25. Here is a picture:



Now the interesting part. Apparently there were three versions of this movie: English, Spanish and French. Each of them featured Ramon Novarro as Juan, but Maria was played by different actresses, Suzy Vernon for French and Concihta Montenegro for Spanish version. I was not able to find those alternative versions, but I guess they were faithful adaptations of the English version. I found one photo from a french version, showing a tickle scene:



Now, since this short note you found is from a French newspaper, it is possible it was referring to a French version of this film. And perhaps this tickle scene was longer and Juan used a crumb broom. But as I said, I was not able to find a French or Spanish version of this film, so I can't verify it.

But perhaps this short note was referring to some other film. I will keep looking, maybe I will find something else, it's a nice detective work.

 

[Till Гандон]

this scene

 

[milagros317]

this scene

Very cute scene. Thanks for sharing it here. 😀

 

[bobhurl]

I admit your post intrigued me and I watched the movie, but I don't think it has any tickle scene and the song doesn't seem to make any reference to tickling. So firstly I thought that maybe someone, as you suggested, was referring to the shoe polishing scene, which would be disappointing. But then I thought that the note you found is very specific, it talks about the sole of the feet tickled by the crumb collector, so I couldn't believe someone could be so mistaken. So I tried to search for another movie starring Ramon and I think I have found something interesting.

There is a film called "Call of the Flesh" from 1930. Ramon Novarro plays Juan and Dorothy Jordan plays Maria. Here is the summary of the plot:

Cantina performer Juan aspires to opera singing under mentor Estaban's guidance. He falls for Maria, an escaped nun. Torn between marrying her and pursuing his ambitions, Juan faces opposition.

There is a short tickle scene, where Maria (Dorothy Jordan) has her shoe taken off by Juan (Ramon Novarro) and he tickles her foot. If you google the title and a year, you should be able to find the full film, the tickle scene takes place at about 35:25. Here is a picture:

View attachment 1047531

Now the interesting part. Apparently there were three versions of this movie: English, Spanish and French. Each of them featured Ramon Novarro as Juan, but Maria was played by different actresses, Suzy Vernon for French and Concihta Montenegro for Spanish version. I was not able to find those alternative versions, but I guess they were faithful adaptations of the English version. I found one photo from a french version, showing a tickle scene:

View attachment 1047530

Now, since this short note you found is from a French newspaper, it is possible it was referring to a French version of this film. And perhaps this tickle scene was longer and Juan used a crumb broom. But as I said, I was not able to find a French or Spanish version of this film, so I can't verify it.

But perhaps this short note was referring to some other film. I will keep looking, maybe I will find something else, it's a nice detective work.

Thank you for this search that you have rarely conducted. Bravo to have discovered the solution. I think that is the origin of the reference.

 

[bobhurl]

this scene

Thousand of thanks !

 

[embomb]

Is this the oldest recorded tickling on film? It might be.....

 

[bobhurl]

I think the French version is not available online. Besides, it is not impossible for the film to be lost, unfortunately. In any case, Ramon Novarro is a lucky guy to have tickled different actresses, stars of his time, three times in the same scene. In addition, he was the director of the French version, which can be quite different from the original.

 

[bobhurl]

Is this the oldest recorded tickling on film? It might be.....

Yes, above, it's the first version. So he finally tickled this Dorothy Jordan.

 

[CoatOfArms]

this scene

Thanks for posting this, I was not sure how to extract it

 

[CoatOfArms]

Thank you for this search that you have rarely conducted. Bravo to have discovered the solution. I think that is the origin of the reference.

You are welcome. I'm afraid that you are right, the french version most likely didn't survive or perhaps it was never digitalised and is kept in some storage room.

But to be honest, I am not sure if I found the right solution. He is not using the crumb collector, and the photo from a french version suggests he used his fingers as well, so maybe it is not the scene the article was referring to. After all, someone could have just wrote "(...)or having the soles of my feet tickled" without mentioning the crumb collector. Maybe I am overthinking this, but the idea of using such a tool to tickle someone's foot is so specific, that I hardly believe it was added with no reference to a specific scene from a movie. But I might be wrong. It is also possible that the author was referring to some other film, that was sadly lost.

 

[The Internet]

Dorothy Jordan was married to Merian C. Cooper, who directed King Kong (1933). The DVD extras about him reveal Cooper's penchant for tickling his wife.