Wife vs. Secretary
| Wife vs. Secretary | |
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Lobby card
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| Directed by | Clarence Brown |
| Produced by | Clarence Brown Hunt Stromberg |
| Screenplay by |
Norman Krasna John Lee Mahin Alice Duer Miller |
| Based on |
Wife Versus Secretary (Cosmopolitan May 1935) by Faith Baldwin |
| Starring |
Clark Gable Jean Harlow Myrna Loy May Robson James Stewart |
| Music by |
Herbert Stothart Edward Ward |
| Cinematography | Ray June |
| Edited by | Frank E. Hull |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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88 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $519,000 |
| Box office | $2,067,000 |
Wife vs. Secretary is a 1936 comedy film directed and co-produced by Clarence Brown, and starring Clark Gable as a successful businessman, Jean Harlow as his secretary, and Myrna Loy as his wife, supported by James Stewart, in one of his first memorable roles, as the secretary's suitor. The film was the fifth of six collaborations between Gable and Harlow and the fourth of seven between Gable and Loy. May Robson portrays Gable's character's meddling mother. The story was based on the short story of the same name by Faith Baldwin published in Cosmopolitan Magazine in May 1935.
Magazine publisher Van Stanhope (Clark Gable) and his wife, Linda, (Myrna Loy) are celebrating their third wedding anniversary. They are very much in love and Van gives Linda a diamond bracelet. However, Van's secretary, the beautiful Helen "Whitey" Wilson (Jean Harlow), is thought by Van's mother (May Robson) to be a temptation to Van. Linda refuses to listen to all of her friends and Van's mother as she trusts Van. In truth, she has all the reason in the world to trust him, as his relationship with Whitey is strictly business.
Meanwhile, Whitey's beau, Dave (James Stewart), is very uncomfortable about her relationship with Van as he calls one night while they're having dinner to ask that Whitey help him finish work at a party. When Dave asks Whitey to marry him, Whitey refuses, and buries herself further in her work.
When Van has to be very secretive to buy J. D. Underwood's (George Barbier) weekly, for fear that his rival will buy it instead, only Whitey is permitted to know, providing still more conflict between Van and his wife.
When Van returns from his business meeting with Underwood, and tells Linda that he has been at the club all day, Linda discovers that he has not been at the club but rather has been out with Whitey, who was merely helping him prepare for his discussion with Underwood. At a skating party, Linda is too sick to skate. As Van and Whitey skate together, Linda hears from one of the wives there that Van and Whitey are most likely having an affair. When Linda and Van get into the car, they fight when Linda requests that Van have Whitey moved to another employer. Van refuses and Linda ignores him for the rest of the evening until she calls him back to make up.
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