Easy Living (1937 film)

Easy Living
Film poster
Directed by	Mitchell Leisen
Produced by	Arthur Hornblow
Screenplay by	Preston Sturges
Story by	Vera Caspary
Starring	Jean Arthur Edward Arnold Ray Milland
Music by	Ralph Rainger Leo Robin Uncredited: F. Hollaender Gordon Jenkins Milan Roder Gregory Stone Victor Young
Cinematography	Ted Tetzlaff
Edited by	Doane Harrison
Production company	Paramount Pictures
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	July 7, 1937
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Easy Living (1937) is an American screwball comedy film, directed by Mitchell Leisen, written by Preston Sturges from a story by Vera Caspary, and starring Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold, and Ray Milland. Many of the supporting players (William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn, Luis Alberni, Robert Greig, Olaf Hytten, and Arthur Hoyt) became a major part of Sturges' regular stock company of character actors in his subsequent films.

Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin composed the song "Easy Living" for the film, and it has since become a jazz standard, made famous by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and many other jazz singers.

J.B. Ball (Edward Arnold), the third richest banker in America, becomes infuriated after learning that his wife Jenny (Mary Nash) bought a $58,000 sable fur coat without his knowledge. After finding many fur coats in her closet, Ball grabs one which turns out to be, in fact, the offending coat and throws it off his New York City penthouse roof. It lands on Mary Smith (Jean Arthur) while she is riding to work on a double-decker bus. When she tries to return it, he tells her to keep it (without informing her how valuable it is). He also buys her an expensive new hat to replace the one damaged in the incident, causing her to be mistaken for his mistress. When she shows up for work, her straitlaced boss suspects her of behaving improperly to get a coat she obviously cannot afford and fires her to protect the reputation of the Boy's Constant Companion, the magazine he publishes.