Having Wonderful Time

Having Wonderful Time
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alfred Santell James Anderson (assistant)
Produced by	Marc Connelly
Written by	Morrie Ryskind Ernest Pagano
Screenplay by	Arthur Kober
Based on	Having Wonderful Time 1937 play by Arthur Kober
Starring	Ginger Rogers Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Lucille Ball Eve Arden Richard "Red" Skelton
Music by	Roy Webb
Cinematography	Robert De Grasse
Edited by	William Hamilton
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date	July 1, 1938
Running time	70 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$966,000
Box office	$1,008,000

Having Wonderful Time is a 1938 romantic comedy film released by RKO Radio Pictures.

Bored New York office girl Teddy (Ginger Rogers), goes to a camp in the Catskill Mountains called Camp Kare Free, for rest and to get away from the noisy, busy, city life and avoid advances from Emil. She meets and at first does not like waiter Chick (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.). She also meets friend Faye, her roommate Miriam, and Buzzy. Miriam has eyes for Buzzy, who seems to have eyes for everyone. Within her two-week stay, Teddy and Chick fall in love and spend every day together.

One night Teddy becomes angry with Chick and leaves him to go to a party where she meets up with Buzzy. A storm rolls in and Buzzy invites her to his cabin, which he rents by himself. Initially refusing and wanting to be with friends, Teddy sees Chick at the party and asks Buzzy to go to his cabin. At the cabin she tells Buzzy she isn't interested but loves to play backgammon. Chick rushes in to save Teddy but becomes embarrassed when he sees the innocent board game. He returns to the party and waits there to talk with Teddy when she returns home. Teddy accidentally falls asleep at Buzzy's cabin and stays overnight.

While trying to sneak out the next morning Teddy is spotted leaving by Miriam. Emil shows up to drive Teddy back to the city and the two sit down to eat, with Chick as their waiter. All three of them overhear Miriam yelling at Buzzy for having Teddy stay overnight. Chick goes on a punching spree and chases after Teddy out of the restaurant. The two reconcile and plan their married life.

The film was based on the play of the same name, as was the 1952 musical Wish You Were Here. (The play's title has quotation marks around it to reflect the custom of vacationers sending letters and picture postcards to keep friends and family informed of their activities.) Produced by Marc Connelly, it had its original Broadway run at the Lyceum Theatre from 20 February 1937 to 8 January 1938.

In the play the characters are Jewish and have names to reflect their heritage. The Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924 is widely accepted in legal-historical circles as an example of the blatant attempts to stem the large amount of Jewish immigration that began around 1880. The studio, anticipating that the impact of the rising tide of Antisemitism in mid-20th century America would make the movie less likely to succeed in parts of the country where Jews were less commonly found, pro actively changed the characters' Jewish-sounding names for the movie version. This action, taken to have the film appeal to a wider general audience still failed, apparently, as the film lost over $265,000. Among the names changed for the movie version: