Topper

Topper (1937) starring Roland Young, Cary Grant, Constance Bennett, Billie Burke

Topper is a nice, but stuffy, bank president who has his life turned upside down by the ghosts of two young friends – who teach him to live!

Synopsis

The fun-loving Kerbys, stockholders in the bank of which henpecked, stuffy Cosmo Topper is president, drive recklessly once too often and become ghosts. In limbo because they’ve never done either good or bad deeds, they decide to try a good one now: rehabilitating Topper. Lovely, flirtatious Marion takes a keen personal interest in the job. Will Topper survive the wrath of jealous ghost George? Will Mrs. Topper find that a scandalous husband isn’t all bad?

Editorial review of Topper courtesy of Amazon.com

Cosmo Topper, shy, stuffed-shirt banker, finds his humdrum, stuck-in-a-rut life turned topsy-turvy when his path crosses that of two very fun-loving ghosts, George and Marian Kirby. The wacky ghosts, killed in an automobile accident, are earth-bound until they perform a good deed. They’ve decided on Topper as the object of their assistance, setting out to bring some excitement and zip into his life. The result is bedlam, a near-end to Topper’s marriage and utter hilarity for the viewer.

Cary Grant and Constance Bennett are the mad-cap Kirby’s, while Roland Young created a masterful characterization as the bewildered and haunted Topper, a role he would reprise in two more films. Look for Hedda Hopper and Hoagy Carmichael among the players in this classic-fantasy spiced with the special Hal Roach touch.

Cast of characters

• Constance Bennett (As Young As You Feel; What Price Hollywood?) … Marion Kerby
• Cary Grant (The Bishop’s Wife; Arsenic and Old Lace) … George Kerby
• Roland Young (The Young in Heart) … Cosmo Topper
• Billie Burke (The Wizard of Oz) … Mrs. Topper
• Alan Mowbray (Topper Takes a Trip) … Wilkins
• Eugene Pallette (My Man Godfrey) … Casey
• Arthur Lake (Blondie!) … Elevator Boy
• Hedda Hopper (Flying High) … Mrs. Stuyvesant
• Virginia Sale … Miss Johnson
• Theodore von Eltz (Suzy) … Hotel Manager
• J. Farrell MacDonald (The Ape Man) … Policeman
• Elaine Shepard … Secretary
• Doodles Weaver (A Girl a Guy and a Gob) … Rustic
• Si Jenks … Rustic
• Three Hits and a Miss Three Hits and a Miss … Three Hits and a Miss

Songs

• Old Man Moon (1937)
  • Music & Lyrics by Hoagy Carmichael
  • Sung by Hoagy Carmichael (uncredited), Constance Bennett (uncredited) and Cary Grant (uncredited)
  • Played as dance music by nightclub orchestra and
  • Sung by Three Hits and a Miss (uncredited)
• The Old Oaken Bucket (1818)
  • Music traditional
  • Lyrics by Samuel Woodworth (1818)
  • Sung a cappella by Cary Grant