"The 'Morning Star' is in problems: J.B. Allenbury, rich and mighty, will sue them on 2 million dollars for an article which says
that his daughter is nymphomaniac and after married men. Reporter Bill Chandler is sent after Connie to prove that the story
was true. The only problem is that he's not married... yet." [Tom Zoerner]

RUNNING TIME
    106m's

DATE OF RELEASE
    July 11, 1946

STUDIO
    MGM

COLOR/B&W
    Technicolor

DIRECTOR
    Edward Buzzell

WRITERS
    Dorothy Kingsley
    George Oppenheimer
    Howard Emmett Rogers
    Maurine Dallas Watkins

CINEMATOGRAPHER
    Harry Stradling, Sr.

MUSIC
    Ralph Blane
    Johnny Green
    Oswaldo Farres
    Paul Soler
    Ary Barroso

FILM EDITING
    Blanche Sewell

PRODUCER
    Jack Cummings 

"Continental Polka" (Ralph Blane, Henry Green)
Sung by Lucille Ball (dubbed by ?)

"Acendiete Mas" (Oswaldo Farres)
Sung by Carlos Ramirez and Esther Williams (dubbed by ?)

"Toca Tu Samba" (Paul Soler)
Played by Ethel Smith

"Bonecu de Pixe" (Ary Barroso)
Played by Ethel Smith
Sung by Esther Williams (dubbed by ?)

After the huge success of Thrill of Romance in 1944, MGM wanted the Van Johnson-Esther Williams team back on the screen.  Joe Pasternak had produced the first, but Jack Cummings was decided upon for the next: Easy to Wed.

Easy to Wed was directed by Edward (Eddie) Buzzell, who had previously directed Lucy in Best Foot Forward.  Lucy had also worked with Keenan Wynn in Without Love a year earlier.

Jack Donohue, the film's choreographer, began grueling dance rehearsals on day one.  Lucy, tired, decided to play a joke on Donohue.  She appeared on the set the next day in a wheelchair, arm in a sling, teeth blacked out, hair tousled and check bruised.  She then held up a sign: "I am not working for Donohue...Period."

Easy to Wed was a remake of a 1936 MGM non-musical, starring William Powell (now Van), Myrna Loy (Esther), Jean Harlow (Lucy) and Spencer Tracy (Keenan).

Filming on Easy to Wed went smoothly, beginning in March 1945, and ending on June 26.

The film was a big box-office hit, but the best notices went to Lucy, who stole the film from her co-stars when it opened on July 11, 1946.  By this time, however, Lucy and MGM had parted ways.  The studio was annoyed that they had let their new comedic star go.

Lucy and Danny Kaye were named "King and Queen of Comedy -- 1946" by the Associated Drama Guild of America.

Easy to Wed is available on home video from MGM/UA Home Video, at Ted's Lucille Ball Bookstore.  Click here to order.

"Around this time, my good friend Eddie Buzzell asked for me for his picture Easy to Wed.  This was...one of the highlights of my movie career....

...Eddie Buzzell put me at ease, and encouraged me to be myself in a way no other director had done before.  I was sick and tired of 'drop gag' parts where I strolled through a room, dropped an acidly humorous remark, and left....

...Easy to Wed was released to sterling reviews.  After knocking myself out, giving my best possible performance in this picture, I expected other good roles to follow.  Instead, I was put into a real dog with John Hodiak called Two Smart People...." [Love, Lucy] 

"1/2.  Remake of Libeled Lady can't a hold a candle to original, but remains passable comedy, with Lucy in one of her first major comedy showcases." [Leonard Maltin]

"[Ball and Wynn are] the best things [about the picture]..." [New York Times]

"[Ball's comedy scenes are] the most compensating feature....  She is at her super best." [Los Angeles Times]

"I've never been an ardent fan of Lucy's, but here she changes my mind.  She is a thoroughly delectable dish...." [Dorothy Manners; Los Angeles Examiner]

"[Ball] steals every scene she plays, and has two howlers: one, in which she learns how to answer a drake's mating call to his duck; and two, in which she plays a livid lady in the grand Bernhardt manner.  That skit is the prize of the year!" [Cue]