Are Husbands Necessary (1942 film)

A banker (Ray Milland) handles his wifes (Betty Field) bills, her adoption of a child and the return of his old girlfriend (Patricia Morison).

Are Husbands Necessary? is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Ray Milland and Betty Field. It follows the misadventures of a wacky wife and her sometimes exasperated, but loving, banker husband. The films screenplay was adapted by the husband-and-wife writing team of Tess Slesinger and Frank Davis, from the novel Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage by Isabel Scott Rorick. This novel would later be a source for the related 1948 radio series My Favorite Husband starring Lucille Ball, which itself would evolve into the television series I Love Lucy.

A one-hour Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of the film, featuring George Burns and Gracie Allen, aired February 15, 1943 on CBS Radio.

George and Mary Elizabeth Cugat are about to celebrate their second wedding anniversary and dream of having a child. Although they live comfortably on George's earnings as a bank official, Liz's scatterbrained handling of their finances constantly puts them in jeopardy. Liz becomes jealous when George's former girl friend, Myra Ponsonby, comes for a visit with his party-loving friends Bill Stone, Cory Cartwright and Chuck, an artist, after which George spends the entire evening dancing at a nightclub with Myra.