The Milky Way (1936 film)

Plot

Timid milkman Burleigh Sullivan (Lloyd) works for the American company, Sunflower Dairies. Two drunk men try to chat up Mae, Burleigh's sister, and he chances by. In an ensuing brawl, Speed McFarland, the world middleweight champion, gets knocked out (but Burleigh never in fact threw a punch; he merely ducked to get out of the way of a punch which brought the champ down).

McFarland's boss, the crooked Gabby Sloan (Adolphe Menjou), decides to promote Sullivan in a series of fixed fights that will culminate in him being knocked out in a real fight with McFarland. Against all the odds, Sullivan triumphs and becomes world champion.

Cast

Cast notes:

Production

The Milky Way had originally been optioned as a vehicle for Jack Oakie with Edward Everett Horton and Gertrude Michael in the main supporting roles, but when Oakie was replaced with Harold Lloyd, the role of the manager was to go to William Frawley, because studio executives felt that Lloyd and Horton were too similar in comic style. The part eventually went to Adolphe Menjou. Both Brian Donlevy, who played the role of "Speed McFarland" on Broadway, and boxer-turned-actor Max Baer were considered for roles in the film, but were not cast. Actress Ida Lupino was to have played "Polly Pringle", but dropped out because of illness, to be replaced by Dorothy Wilson. Helen Mack and Verree Teasdale were also replacements, the parts having originally gone to Sally Blane and Gail Patrick. Although they are not in the film, before filming began, the Dionne Quintuplets had been expected to make an appearance.

Filming on The Milky Way began on 22 July 1935, but it was interrupted by the illnesses of Menjou, Teasdale and director Leo McCarey, who was hospitalized. McCarey's place was taken by his brother, Ray McCarey and by veteran director Norman Z. McLeod. During filming, when a suitable white horse for Burleigh could not be found, make-up artists bleached a dark-colored horse blonde.

Remake

When producer Samuel Goldwyn bought the rights to the property in the mid-1940s for his remake, The Kid from Brooklyn (with Danny Kaye in the lead role), he also bought the original negative and almost all existing prints, and destroyed them. Harold Lloyd, however, had preserved his own original nitrate release print, which became the source for the new digital video transfer used by TCM. Lionel Stander played the role of "Spider" Schultz in both versions of the film.

In 2004, the premise of a mild-mannered milkman turned boxer would again be used in the mockumentary The Calcium Kid, starring Orlando Bloom.