Museum of DisABILITY film series on February 8 at 7:30pm features The Magnificient Dope, a romantic comedy featuring Don Ameche (1942).
Dwight Dawson (Don Ameche) runs a hype-driven self-improvement course in the Dale Carnegie mode. He and his partner Horace Hunter (Edward Everett Horton) are seeking new sales ideas as enrollment has declined sharply. Their chief of marketing, Claire Harris (Lynn Bari), who is also Dwight’s fiancée, comes up with an idea to announce a contest seeking the biggest loser in the country. The prize is $500 and Dwight’s course in career advancement. The idea is that the contest will create interest to Dwight’s teaching system.
A winner is chosen: Thadeus Winship Page (Henry Fonda) from the small town of Upper White Eddy in Vermont. He is running a not overly successful business of renting out boats during summer time, and is- by his own description- lazy and completely unmotivated.
Tad comes down from his town to New York City to collect his prize, determined to use the money toward a fire-engine needed by the small town. The publicity stunt is jeopardized, though, when happy and contented Tad is uninterested in taking Dwight’s business course, and has to be persuaded by Claire to do so. Tad is charmed by Claire during a night out in the city and falls in love with her, all the while expounding his own philosophies on relaxation, enjoying life, and the unimportance of money. After the night out, Tad reluctantly agrees to take the course, just to be close to Claire.
