“My Man Godfrey” Is My Man

Letter to Ephesians: critics say the 1936 screwball comedy “My Man Godfrey” is about class divides & the illusion of happiness in marriages of convenience. About those class divides: The movie’s rich family heir turned hobo turned butler might serve as a good role model for today’s homeless...

Recall that the movie starring William Powell & Carole Lombard centers on 5th Ave. socialite Irene Bullock who needs a forgotten man to win a scavenger hunt for charity. Irene battles her sister, Cornelia, in a city dump to find that model loser where Godfrey & other homeless men caught up in the Great Depression live as best they can while hoping “Prosperity is around the corner.” Irene wins the prize thanks to Godfrey’s appearance & out of gratitude hires him as her filthy rich but daffy family’s butler. She falls in love with Godfrey while Godfrey shows the Bullocks what a GOAT butler acts & looks like. In doing so, Godfrey not only starts to rebuild his own self-esteem but realizes the good he can do for his fellow man with his talent, privileges & revelation about what life is all about. In fact, Godfrey uses his skills & investments to not only save the foolish Bullocks from bankruptcy but create jobs for his fellow hobos.

Now, we read about how our modern welfare system has in many cases created generations of hopeless dependents rather than lifting them back on their feet as Congress originally intended. (And, to be sure, many folks HAVE been put back on their feet thanks to taxpayers’ largess.) But, wouldn’t it be a good policy move for Congress to go back to welfare’s roots & find new ways to enable more  forgottens to get back to being “independents” like Godfrey & his hobo neighbors rather than “dependents”?

Davd Soul