Cross My Heart, Martha O'Driscoll and Jim Bowie

[Sweetspot]

Cross My Heart is a 1946 American comedy film directed by John Berry and starring Betty Hutton, Sonny Tufts and Rhys Williams. It was a remake of the 1937 film True Confession, which was itself based on an earlier French play. Cutting to the chase, Betty plays a habitual liar who is falsely accused of murder but allows her case to go to trial so that her honest lawyer boyfriend can defend her and make a name for himself. The movie concludes with the unrepentant fibber being spanked by her boyfriend. The spanking scene, as is the case with many movies that include a male spanking the leading lady, played a big role in the film's publicity campaign - as in this poster which is common to the internet.

Cross My Heart 1945 movie.jpg (53.9 KiB) Viewed 10793 times

Thanks to Dan Rivera we have the spanking scene captured in his Cinema Swats 5 collection Sunny Tufts best days in the movie industry took place in the war years of WWII when many of the American leading men of the era were away serving in the armed forces. Cross My Heart was filmed in the summer of 1945.

crossmyheartCinemaSwats5.jpg (11.97 KiB) Viewed 10793 times

Here's a photo you probably haven't seen unless you happened to read one of the few newspapers that printed this interesting picture on July 29, 1945. Sprawled is an apt word to describe Betty's position here...but ungainly I'm not sure it was possible for Betty Hutton to appear ungainly. I don't know why Betty Hutton is involved as the "cameraman" "lines up a shot"?

Cross My Heart BettyHuttonJuly29,1945.jpg (48.04 KiB) Viewed 10793 times

[Sweetspot]

Martha O'Driscoll was born March 4, 1922. According to my math she turned 22 years old in 1944. Her husband, Richard Adams, who must have been on leave, delivered her birthday spanking [and one to grow on evidently] on the set of "Ghost Catchers" [who you going call...Ghost Catchers!] Her marriage to Adams lasted until 1947. Within days after her divorce she married Arthur Appleton. Appleton made a fortune in the family's electrical supply business, Appleton Electric Company. O'Driscoll retired from acting after her second wedding and had four children with Appleton. This photo was published on April 8, 1944.

MarthaO'DriscoilApril 8, 1944.jpg (65.92 KiB) Viewed 10791 times

[Sweetspot]

Adventures of Jim Bowie season 1 Episode two 9/14/56. This publicity photo published September 13, 1956 in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Jim Bowie September 13,1956.jpg (179.9 KiB) Viewed 10791 times

"paddles her unmercifully"...four takes! Unfortunately in viewing the episode in question on You Tube I did not find a spanking which is a real head scratcher since they went to the expense of filming four takes and her husband/show star Scott Forbes claimed to wife/actress Jeanne Moody that the spanking was "vital to the story".

[web-ed]

Excellent work, Phil. I must admit I had forgotten the Cross My Heart spanking, although I did at one time have all 6 of Dan's Cinema Swats series.

The Jim Bowie scene looks very enticing indeed - have you checked Chross's DB yet? I'd really love to do some investigating here, as I have been successful in bringing some 60's TV spankings to CSR readers, but I really have no time at the moment. It's possible I will some day try to compile all your TV and Movie discoveries into one place - watch for some discussion of this during April as I engage in some anniversary self-evaluation - but that sure can't happen any time soon. For one thing, we've got some real problems with our old video pages, which is another topic I'll take up in April.

[willjohn]

Seems that Jeanne Mooney may still be alive at a great age.

[butch46163@yahoo.com]

Nice havn`t seen The Jim Bowie series spanking !! will be looking for it