User Reviews

Character actress Ruth Donnelly has been a favorite of mine ever since I first began watching classic movies as a child. There was something about her attitude and way of thinking that struck me as truly human, and in every film I've seen her in, she more than shares that quality with the audience. As I became more familiar with other character actors, I would often I do not wish that she would get the type of leading roles that RKO's Helen Broderick was getting due to their similar personas. Wild Bill's force in this Warner Brothers programmer, it is Donnelly who is officially the lead, working for the top-billed Margaret Lindsay and Warren Hull, decent people even though Lindsay's character is a bit of a social climber. Donnelly quits working for a couple who are too drunk to ride out a paycheck for her and starts working for Lindsey and Hull, turning their lives around and revealing her own private life in the process.

Competing with Donnelly for stealing the film are Ronnie Cosby as Lindsay's young son, a pre-teenager obsessed with black people (in a sweet, innocent way) and Arthur Treacher as the butler in Donnelly's former home who has a droll remark for every situation. Anita Louise co-stars as a young lady who is tied in with Donnelly's secret. when Donnelly exclaims to Treacher that she finds mother love movies hard to take in melodramatic, it's pretty clear what her secret is. That is given away even more by her devotion and adoration of the precocious Cosby who even manages to silence Treacher with his audacity. It's a mild-mannered comedy with dramatic twists that will keep you entertained. Donnelly is very down-to-earth, reminding me of older women relatives who could share their stories with humor and life lessons, making me want to be around them when other children my age were off elsewhere. It also made me wonder if this film was originally written for Aileen MacMahon, a character actress who managed to score a dozen leads in very similar programmers while under contract at Warner's.

I just saw this movie on TCM for the first time. If you want a movie with so many miraculous doings, all wishes come true and the ending is sweet, this one pretty much covers it. About 25 minutes into the movie you learn the maid's secret. The scene is poignant and could have been the beginning of a lovely movie. However, it misses that opportunity for sake of happy feelings.

Apparently this maid is also full of magic. The regular guy comes home to find his wife has hired a maid at $75 a month and they can't afford it. Quicker than you can smile, the maid suggests they move to a more expensive place and they're there. Another suggestion gets them to a 14-room mansion with tennis court and pool. Plus other servants and a Governess. This all happens in rapid succession without explanation or time to figure out how one person can become wealthy so quickly. Their little boy doesn't age a bit or grow in height, so it's a maid's miracle!

The beauty of the film is not what happens to this family but what happens between the maid and another person, who she also tries to rescue.

The beautiful Anita Louise is so radiant and stunning. All the actors are good, despite a choppy script.

This movie is not played for seriousness or tears. If you stop to ask questions, you'll dismiss it as ridiculous. Movies like this were made to uplift folks who wanted to believe in a dream during the Great Depression. With a minor bit about an adulterous married man, you can tell it's also before the Code of Decency kicked in.

Although Margaret Lindsay, Warren Hull and Anita Louise are billed above her, the true star of this 1935 feature film is the incomparable actress Ruth Donnelly as 'Lizzie' the Personal Maid with a big secret. Some reviewers do not believe people living in Manhattan in the mid 1930's in modest apartments had maids. Well, my folks were wealthy, we owned apartment buildings in Greenwich Village and an estate in The Hamptons. We had a butler, cook, parlor maid, valet and a ladies maid. Only Dad's valet who doubled as chauffeur lived with us. But many of the family friends had lost most of their wealth in The Depression. They did not live in large apartments, but all had at least a full-time maid and often also a cook. To me the apartments shown were far more realistic in size and furnishings than in most 1935 films.

Arthur Treacher plays a butler as he did frequently. Anita Louise plays Diana, a mad-cap 17 or 18 year-old running around with married men, much to her mother's disapproval. Since the Production Code was fully-enforced in 1935, we only see hints of just what Diana does with those married men and she does drink, but in New York then the legal drinking age was 18 and not strictly enforced.

The nominal stars are Margaret Lindsay and Warren Hull as 'Joan' and 'Jimmy' Smith who hire 'Lizzie' although then they cannot afford her. By magic and good connections, Lizzie charms the rich folks of the Upper East Side so that the fortune of the Smith's vastly increase during the film. Frank Albertson plays Joan's brother 'Kent Fletcher' who is successful designing carburetors and falls in love with Diana.

I found all of these performers excellent, but Ruth Donnelly as Lizzie gets most of the best lines.

Please note that one of my favorite character actors, Claude King, plays 'Mr. B. Abercrombie' grandfather of Diana. Maude Turner Gordon plays 'Mrs. Abercrombie'. These performers do not get much screen time, but they are outstanding, as both of them were in countless movies.

The only sad thing is that the TCM print of the movie needs preservation and restoration. Possibly TCM has restored it to the extent possible, but now that WB has improved restoration software, it would be great if they gave "Personal Maid's Secret" another restoration pass!