These are the first two pair of mystery/adventure films about Torchy Blane (Glenda Farrell), a fast talking lady reporter who is always tagging after her police detective boyfriend, Steve McBride (Barton MacLane) in search of a story. There is a third side character in every film, a cop named Gahagan (Tom Kennedy) who sometimes gets a B plot.
Generally, the stories start with McBride (who Torchy calls Skipper) being annoyed that she’s there. They face various shenanigans, then pause to eat because McBride understands you should never let a woman get hangry. Even though McBride whines that he wants Torchy to be “more of a woman” and to “go write a story about cooking”, each film ends with him relying on her to help him solve the case. This is always followed by the start of another adventure holding up their plans to get married once again. It’s a formula that works so well that it inspired Lois Lane in the Superman comics.
In Smart Blonde, the first film in the series, Torchy doesn’t do a lot writing, mostly a lot of calling to her paper. A businessman is murdered after buying a nightclub which the original owner was reluctant to sell. Since she and McBride have different theories about “who done it”, they follow different investigative routes. That doesn’t stop McBride from double checking Torchy’s suspicions and constantly checking in her with her. Despite all of the banter, they save the day and save alife.
The second film, Fly-Away, Baby (made in the same year, 1937), show more of Torchy’s career as a newswoman. Hey, a Zeppelin! Torchy joins a race around the world, comparing herself to Nellie Bly, saying she wants her newspaper to win. After a murder involving a diamond heist, McBride is convinced the killer was a former jailbird. Meanwhile, Torchy is convinced that murderer is a spoiled nepo baby reporter from a competing paper. She joins in order to get the scoop and prove he’s a killer. In this film, she does more to keep track of clues and make notes that she can use for her articles later.
I won’t give away the endings. Each film is only an hour long. I’ll let you watch them for yourself.
