Miss Polly 1941

In the very old-fashioned small town of Midfield, there hasn’t been a marriage in more than two years and the younger crowd is slowly drifting away. Minerva Snodgrass, Kathleen Howard, the strict and assertive leader of the town’s Purity League, has laid down a network of rules to keep the girls and boys apart. Her next-door neighbor is Pandora Polly, Zasu Pitts, a warm-hearted and tolerant old maid who lives with her handyman and catastrophic hobby inventor Slim Wilkins, Slim Summerville, and her housekeeper Patsy, Brenda Forbes. Polly tries to shield the budding romance between Minerva’s daughter Barbara Snodgrass, Elyse Knox, and her boyfriend Eddie, Richard Clayton, who chafes under his mother’s iron grip.

To give Barbara courage, Polly uncovers a mysterious liquor in her cellar that once made her shy sister marry a man. She drinks it and, as a result, begins to loosen up: she flirts with the town grocery boy and buys the sexiest dress in town. In this new dress, Polly attends the town meeting led by Mayor Walsh, Ferris Taylor, where Minerva seeks to push through stricter rules and consolidate control over the townspeople. Polly, emboldened by the lingering effects of the romance liquor, argues for more freedom for the young and reminds the older generation of their own youthful indiscretions, slowly gaining allies at the meeting. Yet the confrontation is sharpened by the memory that Minerva herself had an affair many years ago.

When Minerva collapses and there is no water nearby, Slim and Patsy offer her more of the romantic liquor to drink. Under its spell, she reverses her hard stance, approving the marriage between Barbara and Eddie and, in a surprising twist, developing a crush on Slim, chasing after him as the potion’s charm takes hold.

The town’s social order buckles under the influence of a drink, a memory of past mistakes, and an unexpected romantic turn, leaving Midfield with a comic, tender, and ultimately hopeful sense that love and choice can defy rigid rules.