Owen Waterbury, a successful novelist, hires an aspiring young writer named Steve Gaylord as his secretary. This being a romantic comedy, the two end up falling in love. Yes, I know what you're thinking. And, of course, you're wrong. This was 1948, for God's sake. Homosexuality was still, in Hollywood as in most other parts of the Western world, the love that dared not speak its name. There is no way that the Breen Office would have given their seal of approval to a rom-com about a gay love affair. Steve is a girl, and a very pretty one too. (It's short for Stephanie). Kirk Douglas is not an actor I normally associate with comedy. Virtually all of his best films- "Young Man with a Horn", "Champion", "The Weak and the Wicked", "Lust for Life", "Gunfight at the OK Corral", "Paths of Glory", "Spartacus", "Lonely are the Brave", and so on- are serious dramas, as are most of his lesser ones. "My Dear Secretary" is a rare example of a Douglas comedy. And, for its first half, it's a pretty good one. The main joke is the difference between Owen Waterbury the great writer, whom Stephanie admires so deeply, and Owen Waterbury the less-than-great man, who she soon discovers has feet of clay. He has a massive ego and is something of a playboy and womaniser. He is unable to manage his finances and is constantly in debt, despite the large amounts he earns from writing, largely because he wastes so much on gambling. He finds it difficult to work, not so much because he is suffering from writer's block but because he would rather spend every day enjoying himself, either on the beach of (given his gambling problem) in a casino or at the races. Stephanie soon discovers that she is merely the latest in a long line of secretaries; all her predecessors have left Owen when they could not tolerate him any longer. Stephanie, of course, does not leave Owen. Instead, she does something far more inexplicable. She marries him, despite his many all-too-obvious flaws. This plot development might have been an acceptable denouement had it come at the end of the film after a reformed Owen had changed his ways. Instead, it comes about halfway through, at a time when Owen is still far from reformed, and he proves no more satisfactory as a husband than he did as an employer. He slips back into his old ways, hiring more attractive young women as his secretaries. An even greater threat to their marriage, however, is Owen's professional jealousy when Stephanie not only has a novel published but also starts to enjoy greater success as a writer than he does. It is round about this half-way mark that the film starts to run out of steam. It is a lot more interesting with Owen and Stephanie as boss and secretary than as husband and wife. In the second half we are supposed to accept her as simultaneously impossibly naïve (for having married a selfish egomaniac like Owen in the first place) and as impossibly saintly (for continuing to tolerate his behaviour). Kirk Douglas, on this evidence, was probably wise not to concentrate on comedy in his future career, but Laraine Day, an actress I was not previously familiar with, does enough to suggest that she had a gift for comedy and that with a better script she could have given a better performance. The script itself seems to have been written according to all the standard Hollywood rules about happy endings; it might have been better if the scriptwriters had had more freedom to disregard those rules. 5/10

The plot has potential on paper, but can't quite hold up on screen, despite its fun, lighthearted feel.The main characters are horribly mismatched. Although they do have a lot in common: both are far too stubborn for their own good, with nasty tempers and both need to grow up, especially him.The movie's saving grace, though, is Ronnie, the sidekick. He's tremendous fun! :)I wouldn't suggest making an evening of it, but if you have some spare time to kill and don't have too high of expectations, it'll give you a few laughs.

Kirk Douglas escapes from film noir to take on a less masculine character in this late entry into the romantic screwball comedy genre. He is an egotistical charmer here, a novelist who is more interested in playing around with his secretaries than actually getting any work done. But with determined Laraine Day (the "Dr. Kildare" series) hired as his new secretary, Douglas will find that the lady doesn't take nonsense. A promising writer herself, Day hopes she will turn Douglas around, but with his fun-loving pal Keenan Wynn around (always ruining the dinners he attempts to make as well as Douglas's shirts he tries to unsuccessfully iron), that is unlikely to happen. Toss in a nosy landlady (the always funny Florence Bates), a shrill maid ("The Beverly Hillbillies" Irene Ryan), a former secretary (Helen Walker), Day's former employer (Rudy Vallee), a private investigator (Alan Mowbray) and one of Day's fellow writing students (Grady Sutton), there seems to be great potential for fun. But the laughs are few and far between, which is unfortunate. The eternally grinning Douglas seems to be trying too hard to get laughs, and after a while, Wynn starts to become obnoxious. He has a few amusing cracks at Bates' expense (when invited to a party by her to play the piano, he asks, "Is it informal, or should I bathe?"), but the cooking jokes (one involving a chicken that has liquefied itself in a pressure cooker) go on too long.There is a very funny scene involving portly secretarial candidate Jody Gilbert, a character actress I am noticing in more and more old films; a Veronica Lake look-alike (Virginia Hewitt) is also on hand, as is Gale Robbins as the "business only" beauty who takes no prisoners in her determination not to mix business with pleasure. Walker has an amusing moment taking inventory of everything in Douglas's apartment she is removing. "Queen of the Bit Players" Bess Flowers is funny in a brief scene as a society matron dancing with Wynn who excitedly asks if he is a gigolo. The film gives a look back to the work life before sexual harassment became a no-no.

This was much funnier than I expected it to be. I had never heard of it, but it was included in a collection of "Comedy Classics" bought cheap at a dollar store. Most of the movies were dreadful, but this was one the a few that were good.One doesn't usually think of Kirk Douglas as funny but he is in this. Irene Ryan is, also, and her character bears little resemblance to Granny. Perhaps the funniest in the cast is Keenan Wynn, who delivers some of the best lines in the movie with great flair. Some of the minor characters also very enjoyable.The writing is also very clever and witty. Great lines abound all around.