Starring Charles Ruggles, Tamara Geva, Sue Conroy, Allen Jenkins, Donald Meek, Paulette
Goddard
Directed by Edward F. Cline

Print: black/white
Runtime: 77 min.
Genre: comedy
Print Quality: B

Though he'd been given top billing at other studios, Charles Ruggles attained star status at
his home lot of Paramount for the first time in 1931's The Girl Habit. Hoping to escape the
murderous wrath of a gangster, wealthy middle-aged playboy Charlie Floyd (Ruggles) tries
to get himself arrested. He finally succeeds, only to be thrown into the same cell as the
gangster! Then there's the problem of getting out of jail, which comes about when Charlie
uncovers evidence revealing the warden to be a crook. And all of this comes about simply
because Charlie's sweetheart Sonya (Tamara Geva) tried to cure our hero of his
flirtatiousness. Based on a play by A.E. Thomas and Clayton Hamilton, The Girl Habit was
something of a enigma, garnering huge laughs in some theaters and stony silence in others.