| Bachelor Bait | |
| Director: | George Stevens |
| Story: | Edward Halperin Victor Halperin |
| Producer: | Pandro S. Berman |
| Screenplay: | Glenn Tryon |
| Starring: | Stuart Erwin Rochelle Hudson Pert Kelton "Skeets" Gallagher Berton Churchill Grady Sutton Clarence Wilson Anne Shirley |
| Distributor: | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $120,000[1] |
| Gross: | $195,000 |
Bachelor Bait is a 1934 American comedy film about a man (William Watts) who is fired from his job issuing marriage licenses at city hall because of the actions of a co-worker. He starts a match making business which becomes very successful because of Mr. Watts' ability to find suitable matches for everybody except for himself. Bachelor Bait (originally titled The Great American Harem) was director George Stevens' first feature-length film for RKO, filmed from 30 April to 18 May 1934.[2]
Stu Erwin plays a kindhearted man who, after losing his job as a civil servant in a marriage license office, opens his own business, Romance Inc., which becomes a successful matrimonial agency. When he sets up his secretary (Rochelle Hudson) with a wealthy client (Grady Sutton), he realizes just in time that he is really in love with her.[3]
According to Marilyn Ann Moss, Bachelor Bait "is a light comedy that touches briefly on the Depression (when mention is made of "everyone being out of work these days") before it supplies its audience with a leisurely paced series of misadventures."
The film lost $3,000 for RKO Studios.