In April of 1931, the Warner Brothers’ film The Public Enemy, hit box offices and astonishingly
made approximately $151,000, which was seven times more than their production
costs. It was said that one of the main reasons that The Public Enemy made seven times more than the total of its
production costs in 1931 was its ability to fuse the concerns of the “fallen
woman” and the concerns of the ethnic urban gangster (Munby, 1999, 54).
However,
there was one scene in The Public Enemy
that was the primary reason why the movie and the leading actor, James Cagney,
received the mass amount of popularity that they did at the time, and this
scene received more global attention than any other scene in The Public Enemy.
The controversial scene that created talk and debate among all that watched The Public Enemy was the grapefruit scene. In the grapefruit scene, leading actor Tommy Powers, played by the late James Cagney, smashes half of a grapefruit into his girlfriend Kitty’s face, who was played by the late Mae Clarke.
This blog will examine
the grapefruit scene in The Public Enemy. In order to analyze the grapefruit scene, I will first explain why director William Wellman placed
the scene in the movie and the responses of James Cagney and Mae Clarke when
they initially read the scene.
I will disclose information that is most likely unknown to those who have viewed the movie. For example, most do not know that multiple sources say that Clarke was unaware that Cagney was going to smash the grapefruit into her face until the very second that he did it.
This
research is important because how society viewed the treatment of women during
that time helps shed light on how society views the treatment of women today.
The views of those that disliked the scene and the views of those that favored
the scene will also expose the societal norms of that time.
Most gangsters, like Tommy Powers in The Public Enemy, are notorious for their bad luck with women. This is clearly seen in the movie through Tommy's relationship with Kitty and Gwen, played by Jean Harlowe. Jack Shadoian says this in his book "Dreams and Dead Ends" about gangsters and their luck with women: "In gangster films, the hero rarely attains a well-regulated sexual life. It would blunt his other duties, compromise his existential independence, and make for a degree of social integration he was born, it seems, never to experience" (Shadoian, 1977, 50).
The grapefruit scene signifies the early gangster's defiance against domesticity. Tommy smashing the half of grapefruit in Kitty's face is his way of giving her his opinion on their domestic breakfast. Following the display of this scene, many believe that Cagney was elevated to the status of a "folk hero". However, underneath that the grapefruit scene shows an inappropriate way to act out one's sexual frustration (Shadoian, 1977, 50).
According to E Ann Kaplan, Tommy's girlfriend Kitty, would be a "nurturing woman". She is very domestic, and in that, she tries to domesticate Tommy to the best of her ability. At times she can offer integration when he feels alienated. She gives all of herself and asks for little in return. The nurturing woman is generally very passive, as we see with Kitty's interactions with Tommy.
This blog gives a brief but detailed analysis of the grapefruit scene in The Public Enemy.
According to E Ann Kaplan, Tommy's girlfriend Kitty, would be a "nurturing woman". She is very domestic, and in that, she tries to domesticate Tommy to the best of her ability. At times she can offer integration when he feels alienated. She gives all of herself and asks for little in return. The nurturing woman is generally very passive, as we see with Kitty's interactions with Tommy.
This blog gives a brief but detailed analysis of the grapefruit scene in The Public Enemy.
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Shadoian, Jack. "The Public Enemy Photograph." Dreams and Dead Ends: The American Gangster/crime Film. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1977. 45. Print.
Sonnet, Esther. "Ladies Love Brutes." Mob Culture: Hidden Histories of the American Gangster Film (n.d.): n. pag. Web. <http://moodle.trinitydc.edu/pluginfile.php/320462/mod_resource/content/1/Ladies%20love%20brutes.pdf>.
