George Washington Slept Here (1942)

When Bill and Connie Fuller are forced to move out of their Manhattan apartment because of their pet dog, Connie persuades Bill to buy a dilapidated old Pennsylvania house that George Washington allegedly slept in.

Director: William Keighley
Cast: Jack Benny, Ann Sheridan, Charles Coburn, Percy Kilbride, Hattie McDaniel, William Tracy, Joyce Reynolds, Lee Patrick, Charles Dingle, John Emery, Douglas Croft, Harvey Stephens, Franklin Pangborn, Leon Ames, Gertrude Carr, Glen Cavender, Chester Clute, Dudley Dickerson, Sol Gorss, Stuart Holmes, Fred Kelsey, Kenner G. Kemp, Hank Mann, Jack Mower, Cliff Saum, Terry, Leo White, Marie Windsor, Isabel Withers




After Bill and Connie Fuller are forced to move from their New York City apartment because their small dog has damaged the carpets, antique-loving Connie secretly purchases a dilapidated farmhouse in which George Washington supposedly slept. Soon after, Connie takes Bill on a drive in the Pennsylvania countryside, hoping that he will fall in love with the place before she breaks the news that they already own it. As they drive, Connie points out the rich history of the area, but to her dismay, Bill hates everything about the house. Added to the fact that there are rotten floors, no bathroom, no water and no roof are trains that depart at odd hours making commuting almost impossible. Despite Bill's objections, the Fullers, together with Connie's young sister Madge, move into the house and begin renovations with the questionable help of local handyman Mr. Kimber. While Kimber continues to dig for water, the Fullers learn that, contrary to the legend, Benedict Arnold, not George Washington, slept in their house. One rainy day, when leaks spring up all through the house, married actors Rena Leslie and Clayton Evans stop by to get out of the rain, and the impressionable Madge is quite taken by Clayton. By the end of the summer, there is still no water, Raymond, Connie's bratty nephew, has come to live with them, and they face a visit from Connie's wealthy uncle Stanley. Madge has become enamored with Clayton and imagines eloping with him, and Bill believes that Connie is having an affair with local antique dealer Jeff Douglas. Faced with Bill's accusations, Connie admits that she has been planning a surprise with Jeff. The surprise is the original map of the area which reveals that they own the working well and the access road that have been claimed by their unpleasant neighbor Prescott. When Bill gleefully tells this news to Prescott, he responds by pointing out that the Fullers are facing foreclosure and that he intends to buy their newly remodeled house and land when that happens. Desperate to save their home, Bill and Connie ask Stanley for the necessary money, but he turns them down, confessing that he went broke in 1929 and has been lying about his fortune in order to ensure that his relatives will treat him well. Stanley tries to help Connie anyway by threatening Prescott with a lawsuit over the boundaries of the property, but when Stanley's real financial state is inadvertently exposed, Prescott is emboldened to stand firm. Things look hopeless, but then the Fuller's small dog finds an old letter in a boot that Kimber discovered while digging for a well. It is a letter from George Washington which is valuable enough to pay the mortgage, thus saving the house just in time for the arrival of a swarm of seventeen-year locusts

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Extras:
- Trailer