The Good Old Soak
1937 film by J. Walter Ruben
The Good Old Soak is a 1937 American drama film starring Wallace Beery and directed by J. Walter Ruben from a screenplay by A. E. Thomas based upon the 1922 stage play of the same name by Don Marquis. The picture's supporting cast features Una Merkel, Eric Linden, Betty Furness, and Ted Healy.
Screenwriter Thomas was disturbed that MGM changed the title from the original "The Old Soak," to the "Good Old Soak." MGM did that because it felt Wallace Beery's fans considered the word "good" synonymous with Beery. Rollin Kirby, a distinguished political cartoonist on the New York World newspaper, and good friend of Don Marquis, got a laugh from Marquis when he suggested how appropriate it was that a man named Beery would portray the Old Soak himself.
The story was previously made as a silent film by Universal in 1926 called The Old Soak starring Jean Hersholt.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Good Old Soak” as 1937 film by J. Walter Ruben. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1937 film by J. Walter Ruben. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7737262. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1937, 1922 and 1926.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Good Old Soak”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Good Old Soak primary sources, The Good Old Soak archive and Good research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Good Old Soak”?
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- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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This entry incorporates text from “The Good Old Soak” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.