To replace the failed Harry Langdon series, Roach promoted George Stevens to director and together they developed “The Boy Friends” brand as a teenaged adaptation of Our Gang, actually bringing back the most popular grads. So it figured sooner or later Bob McGowan would ask or be asked to direct an entry with this company. McGowan had just helmed LOVE BUSINESS with Our Gang, concluding principal photography on September 20, 1930, and he began shooting LOVE FEVER the week of October 6 as episode number five in the initial season’s block of eight units. McGowan’s approach clearly reflected a change of pace in the series’ style. Unlike Stevens, McGowan favored close-ups, as two years previously he made WIGGLE YOUR EARS exclusively in tight close-ups! There are few sight gags here, no exteriors, and ultimately LOVER FEVER fails to fulfill its promise. Nevertheless this hard-to-see comedy is one of the more distinctive and charming Hal Roach shorts, if for no other reason than all the careful close-ups lovingly lavished upon beauteous Thelma Todd, actually referred to by Mickey Daniels in one scene by her off-camera nickname, “Hot Toddy.” Each Boy Friend understandably flips for her, none better than acrobatic Dave Sharpe, demonstrating the skills which made him one of Hollywood’s best ever stunt men. There’s another scene, rehearsing a play, where Thelma pleads, with no little irony, “Don’t kill me!”

The offbeat LOVE FEVER was released out of sequence (some retakes were required) on February 28, 1931. A reviewer for VARIETY demonstrated his perspicacity in singling out for special praise, “Thelma Todd’s looks … photographed closely.”

Richard W. Bann