My Man Godfrey is a screwball comedy about a wealthy family that takes a homeless guy (a “forgotten man” in the parlance of the film) and makes him their butler. The play opens at a public dump near the East River in New York. Two wealthy sisters scramble down and the older one offers Godfrey (William Powell), a resident, $5 if he will go with them to the Ritz hotel. They are competing in a scavenger hunt, which, in the words of the younger sister, is like “a treasure hunt, only instead of looking for things which everyone wants, we look for things which nobody wants.” For their hunt they need to bring in a forgotten man, and Godfrey would fit the bill nicely. Godfrey, for his part, sees this little power game for what it is, and pushes the older sister into an ashpile.
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