FILM · 1934 · USA
It's a Gift
- Directed by
- Norman Z. McLeod
- Runtime
- 68 min
- Studio
- Paramount Pictures
15 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
After he inherits some money, Harold Bissonette ("pronounced bis-on-ay") decides to give up the grocery business, move to California and run an orange grove. Despite his family's objections and the news that the land he bought is worthless, Bissonette packs up and drives out to California with his nagging wife Amelia and children.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (15)
- #001
The final scene at Bissonette's orange ranch was shot at W. C. Fields's home and property, where Fields was living during filming. Throughout his life, Fields rented his living spaces and stubbornly refused to buy a house or land.
- #002
The $5,000 Harold paid for the orange grove in California would be equivalent to $89,000 in 2015.
- #003
The car the Fields family leaves behind at the end of the film is a 1931 Pierce-Arrow Model 41, recognizable by the headlights emerging from the front fenders. This styling feature was patented exclusively by Pierce-Arrow until nearly 1940.
- #004
Harold Bissonette's grocery store sells real branded products of the era, including Kellogg's Corn Flakes and 3-in-1 Oil. This was highly unusual in 1934, as most films avoided showing real products because studios did not want to give manufacturers free advertising.
- #005
It's a Gift is one of David Lynch's favorite films.
- #006
In 2010, It's a Gift (1934) was added to the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress.
- #007
It ranked 58th on the American Film Institute's 2000 list of the 100 Funniest American Films.
- #008
The family sets off for California in a 1929 Ford Model A.
- #009
It's a Gift was Jean Rouverol's debut.
- #010
Mrs. Dunk and her daughter argue loudly over whether their daughter should get ipecac or syrup of squill from the pharmacist. Both were used as expectorants, and ipecac also acts as an emetic at higher doses. Ipecac is derived from the root of the ipecacuanha plant, while syrup of squill comes from the bulb of a plant in the asparagus family.
- #011
It is one of more than 700 Paramount productions made between 1929 and 1949 that were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since; its first documented broadcast was on Thursday, October 22, 1959, on WOOD (Channel 8) in Grand Rapids; it first aired in Seattle on KIRO (Channel 7) on December 14, 1959; it premiered on DVD on November 9, 2004, as one of the 5 titles in the W. C. Fields Comedy Collection, and again on June 4, 2013, as one of the 10 titles in Universal's W. C. Fields Comedy Favorites Collection; it also airs occasionally on cable TV on Turner Classic Movies.
- #012
When a compilation LP of W. C. Fields's best material premiered in the 1970s, much of the material on that album came from this film.
- #013
Jean Rouverol's name is misspelled as "Jean Rouveral" in the end credits cast list.
- #014
It's a Gift was the debut of actress Diana Lewis (Miss Dunk).
- #015
James Burke (The Ice Man) appears in the studio records/cast call sheets for this film but does not appear or could not be identified.
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