Mel's Boarding House, Diana's Original Draft

Depression-era, pre-World War II America may seem an unlikely setting for a fun-loving, nostalgic story about a group of friends sharing a house and jitterbugging their way through a memorable year in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The denizens of Mel's Boarding House and their friends and family - a group made up mostly of teens and 20 and 30-somethings - spend 1937 swooning over and falling for girls or guys, heading off to the movies or a burger joint, planning the next party and generally enjoying the time of their lives amid great hardship in the country.

But if not even the Great Depression can dampen the spirits of Mel's lodgers, that does not mean they are indifferent to the troubles around them. On the contrary, what we find at the boarding house is truly the very utmost in human kindness and virtue, a spirit of goodness that stands in sharp contrast to the cynicism that has infested our society in recent decades and made us wary of our fellow man.

The beggar, the social reject, those in need of money or kindness or assistance could not possibly be in better hands than in those of the noble residents of Mel's Boarding House and their kin, who never hesitate to put a friend's interest ahead of their own. Truly, this is "The Greatest Generation" on display in all its glory, whether it's helping a Jewish man and fellow boarder who needs money to get his family out of Nazi Germany or defending another lodger from her abusive, Hitler sympathizing husband.

Based on a true story, "Mel's Boarding House" is similar thematically to morality tales like Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life," which also celebrates the values of compassion, friendship, loyalty and selflessness. It also has something in common with "Groundhog Day" because, like that film, it makes the viewer question his own life and evaluate whether he is as good a person as the characters on screen. Like both of those films, there is also a "chick-flick," romantic element that is sure to appeal to a female audience or to couples.

Of the main characters, the most heroic and most representative of "The Greatest Generation" is a Rose Bowl-winning University of Pittsburgh football player nicknamed Petro, who is at the center of almost all the acts of kindness in the film. Yet the screenwriters also skillfully use that character - a ladies' man majoring in PE who thinks Hamlet is a musical - as a focal point for much of the humor in the story. The writers also have an excellent sense for the dialogue of 1930s America, deftly capturing the speech and catchphrases of that era, and do a great job of lending each individual character his or her own personal identity through language, from the irreverent, worldly Mel to the modest, sweet Clara to the foreign-born, chivalrous Mr. Cohen.

The screenplay's simple, straight-forward structure is well suited to the subject matter. But while the story is told in a linear fashion, the brisk pace, numerous plot lines and bevy of colorful characters are sure to keep the audience constantly and thoroughly entertained.

I wholeheartedly recommend "Mel's Boarding House" as must-see viewing for the entire family, a story that exhibits the very best in human nature at a time when the nation was crippled by economic misery and the world was on the brink of a cataclysmic military conflict.

It's 1937: Workers are unemployeed, banks and businesses have failed, people line up at soup kitchens, and families have lost their homes. But somewhere in the heart of Pittsburgh, Mel's Boarding House provides an oasis for its residents from the horrors of the Great Depression.

"Mel's Boarding House" is a warmly-told, engaging story of a boarding house, its proprietress, and its guests. Partly a comedy and partly a drama, it is reminicent of Kaufman and Hart's "You Can't Take it With You" and Terrance Rattigan's bittersweet "Separate Tables". At Mel's, "Amos 'n Andy" is on the radio, FDR is chatting by the fireside, college students are jitterbugging to swing music, the Ice Capades are move in and the circus is moving out. But there is darkness as well: Jews are escaping from the nazis and Hitler's Germany, a husband is abusing his wife, and hobos are knocking at Mel's door in the hopes of getting something to eat.

Through it all, the residents band together and help one another overcome obstacles, remain positive, and fullfill each others dreams. Brother, can the occupants of Mel's Boarding House spare a dime? No they really can't, but yes they always do!

I really enjoyed reading "Mel's Boarding House" and hated to see it end. It is a wonderful screenplay and it will make a wonderful movie.

I was ten years old at the time of Mel's Boarding House, and this screenplay brought back memories of what I remember of the Great Depression. The writers have brilliantly captured a time and spirit in American history when most people pulled together for the common good and went out of their way to help family, friends, and total strangers. I remember boarding houses in Boston, where men and women down on their luck could live in a warm and comfortable home. Mel's Boarding House is set in 1937 Pittsburgh in a college area, where we meet the boarders who represent the wide spectrum of society, then as well as now. Some of them are bitter and broken, others dream of a brighter tomorrow. The characters come alive in this story of hope and redemtion, of joy in a time of great sorrow, of kindness and generosity when people who have lost everything need it the most. Great story. Great characters. Great dialogue. Great writing.