The Toast of New York

Directed by Rowland V. Lee “The Toast of New York” was scripted by legendary Hollywood writer Dudley Nichols (Stagecoach, Bringing up baby). The film is a biography of Jim Fisk - a shyster who became a notorious Wall Street financier. Jim Fisk and his partners Nick Boyd (Cary Grant) and Luke (Jack Oakie) are shown at the start of the film swindling Southerners out of cash in a roadside show. They move onto more ambitious ventures, first selling Southern cotton to the North during the Civil War before trying their luck on the New York stock market. The three friends are risk takers, always just ahead of the law and frequently the mob. Frances Farmer plays Josie Mansfield, an ambitious actress, aggressively pursued by Frisk, who believes he can buy her affections. Josie’s love for Nick threatens the friendship and business partnership between the two men. Fisk is presented as a rouge creating outlandish money making schemes who is driven by fun rather than a lust for personal wealth. Based on two factual books: Bouck White’s “The Book of Daniel Drew” and Matthew Josephson’s “The Robber barons”.