far from the comedy of the awful truth and my favorite wife and this pairing of cary grant and irene dunne pull out all the sentimental stop to get you sad and keep you sad . a penny serenade be the chronicle of a marriage between the two world war of the last century . cary be an aspiring newspaperman who meet irene while she work in a record shop . they marry and cary take an assignment in the far east . the japanese earthquake of the twenty cause irene to have a miscarriage and she can not have any other kid . they come home and this time adopt a little girl . a few year later and she fall ill suddenly and dy . the strain be too much for both of them . i think you get the idea where this be go and but under george stevens skillful direction penny serenade remain sentimental without descend into the maudlin . it also due to the skill of the lead . cary grant get his first of two trip to the oscar sweepstakes with this film . this be due to a great scene he have with a family court judge a he plead for him and irene to keep their child . there couldn not have be a dry eye in any theater this be play in back in 1941. grant lose the award to gary cooper a sergeant york . in the supporting player mention must be make of edgar buchanan and beulah bondi . buchanan be grant good friend who come to work a a pressman when grant start a small town newspaper after come home from the orient . he have a wonderful scene show the new parent how to change a baby diaper . beulah bondi play the wise and sympathetic head of an orphanage who a very shrewd judge of people and the quality they need for parent . a lot of similarity between this and the 1970s film pete and tillie with carol burnett and walter matthau .