Champagne for Caesar is a 1950 American comedy film about a quiz show contestant. It was directed by Richard Whorf and written by Fred Brady and Hans Jacoby. The movie stars Ronald Colman, Celeste Holm, Vincent Price, Barbara Britton and Art Linkletter. The film was produced by Harry M. Popkin for his Cardinal Pictures and released by United Artists.
Plot
Beauregard Bottomley is a polymath who lives in Los Angeles with his piano-instructor sister Gwenn and an alcohol-guzzling parrot they found named Caesar (voiced by Mel Blanc). Beauregard is knowledgeable on any subject—except how to hold a job.
Beauregard and Gwenn watch a quiz show, Masquerade for Money, hosted by Happy Hogan, and sponsored by Milady Soap. Each contestant dresses up in a particular costume, which determines the type of questions asked, with the prize money doubling with each correct answer, starting at $5 and reaching a maximum of $160. A contestant can quit anytime, but an incorrect response results in no money won. Beauregard is contemptuous of the show.
A representative of the State of California Department of Employment encourages Beauregard to interview for a job at the Milady Soap Company. Beauregard meets the company's eccentric owner, Burnbridge Waters, who disapproves of Beauregard's humor and rejects him To get even, Beauregard enters Masquerade for Money, dressed as an encyclopedia, which means the host can ask him about anything. Before the questions begin, Happy starts to praise the qualities of Milady Soap, but Beauregard says that it works just like any other soap, outraging Waters. Beauregard easily answers the maximum six questions, then requests one more, which he also answers, earning $320. Beauregard turns down the money and asks to return next week.
Waters invites Beauregard back for one question per show for six weeks and heavily publicizes it. "Masquerade for Money" tops the ratings, and sales of Milady Soap skyrocket.
At the end of that time, Waters approves of giving Beauregard an impossibly hard question, but when Beauregard answers it correctly, Waters becomes uneasy. Happy offers to take piano lessons from Gwenn to try to find a weakness in Beauregard. Beauregard sees through the scheme, but Gwenn sneaks out on a date with Happy anyway. When Gwenn tells Happy that she and her brother think that he is just trying to get information from her, he admits that he is but also says that he is glad to have met her. Gwenn tells Happy that Beauregard intends to win $40 million, to take everything that Waters has. Happy tells Waters, who cancels the show and sends Beauregard a check for his current winnings ($40,000), which Beauregard refuses to accept.
Sales for Milady Soap plummet, forcing Waters to reinstate the show. Beauregard reaches $10 million. Waters calls in a scheming "Flame" O'Neill to distract Beauregard. Beauregard catches a cold from being in a rainstorm, so Flame pretends to be a nurse to him. Beauregard is aware of, but nevertheless quickly succumbs to, Flame's charms (as does Waters). The night of the show, Beauregard states that he never mastered Albert Einstein's "space-time theories". The next question is, of course, about Einstein's views of space-time. Realizing Flame has betrayed him, Beauregard initially struggles but eventually comes up with an answer. Happy says that it is incorrect. However, Einstein himself telephones before the end of the show to say that the answer is correct. Afterward, Beauregard confronts Flame, who has fallen for him. Unaware of this, Beauregard spanks her with her hairbrush and informs her that he deliberately misled her, that he actually "spent an entire season with Einstein", but also admits that he has fallen in love with her.
Waters books the Hollywood Bowl for the last show. Happy and Gwenn and Beauregard and Flame each plan to marry. Beauregard and Gwenn caution each other that their would-be spouses could be just after the money. Each calls and suggests marrying before the show, but Happy and Flame each come up with excuses.