Meanwhile, Whitey's beau, Dave, is frustrated with her when Van calls one night during dinner and she once again drops everything to rush off and serve him, any time, any place.

On the ride home Van reveals he had turned down a request to promote Whitey elsewhere in the company, explaining she is too valuable to him.

Linda pleads with him to assent; he refuses, they quarrel, she strides angry and hurt into their home, and he stomps off the same way for the refuge of his club.

His top company rep falls ill, and Van is forced to take his place at a big industry convention in Havana.

He knows it will be all work and no play, so refuses Linda's repeated requests to accompany him in lieu of the promised island getaway.

A day into the confab Whitey learns that Van's top rival is also scheming a deal with Underwood, who's playing both ends against the middle.

Caught up in the cloak-and-dagger, Van neglects to make promised calls to an increasingly broken-hearted wife, and Whitey falls evermore in unrequited love with him.

[citation needed] On Harlow during the making of Wife vs. Secretary, Loy said, "Jean was beautiful, but far from the raucous sexpot of her films.

As a matter of fact, she began to shake that image in Wife vs. Secretary....She'd begged for a role that didn't require spouting slang and modeling lingerie.

(In fact, the only vulgarity in the picture is in the breakfast scene, where I discover a diamond bracelet that Clark has hidden in the brook trout I'm about to eat.

"[citation needed] James Stewart, meanwhile, spoke of his scene in the car with Harlow, saying, "Clarence Brown, the director, wasn't too pleased by the way I did the smooching.

Despite being billed sixth in the cast, Stewart enjoys the most screen time aside from the three leads, mainly romantic sequences with Harlow, including the final scene and dialogue in the movie.

[citation needed] The picture was a success with the filmgoing public, with MGM records indicating it earned $1,350,000 in the US and Canada and $717,000 elsewhere, turning a profit of $876,000.