"College Humor" took place on the college campus of Midwest University where Professor Danvers (Bing Crosby) spent more time crooning than teaching. I know that the movie was just a platform to showcase Bing Crosby's singing and George Burns and Gracie Allen's comedy.
Barney Shirrel (Jack Oakie) was a new student and a new pledge to Delta Alpha fraternity. If you didn't like fraternities to start, "College Humor" won't help any. Barney's senior frat bros were Mondrake (Richard Arlen) and Tex Roust (Joe Sawyer). They were unnecessarily cruel, but I suppose it was all an expected part of frat culture.
This movie, along with not being funny, was in poor taste. One of the coeds, Barbara Shirrell (Mary Carlisle), Barney's sister, openly kissed Mr. Danvers (Bing Crosby) on the mouth in class. The appropriate response would have been to chastise her right away, but Professor Danvers clearly enjoyed it and made himself the third leg of a love triangle.
It was hard to tell if it was a triangle or not. In a normal triangle there is one person who is the object of the love of two others. In this case, Barbara loved Danvers, but it wasn't clear that he loved her. Mondrake loved Barbara, but she didn't quite love him. It was a mess.
Barbara didn't help matters any. She openly flirted with Danvers while being arm and arm with Mondrake. It was a whorish scene that took moxy and shamelessness.
Besides the Barbara mess, the fraternity hazing was a bit too serious. They did hazing in "Animal House," but they made it funny and it wasn't too violent. In "College Humor" the hazing was more serious and definitely too violent.
"College Humor" made college look like a detestable place to be. Frat boys were abusing pledges, pretty girls were romantically involved with their teachers, all the school pride was based on the football team, and jocks were expected to be treated special. "College Humor" was not a good showcase of what a healthy college looks like.
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