The So You Want... movies in order

There are 58 So You Want... films, about 9.9 hours in total. The first was released in 1942, the latest in 1956. Watching in release order is the safest way to meet the story as audiences did.

A collection of short films featuring Joe McDoakes in a variety of situations

1

So You Want to Give Up Smoking (1942)

14 Nov 1942 · 11 min

A semi-humorous look at the various types of smokers and the methods available to them to kick the habit.
2

So You Think You Need Glasses (1942)

26 Dec 1942 · 11 min

A humorous but informative look at how an average man can remedy common vision problems.
3

So You Think You're Allergic (1945)

1 Dec 1945 · 10 min

Joe McDoakes thinks he's allergic.

4

So You Want to Play the Horses (1946)

5 Oct 1946 · 11 min

In this outing, Joe loves playing the horses and shows what you can do to improve your odds of winning.
5

So You Want to Keep Your Hair (1946)

7 Dec 1946 · 11 min

Average American Joe McDoakes searches in vain for any cure that will halt his fast-disappearing hairline.
6

So You Think You're a Nervous Wreck (1946)

28 Dec 1946 · 10 min

Joe McDoakes attempts to deal with his myriad neuroses.
7

So You're Going to Be a Father (1947)

10 May 1947 · 11 min

In this comedic short, Joe McDoakes goes through the problems and anxieties of becoming a new father.
8

So You Want to Be in Pictures (1947)

7 Jun 1947 · 11 min

Aspiring actor Joe McDoakes blows his first part at Warner Bros. and has to settle for being a stand-in.
9

So You Want to Be a Salesman (1947)

13 Sep 1947 · 10 min

Joe McDoakes begins a new job as a vacuum cleaner salesman but can't seem to sell any.
10

So You Want to Hold Your Wife (1947)

22 Nov 1947 · 11 min

In this comedic short, Joe McDoakes attempts to save his five-year marriage to Alice.
11

So You Want an Apartment (1948)

3 Jan 1948 · 11 min

Joe McDoakes and his wife go apartment hunting.
12

So You Want to Be a Gambler (1948)

14 Feb 1948 · 11 min

In this comedic short, Joe McDoakes experiences the pitfalls of gambling.
13

So You Want to Build a House (1948)

15 May 1948 · 11 min

In this comedic short, Joe McDoakes is evicted from his apartment and decides to build his own home. As the project progresses, his dream house turns into a nightmare.
14

So You Want to Be a Detective (1948)

26 Jun 1948 · 11 min

Joe McDoakes imagines himself as a private detective on a murder case. Throughout the film, he spars verbally with narrator Art Gilmore.
15

So You Want to Be in Politics (1948)

2 Oct 1948 · 10 min

Joe McDoakes becomes enmeshed in a corrupt political election.
16

So You Want to Be on the Radio (1948)

6 Nov 1948 · 10 min

Joe McDoakes and his wife love to participate in radio show contests, but something seems to interfere every time they are lucky enough to be chosen as participants.
17

So You Want to Be a Baby Sitter (1949)

8 Jan 1949 · 10 min

Joe McDoakes does NOT want to be a baby sitter.
18

So You Want to Be Popular (1949)

12 Mar 1949 · 10 min

Joe McDoakes takes advice on how to be more likeable from his only friend Homer Hotbox
19

So You Want to Be a Muscle Man (1949)

2 Jul 1949 · 10 min

Joe wants to be a muscle man.
20

So You're Having In-Law Trouble (1949)

22 Aug 1949 · 10 min

Joe's in-laws come over, and they suck.
21

So You Want to Get Rich Quick (1949)

28 Oct 1949 · 10 min

Joe comes up with a complicated scheme to bilk his dead uncle out of an inheritance.
22

So You Want to Throw a Party (1950)

4 Feb 1950 · 11 min

Joe and Alice McDoakes are planning on throwing a party, but Joe mixes up his list of creditors with the list of names Alice gave him to invite. The creditors have a much better time than Joe does.
23

So You Think You're Not Guilty (1950)

15 Apr 1950 · 10 min

Joe McDoakes pleads "not guilty" to a traffic violation but is convicted anyway. Handling this setback in his usual manner, the two-dollar fine quickly pyramids to a 10-year jail sentence.
24

So You Want to Hold Your Husband (1950)

1 Jul 1950 · 10 min

Fed up with Joe's indifference toward her, Alice McDoakes takes her troubles to a marriage counselor. None of the courses of action she is advised to take have any impact on Joe, until she is advised to create the impression that she has left Joe for another man.
25

So You Want to Move (1950)

19 Aug 1950 · 10 min

Joe plans on moving but needs tips on how.
26

So You're Going to Have an Operation (1950)

2 Dec 1950 · 11 min

A satiric look at doctors and hospitals through the eyes of Joe McDoakes.
27

So You Want to Be a Handyman (1951)

3 Jan 1951 · 10 min

Joe MacDoakes' next-door neighbor, Marvin, comes over to help him fix his lawn-sprinkling system, but they get the pipes crossed with the gas-line and almost asphyxiate themselves.
28

So You Want to Be a Cowboy (1951)

14 Apr 1951 · 10 min

Joe McDoakes and his wife Alice attend a western movie and George soon has himself in the movie shown on the screen as Jump-Along Skip-Along McGur
29

So You Want to Be a Paper Hanger (1951)

2 Jun 1951 · 10 min

Joe McDoakes, ever obliging and always helpful, volunteers to hang the new wallpaper for his wife.
30

So You Want to Buy a Used Car (1951)

2 Jul 1951 · 10 min

In need of a new vehicle, Joe goes to the Cagey Car Company lot to get a used car,... with predictable results.
31

So You Want to Be a Bachelor (1951)

22 Sep 1951 · 10 min

"I never knew what happiness was till I got married—and then it was too late," Joe recalls, flashing back to bachelor days and his courtship with Alice.
32

So You Want to Be a Plumber (1951)

10 Nov 1951 · 10 min

In this comedic short, Joe McDoakes decides he should become a plumber.
33

So You Want to Get It Wholesale (1952)

12 Jan 1952 · 10 min

Joe uses his "contacts" to buy a new oven as cheaply as possible.
34

So You Want to Enjoy Life (1952)

29 Mar 1952 · 10 min

Believing he has only a month to live, average guy Joe McDoakes decides to live life to the fullest in the time he has left.
35

So You Want to Go to a Convention (1952)

7 Jun 1952 · 10 min

Joe has to find a way to go to a convention.
36

So You Never Tell a Lie (1952)

2 Aug 1952 · 10 min

When a wristwatch intended for a office contest winner gets mixed up and confused with the one Joe McDoakes purchased for his wife, Joe once again finds himself on the short end.
37

So You're Going to the Dentist (1952)

20 Sep 1952 · 10 min

Joe McDoakes' dimwit neighbor Marvin becomes a dentist, and manages to convince poor Joe to let him become Marvin's first patient.
38

So You Want to Wear the Pants (1952)

8 Nov 1952 · 10 min

It's a dangerous hypnotic suggestion when a psychiatrist tells married couple Joe and Alice McDoakes to switch points of view during a session.
39

So You Want to Be a Musician (1953)

10 Jan 1953 · 10 min

Joe McDoakes can't find a job as a bassoonist, so he pawns his instrument.
40

So You Want a Television Set (1953)

23 May 1953 · 10 min

Joe and Alice buy a television set and, due to some excuse, or another, the neighbors begin to drop in, stay to watch television, and raid their refrigerator.
41

So You Love Your Dog (1953)

1 Aug 1953 · 10 min

Despite the fact that during the war, Joe McDoake's dog Dusty did everything wrong including giving information to the enemy, Joe brings him home with him.
42

So You Think You Can't Sleep (1953)

31 Oct 1953 · 10 min

Average working man Joe McDoakes tries desperate measures to cure his chronic insomnia.
43

So You Want to Be an Heir (1953)

19 Dec 1953 · 10 min

Thinking he may inherit a million dollars from his dying grandmother, Joe McDoakes finds himself the target of murderously greedy family members.
44

So You're Having Neighbor Trouble (1954)

30 Jan 1954 · 10 min

Joe starts having trouble with an obnoxious neighbor.
45

So You Want to Be Your Own Boss (1954)

14 Mar 1954 · 10 min

Joe McDoakes, determined to be his own boss in this Joe McDoakes Comedy entry, opens up a new restaurant. Complaining customers and a sanitation inspector who closes the restaurant are just some of Joe's problems.
46

So You Want to Go to a Nightclub (1954)

1 May 1954 · 10 min

In this Joe McDoakes Comedy, Alice insists they go to a night club, although Joe is both tired and broke.
47

So You're Taking in a Roomer (1954)

30 Oct 1954 · 10 min

Joe and Alice decide to rent a room in their house to their neighbor Marvin, who says he is a potato broker.
48

So You Want to Know Your Relatives (1954)

18 Dec 1954 · 10 min

Do-gooder Joe McDoakes is the guest on the "Know Your Relatives" TV show where, to his chagrin, many of his black sheep relations reveal the skeletons in the family closet.
49

So You Don't Trust Your Wife (1955)

29 Jan 1955 · 10 min

When his wife Alice questions Joe as to whether his insurance policy is paid up, he begins to see a plot to murder him in everything she does.
50

So You Want to Be a Gladiator (1955)

12 Mar 1955 · 10 min

Joe thinks he's back in the gladiator days, and finds himself sentenced to be thrown to the Coliseum lions after breaking a string while playing the lyre for King Nero.
51

So You Want to Be on a Jury (1955)

7 May 1955 · 10 min

Joe and Homer are both on a jury trying an accident case involving their boss and a gangster. Interference from both sides makes their task difficult.
52

So You Want a Model Railroad (1955)

27 Aug 1955 · 10 min

Alice visits Mr. Agony with her latest problem with Joe. They had given Junior a toy railroad for a Christmas present, and Joe had taken it over and become obsessed to the point he has built a railroad empire using all of his time, energy and money. When Alice's mother comes to dinner, Joe even has a rigged-up train serving as the dumb waiter. Mr. Agony helps Alice to solve her problem.
53

So You Want to Be a V.P. (1955)

29 Oct 1955 · 10 min

Joe McDoakes is employed as the seventh vice-president in a firm that only makes promotions from the employee ranks.
54

So You Want to Be a Policeman (1955)

17 Dec 1955 · 10 min

Joe McDoakes is a shy, rookie motorcycle cop.
55

So You Think the Grass Is Greener (1956)

28 Jan 1956 · 10 min

When he gets to his office after a usual morning of nagging by his wife, Alice, Joe McDoakes starts to daydream about what life would be like married to the beautiful office blonde.
56

So You Want to Be Pretty (1956)

10 Mar 1956 · 10 min

In this comedic short, Joe and Alice McDoakes each wish their looks were better.
57

So You Want to Play the Piano (1956)

5 May 1956 · 10 min

Alice neglects her housework because she is enthralled with the long-haired piano player, Gregor Flatorsharpsky, next door. Joe buys a piano, and the accompanying free lessons, and sets out to impress Alice. Alice is vastly unimpressed.
58

So Your Wife Wants to Work (1956)

14 Jul 1956 · 10 min

Joe McDoakes' wife Alice wants to return to work to add income to the household. Joe would rather she stay at home to tend to domestic duties. When Alice threatens to return to her old job, a reluctant Joe agrees to her request to get her a job at his office. How will this work out?

Order and dates from TMDB collection data. Unreleased entries are added once they get a release date.

The So You Want... movies in order

So You Want to Give Up Smoking (1942)

So You Think You Need Glasses (1942)

So You Think You're Allergic (1945)

So You Want to Play the Horses (1946)

So You Want to Keep Your Hair (1946)

So You Think You're a Nervous Wreck (1946)

So You're Going to Be a Father (1947)

So You Want to Be in Pictures (1947)

So You Want to Be a Salesman (1947)

So You Want to Hold Your Wife (1947)

So You Want an Apartment (1948)

So You Want to Be a Gambler (1948)

So You Want to Build a House (1948)

So You Want to Be a Detective (1948)

So You Want to Be in Politics (1948)

So You Want to Be on the Radio (1948)

So You Want to Be a Baby Sitter (1949)

So You Want to Be Popular (1949)

So You Want to Be a Muscle Man (1949)

So You're Having In-Law Trouble (1949)

So You Want to Get Rich Quick (1949)

So You Want to Throw a Party (1950)

So You Think You're Not Guilty (1950)

So You Want to Hold Your Husband (1950)

So You Want to Move (1950)

So You're Going to Have an Operation (1950)

So You Want to Be a Handyman (1951)

So You Want to Be a Cowboy (1951)

So You Want to Be a Paper Hanger (1951)

So You Want to Buy a Used Car (1951)

So You Want to Be a Bachelor (1951)

So You Want to Be a Plumber (1951)

So You Want to Get It Wholesale (1952)

So You Want to Enjoy Life (1952)

So You Want to Go to a Convention (1952)

So You Never Tell a Lie (1952)

So You're Going to the Dentist (1952)

So You Want to Wear the Pants (1952)

So You Want to Be a Musician (1953)

So You Want a Television Set (1953)

So You Love Your Dog (1953)

So You Think You Can't Sleep (1953)

So You Want to Be an Heir (1953)

So You're Having Neighbor Trouble (1954)

So You Want to Be Your Own Boss (1954)

So You Want to Go to a Nightclub (1954)

So You're Taking in a Roomer (1954)

So You Want to Know Your Relatives (1954)

So You Don't Trust Your Wife (1955)

So You Want to Be a Gladiator (1955)

So You Want to Be on a Jury (1955)

So You Want a Model Railroad (1955)

So You Want to Be a V.P. (1955)

So You Want to Be a Policeman (1955)

So You Think the Grass Is Greener (1956)

So You Want to Be Pretty (1956)

So You Want to Play the Piano (1956)

So Your Wife Wants to Work (1956)