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Happy Days (1929) Starring Charles E
Evans and Marjorie White | |
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Beautiful print and will
play in all DVD players. | |
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Filmed in "Fox Grandeur," an early
widescreen process, Happy Days was the immediate follow-up to Fox
Studios' Movietone Follies of 1929. Most of the film takes place on the
showboat of Mississippi entrepreneur Colonel Billy Batcher (Charles E. Evans).
When the Colonel faces foreclosure after several failing seasons,
soubrette Margie (Marjorie White) stages a fund-raising revue on the
boat, enlisting the aid of all the big stars who got their start with
Batcher. By an amazing coincidence, virtually all of the showboat alumni
are under contract to Fox Studios! Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell
perform "We'll Build a Little World of Our Own," Victor
McLaglen and Edmund Lowe kid their roughneck screen images in the novelty
number "Vic and Eddie," Sharon Lynn and Ann Pennington offer
the "hot" dance routine "Snake Hips," and
"Whispering" Jack Smith offers a rendition of the title tune.
Also on hand are Will Rogers, El Brendel, Walter Catlett (who also staged
the musical numbers), Lew Brice (Fanny's brother), Dixie Lee (Mrs. Bing
Crosby) and Georgie Jessel -- not to mention an uncredited 14-year-old
chorus girl named Betty Grable.
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Director: Benjamin Stoloff
Writers: Sidney Lanfield, Edwin J. Burke
Stars: Charles E. Evans, Marjorie White, Richard Keene, Stuart Erwin,
Martha Lee Sparks, Clifford Dempsey, James J Corbett, George MacFarlane,
Charles Farrell, Victor McLaglen, El Brendel, George Jessel, Dixie Lee,
Sharon Lynn, Will Rogers, Edmund Lowe, Tom Patricola, Walter Catlett, Ann
Pennington, Warner Baxter
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Songs include:
We'll Build a Little World of Our Own
Music by James F. Hanley
Lyrics by James Brockman
Performed by Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell
Happy Days
Music by James F. Hanley
Lyrics by Joseph McCarthy
Performed by 'Whispering' Jack Smith
A Toast to the Girl I Love
Music by James F. Hanley
Lyrics by James Brockman
Dream on a Piece of Wedding Cake
Music by James F. Hanley
Lyrics by James Brockman
I'm on a Diet of Love
Music by Abel Baer
Lyrics by L. Wolfe Gilbert
Performed by Marjorie White
Minstrel Memories
Music by Abel Baer
Lyrics by L. Wolfe Gilbert
Performed by George MacFarlane
Mona
Written by Con Conrad, Sidney D. Mitchell and Archie Gottler
Performed by Frank Richardson
Snake Hips
Written by Con Conrad, Sidney D. Mitchell and Archie Gottler
Performed by Sharon Lynn and Ann Pennington
Crazy Feet
Written by Con Conrad, Sidney D. Mitchell and Archie Gottler
Vic and Eddie
Written by Harry Stoddard and Marcy Klauber
Performed by Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe
La Golondrina
Music by Narcisco Serradell
William Tell Overture
Music by Gioachino Rossini
Zampa Overture
Music by Louis Joseph Hérold
Minuet in G major, WoO 10, No. 2
Music by Ludwig van Beethoven
Danced by El Brendel | |
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After a preview on September 17, 1929, Happy Days
premiered at the Roxy Theater in New York City on February 13, 1930 with
a Niagara Falls widescreen short on a Grandeur screen of 42x20 ft,
compared to the standard 24x18 ft screen. It was also shown in Grandeur
at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, from February 28, 1930. | |
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At a screening at the Roxy Theater, film critic
Mordaunt Hall praised the cinematography, which was noted to be enhanced
by the wider format. However, he regarded the film itself as "...
not one that gives as full a conception of the possibilities as future
films of this type will probably do." | |
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Due to the Great Depression few movie theaters
invested in widescreen equipment and the format was abandoned until 23
years later. Fox Film Corporation's heavy investment in Grandeur
technology led to William Fox losing his business, which was eventually
merged in 1935 with Twentieth Century Pictures to form 20th Century Fox.
No widescreen print of Happy Days is known to survive. | |
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Lots of energy here and Marjorie White (in her film
debut) probably comes off best. She died in a car wreck in 1935. At only
4' 10" White was a dynamo of musical and comedy talent and had good
supporting roles on Fox's JUST IMAGINE and SUNNYSIDE UP. | |
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"Snake Hips" is fantastic - Sharon Lynn
sings it,(she sang the "Turn on the Heat" number in "Sunny
Side Up") there is some great, innovative overhead photography and
beautiful Ann Pennington dances up a storm. Although in her 30s, she
still had "IT" in spades. Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell
build a doll house to "We'll Build a Little World of Our Own".
Janet's voice seemed to have improved since "Sunny Side Up" and
she talked/sang the words which I found quite effective. Charles Farrell's
voice was still the same - unfortunately and the song ended with Farrell
and Gaynor, dressed as babies, fighting over a bottle. No wonder Janet
was fed up with the movies she was being offered. | |
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"Crazy Feet" made the whole movie
worthwhile. Adorable Dixie Lee burst out of a modernistic background,
which featured chorus girls, in silhouette, in letters featuring the name
of the song - at one point girls came down from the ceiling, suspended on
swings, showing their "crazy feet". Dixie Lee was married to
Bing Crosby and her guidance really helped him on the road to success.
She has a wonderful "jazz oriented" voice and she even does a
chorus of scat!!! Chorus girls pile out of giant shoes, Tom Patricola
does an eccentric dance, Frank Richardson leads a chorus of clowns - did
I mention the beautiful chorus girls!!! Marjorie White and Richard Keene
sing and dance a cute novelty number "I'm on a Diet of Love"
and soon end up duking it out on stage - "Whispering" Jack
Smith, who, as a singer, had huge popularity in the twenties, comes on
stage to patch things up and lead the finale in "Happy Days",
sung in that whispering voice that was his trademark. | |
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A Blonde For A Night (1928)
Stars: Marie Prevost,
Franklin Pangborn, Harrison Ford
Previously teamed for a number of boudoir farces like Getting Gertie's
Garter and Up in Mabel's Room, star Marie Prevost and director E. Mason
Hopper once more pooled their talents in Blonde for a Night. Prevost
plays the dowdy brunette wife of roving husband Harrison Ford, who
prefers to spend his evenings with beautiful blondes. On the advice of
cosmetician Franklin Pangborn, Prevost dons a blonde wig and steps out
for a night on the town on her own. Sure enough, Ford fails to recognize
Prevost, and spends the entire evening trying to put the make on his own
wife. The plotline for this 7-reel comedy was later boiled down to 20
minutes by Charley Chase in The Chump Takes a Bump (1939).
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Duck You Sucker (1971)
Stars: Rod Steiger, James
Coburn, Romolo Valli
A Mexican-revolution yarn,
filmed in Italy by spaghetti Western maven Sergio Leone. James Coburn is
top-billed as John H. Mallory, an Irish soldier of fortune with a
penchant for explosives. Rod Steiger plays Juan Miranda, another
mercenary who wants to utilize Mallory's specialty to blast into a bank.
Despite his avaricious intentions, Miranda becomes a hero when the hole
he blows in the bank wall frees dozens of political prisoners.
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Blind Ice (1948)
Stars: Hardy Krüger,
Stanley Baker, Micheline Presle
The film career of actress Leslie Brooks lasted long enough for her to
contribute several mesmerizingly bitchy performances. In Blonde Ice,
Brooks is cast as Claire, a society reporter who'll do literally anything
for a story. She manages to keep herself in the headlines by marrying and
romancing a series of wealthy men, all of whom die under mysterious
circumstances. To deflect suspicion from herself, Claire frames her
erstwhile boyfriend, sportswriter Les Burns (Robert Paige). Because the
police department is incredibly obtuse throughout the film, it's up to a
criminal psychologist (David Leonard) to expose Claire as a homicidal
sociopath. Blonde Ice might make a fascinating double feature with Nicole
Kidman's 1994 starrer To Die For.
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Blonde Inspiration (1941)
Stars: John Shelton,
Virginia Grey, Albert Dekker
Blonde Inspiration was one of
the few non-musical directorial efforts of Busby Berkeley. MGM contract
players John Shelton and Virginia Grey head the cast of this leisurely
second-echelon comedy. Shelton plays a western novelist who is inspired to
incredible productivity by buxom blonde Marion Martin. Trouble is, he
writes more books than his publisher (Albert Dekker) can handle; thus,
efforts are made to break up Shelton's romance--and that's where Grey
comes in. Blonde Inspiration was based on John Cecil Holm's stage farce
Four Cents a Word.
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Blonde Venus
(1932)
Stars: Marlene Dietrich,
Cary Grant, Herbert Marshall
Marlene Dietrich stars as
Helen Faraday, a German cabaret singer in the States whose husband, Ned,
falls ill and his only hope is to receive expensive medical treatment at
a clinic in Europe. Struggling to afford his care and to support their
son Johnny, she works at a nightclub and succumbs to the advances of
wealthy playboy Nick, whose gifts assist in her husband's recovery. Soon
Ned recovers and returns, but when he discovers that Helen has been
unfaithful, he divorces her, threatening to take their son. After running
with little Johnny, she ends up a prostitute in New Orleans, where she is
found by the detective hired by Ned. The boy is taken from her and Helen
flees to Paris where she becomes a cabaret sensation. Upon witnessing a
performance, Nick begins seeing her again and when the show moves to NYC,
he secures a meeting between her and her ex -- who is finally made aware
of the motivation behind her affair years before. This is the feature
containing the well-known scenes where Dietrich performs stage numbers in
an ape-suit and a white tuxedo (complete with top hat).
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Blondie (1938)
Stars: Penny Singleton,
Arthur Lake, Larry Simms
When
Columbia Pictures secured the movie rights to Chic Young's popular comic
strip Blondie, the studio executives probably never imagined that the
ensuing "Blondie" series would last for 12 years and 28
episodes! Part of the series' charm was Columbia's wisdom in casting the
ideal actors for the leading roles. Penny Singleton dyed her hair blonde
to step into the role of Blondie Bumstead (after Shirley Deane bowed out
due to prior committments); Arthur Lake landed the role of a lifetime as
sensible Blondie's bumbling hubby Dagwood (in the original strip, of
course, it was Dagwood who was sensible and Blondie who was
scatterbrained); and 5-year-old Larry Simms did a masterful job as the Bumstead's
son Baby Dumpling (aka Alexander), literally growing up before our eyes
over the next dozen years. Not as farcical as later entries, the initial
Blondie film is a gentle, even-keeled situation comedy, aiming for
chuckles rather than bellylaughs. It doesn't take long for poor Dagwood
to get into trouble with his apoplectic boss J. C. Dithers (wonderfully
played by Jonathan Hale), who fires our hero halfway through the second
reel. Ruminating over his troubles in a hotel lobby, Dagwood strikes up a
friendship with affable C. P. Hazlip (Gene Lockhart), never realizing
that this is the same Hazlip whose account the Dithers Construction
Company has been trying to land for the past several weeks! But before a
happy ending can be realized, Blondie and Dagwood undergo a series of
misunderstandings, culminating with Blondie tearfully storming out of the
house (which has already been stripped of its furniture by the finance
company!) Blondie was an immediate hit with filmgoers and fans of the
strip alike, convincing Columbia that it had a winning property on its
hands and spawning sequel after sequel after sequel.
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