Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea. —Henry Fielding

15 September 2020

The Big Broadcast of 1936 (except that it came out in 1935)

Not to be confused with The Broadway Melody of 1936, which was also released in 1935, The Big Broadcast of 1936 is really asinine but surprisingly turns out to be quite funny. There are a lot of great bits in it, and the Nicholas Brothers, who are very young in 1935 and don't make the poster, are in it a lot. The film is decidedly harmed by the presence of Amos 'n Andy doing a completely unfunny blackface bit (it is so weird to me that white audiences thought nothing of watching African American performers sing numbers right before watching white performers in blackface do other numbers). But Ethel Merman sings "The Animal in Me", Norman Taurog directs the whole thing quite ably, and Gracie Allen is a delight.

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