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.

Mad about Music

I hated this movie, and I loathed the central character, who spends the entirety of the film lying. But then I hate most Deanna Durbin movies. Honestly, I am not sure why I subjected myself to this. Mad about Music would be a total and complete loss if it were not for Herbert Marshall, who is completely charming in this from start to finish.

Boys Town

Norman Taurog's Boys Town is no cinematic masterpiece. It's not brilliantly shot or perfectly scripted or superbly acted or anything like that. What it is is a story about an idealistic priest (Spencer Tracy) who decides to make a home for boys in Omaha, Nebraska. He sees the problem of homeless, delinquent boys as something that he can change in his city. So he mortgages everything he can think of and rents a house and makes a home for fifty boys. Then he begins to dream, and builds an entire city for boys: with a way for each of them to work and serve the community and vote. Father Flanagan's motto is "there is no such thing as a truly bad boy." Then Mickey Rooney enters the picture as a boy who refuses to be reformed. Trouble ensues.

The film is directed by Norman Taurog, the director who made Skippy and who became famous in the 1930s as a child's director. He made several films about children and he had a way with directing them to excellent performances. As I said, Boys Town is no masterpiece, but it's about fatherless boys finding a home and a paternal figure who takes care of them and believes in them and fights for them. So, if you know me very well, you know that I cried at least a half a dozen times and that I totally loved this sentimental little film from 1938.

I know, I know. I'm a mess. Orphans, coming of age stories, father-son sagas. I'm a sucker for this shit.

Jackie Cooper or Jackie Coogan?

Ah, the fifteenth of the month.  Lots of payroll tax payments due today for all you monthly-tax-basis employers!  At least there is work to do here at the tax office and I'm not just sitting on my arse pretending to work.

I really want pancakes.  Or maybe I just want strawberry jam.  I could, I suppose, always go to Dennys on my lunch break... no I couldn't.  I can't imagine the shame.  "I'm sitting alone in a Dennys on Huntington Blvd in Duarte."  It has a desperate, no-one-will-ever-love-you ring to it.

I guess we will have rehearsal today... I have to figure out what we're gonna do.  I spend so much time making the schedule, and then all of my plans get thwarted because I have no Petruchio.  Grr.  John and Nick are cursing the actor who quit, and I'm thinking "Why should he care about us?  Were we paying him or something?  Is he Equity?  Do we have contracts?"  No.

Last night (since rehearsal was canceled), I headed down to Beverly Hills to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.  As a part of their "Great to Be Nominated" series, they were showing Skippy, starring the completely loveable Jackie Cooper, age 8.  He is also the star of next week's film: The Champ, which is easily one of the ten best films of the early 1930s.  I recommend that everyone go catch this if they can.  Tickets are $3 for students and parking is free.  It's a very good deal.  Much to my surprise, Jackie Cooper was actually in the audience!  Good times.  So he stayed afterward and talked to the audience, took questions.  It was pretty fun.  Of course, I do hate old people, so he did start to get on my nerves after a bit, but it was a really cool time in Hollywood.  I love shit like this.