Broadway Hostess

"Broadway Hostess" is a B-movie from Warner Brothers that has very little to recommend it...nor is it bad. In fact, it really is the epitome of blandness...made well enough but nothing to excite any viewer in any way.

Wini Shaw plays Winifred, a woman who supposedly has an amazing musical talent. But whenever she sings (and it's way too often), you can't help but think that you've heard better. But still, folks in the film go gaga for her and with the help of her new agent, Lucky (Lyle Talbot), she manages to become a huge success. At the same time, she's in love with Lucky and he's in love with Iris (Genevieve Tobin), though she seems indifferent towards him. And, a monkey wrench to all this is Iris' very unstable and emotionally stunted brother, Ronnie...who is simply a bad egg.

Combine mediocre singing with some actors who are dull as dishwater and indifferent and cliched writing and you have the recipe for blandness. You know this is a pretty dull thing when the best thing about the film is the sidekick (Allen Jenkins). A time-passer...at best.

By the way, if you do watch the film look for Dennis O'Keefe in the gambling hall. Before finding stardom, O'Keefe was in dozens and dozens of films as a bit player...and here he clearly is a bit player....albeit a very tall one!

... that being - The bigger part Lyle Talbot got in a film over at 1930's Warner Brothers, the more mediocre/low budget the film was. Also, if he had a smaller role in a film he was probably the villain. So, here, Lyle is the leading man.

This musical/comedy/drama starts out weirdly as there is a club on Broadway interviewing singers for its next big show. Lucky (Lyle Talbot) is helping the owner pick out a new act as a favor to his friend, the owner. In comes Winnie (Wini Shaw), and she shows herself a talented torch singer in her audition. Now, suddenly, Lucky starts acting as Winnie's agent and negotiates a very hefty salary considering Winnie is not a name yet. Some friend Lucky is!

From there the film just devolves into a bunch of tired movie tropes to the point I'm surprised that somebody with a handlebar moustache, cape, and top hat doesn't show up and tie Winnie to the railroad tracks with Winnie screaming "Help Tom! Help Dick! Help Harry! " But I digress.

The film contains a bunch of very forgettable musical numbers to pad out the plot. One really odd one, obviously trying to imitate the magic of Busby Berkeley, is entitled "Playboy of Paree" and has dancing girls simulating bubbles in a champagne glass.

The one delight in this film -Allen Jenkins playing one of his trademark not so bright mug characters and his romantic interest, a rather air headed wealthy woman played by Spring Byington. Although she is actually 14 years older than Jenkins, he always looked rather old for his age and this teaming works and entertains.

Winnie Shaw has a great voice, and she was used to much better effect in Berkeley's number "Lullaby of Broadway" in "Gold Diggers of 1935" from the same year. This was the only vehicle she had for a leading film role, and unfortunately Warner Brothers gave her an Edsel for that vehicle.

And this film also proves that sometimes you lose the battle and win the war. Note that Marie Wilson plays a horribly off key singer in the auditions that open the film and then disappears. Marie Wilson was famous in the 1940s and 1950s playing Irma in "My Friend Irma" of film, radio, and TV.

Probably worth it only for the film history buff.

What promises to be a light "rags-to-riches" musical-comedy, quickly devolves into a tedious melodrama. The script is weak, the characters drab, the editing choppy and most of the performances wooden. The picture comes to life only when Allen Jenkins' cocky "Fishcake" is on screen; his scene on a runaway horse sets an energetic pace that the rest of the film would have done well to emulate.

Wini Shaw is "Winnie", singer, looking for work. Shaw only had 31 roles, and most of those were uncredited roles or real short films. Lucky (Lyle Talbot) helps her get into showbiz. not much of a story line, just a couple songs sung by Shaw, and her pounding the pavement, looking for work. some big name co-stars, with Spring Byington (Jezebel, You Can't Take it with You) and mister nasal, Allen Jenkins. Byington was already 49, but looks SO much younger. too bad the script was so threadbare and the story was short. Genevieve Tobin (married to big shot director Bill Keighley). this had potential. could have been a great film. liberal use of obvious backdrops and doubles. did anyone count the number of times Jenkins says "Toots" ? Directed by Frank McDonald ; had started as a dialogue director, then THIS film was his first director job. it's very okay.

Broke hustler Lyle Talbot quickly promotes singer Wini Shaw into a major star. But as their fortunes rise, their goals diverge. Miss Shaw loves Talbot steadfastly s a torch song, while Talbot sets his gaze on rich Genevieve Tobin.

Frank MacDonald's first movie as director shows signs of having its script having once had a very different ending. The Production Code had been in full force for at least eighteen months before it was released, and so all the men get what they want, including Allen Jenkins landing a very rich Spring Byington. In the meantime, there are several numbers for Miss Shaw and Phil Regan to sing, and Marie Wilson gets four lines.

MacDonald gets in a few comic bits; he was never a distinguished director, but he had a bit of a dab hand at comedy. He would spend most of his movie career at Republic, where he directed some of the best Roy Rogers vehicles outside of Joseph Kane. When he made the seemingly inevitable switch to the small screen, it was mostly westerns, but he also helmed some episodes of Get Smart. He retired at the end of the 1960s and died in 1980 at the age of 80.