Times Square Lady

Though he was hardly a name to put above the title as yet, Robert Taylor's first film in which he is first billed is Times Square Lady. He plays a Broadway sharpie who used to work for an entertainment/sports tycoon who has just died and left the whole enterprise to his daughter, Virginia Bruce. From what is described in the film, Virginia's father was a combination of Tex Rickard and Billy Rose.

He's left all kinds of businesses to his daughter, including a nightclub that Taylor runs. The rest of the gang consists of such various types of Hollywood villainy as Henry Kolker, Russell Hopton, Raymond Hatton, and Jack LaRue. The idea is for these guys to low ball the success and future prospects, get Bruce to sell to them and then turn around and sell the whole package to a rival promoter. Taylor's job is to romance Bruce which he undertakes and that of course is not seen in a good light by his girlfriend, Helen Twelvetrees.

The romance angle was easy for Taylor as he and Virginia Bruce were involved at the time. Virginia Bruce was in the process of getting divorced from John Gilbert when she and Taylor were kanoodling. Taylor does a fine job in the role, that major stardom was in his future was not even questioned.

But more than a big step up in Robert Taylor's career, Times Square Lady is the film in the song The Object Of My Affection was introduced by Pinky Tomlin who also wrote part of the lyric. This is an enduring classic, still as popular today as it was back then. Why it wasn't nominated in that second year of the Best Song category is a mystery.

A key film in the rise of a great career and an enduring popular song, most films don't have either of those things to their credit.

From 1935, Times Square Lady stars Virginia Bruce, Robert Taylor, Henry Kolker, Russell Hopton, Raymond Hatton, and Jack LaRue. This is an early starring role for Taylor, and you could see right away there were others on his horizon.

Bruce plays Toni Bradley, a Texas gal whose father died and left her a bunch of businesses. These include a nightclub, a dog track, a hockey team, etc. Various sports enterprises.

Bradley's gang of low-lifes who run these various functions decide if they can convince Toni that the businesses are losing money, they can get her to sell to them. Then they can turn around and sell the businesses to a rival promoter for big bucks. Steve (Taylor), who runs the nightclub, is assigned to woo Bruce and convince her to sell.

Steve has to convince his girlfriend (Helen Twelvetrees) that it's strictly business with Toni. Toni meanwhile is plenty interested in Steve and can't understand why he hasn't tried to get to first base. You can tell this is an old movie because I know what I'd wonder about if that happened to me.

Taylor and Bruce were involved at the time in real life, and they have great chemistry.

One of the highlights of the film is Pinky Tomlin, who sings "The Object of My Affection," his composition which became a big hit, and another, "What's the Reason I'm Not Pleasin' You" - absolutely delightful.

I have to admit that during the last few minutes of the film, the sound cut out. I was able to figure out how it ended though it was aggravating.

Nice movie and Taylor at the beginning of his stardom.

There is nothing to commend this film. They call it a movie, but it fails to provide any engaging characters or compelling story. The script is poorly written, and the comedy in the film is just not funny. It's one of those films that has not stood the test of time and has become hard to find simply because it's not good. It comes nowhere near the quality of Robert Taylor's later films. His 1930s films are of a poor quality, and there is no star quality in any of them to indicate what he would become later in his career. I would say to all Taylor fans to stay away from this film as it provides no entertainment value nor is Taylor's performance up to the standard of what we would expect.

Robert Taylor, in his first leading role, manages a nightclub in this romantic crime drama. Virginia Bruce inherits that club as well as some other sporting places around town: a hockey team, a race track, a dog track, etc. Henry Kolker is a crooked lawyer trying to get her to sell her holdings at a fraction of their true worth on behalf of the other crooked managers. So they stage events to convince her (and a hockey player is killed as a result of a staged fight). Because she is so reluctant, Kolker has Taylor, as the most handsome of the bunch, to woo her and convince her to sell. But of course he falls in love instead, and his actions are then very predictable, as are the actions of the other managers, who do not take Taylor's betrayal lying down. The biggest attraction for me was the appearance of Pinky Tomlin, who has little to do with the plot. He's there to provide some comedy and to sing his very popular song "The Object of My Affection" and another lesser known song he co-wrote. Tomlin hasn't made many movies, so it's worth seeing this one to catch him in it.

Steve (Robert Taylor) is a gambler and his buddies are all gangsters. While he has a nice-guy persona, he's one of them and makes money rigging various sporting events and it's an ugly business. In the midst of this comes a nice lady, Toni (Virginia Bruce) and the two soon fall for each other. However, she doesn't know about Steve and her family's business interests and Steve eventually has a problem with his conscience. He loves her but his friends are killers and thugs. What to do?

This is an okay movie but could have been a lot better and more biting. But, inexplicably, the film has a musical interesting, Pinky, who has absolutely no reason to be in the film and he's a completely lightweight character--and has no place in a film that should have had a lot more noir. Additionally, the ending really was too idealistic and difficult to believe. All in all, a decent set up but a dissatisfying conclusion.