Breakfast in Hollywood

Charming simple radio show on film from an era when housewives loved portly radio stars who liked to gossip, matchmake and have a hat contest...(he wore the winner's) The music numbers a good, the standouts being a handsome young Nat King Cole and the always hilarious Spike Jones. Many such B grade 70 minute films were made to capitalize on radio hit parade tunes and personalities and like those this one is a product of it's media and time. RKO made a terrific form of this radio film in 1932 called THE PHANTOM OF CRESTWOOD which was a radio serial yet without an ending: so they filmed the last episode and everyone had to go to the cinema to see the end of the radio show. Probably the first time this cross medium was used leading to the bright and profitable idea that led to BREAKFAST IN Hollywood. Monogram and Republic Pictures often made films titles HIT PARADE OF 1941 or 46 or 50 using a roster of radio stars and pop tunes. BREAKFAST doesn't sparkle like TIFFANY's did but is is easy musical fun for (grand) Moms everywhere

Tom Breneman plays himself, the host of a daily radio program called Breakfast in Hollywood. A good chunk of this movie is simply Breneman doing his show—interacting with the guests in his restaurant studio, discussing their breakfasts, searching for silly hats, stepping aside for musical guests, just generally doing what daytime show hosts have apparently always done.

Among the guests are a handful of characters who, one way or another, bring their troubles to the show and whose lives thus become the handful of sub-plots that make up the rest of the film. Zasu Pitts is an eccentric fan who's hoping to win the daily ugly hat contest; her story is humorous if a bit pathetic (though her final scene is hilarious). Beulah Bondi, playing an 82-year-old, is the winner of the oldest guest contest. Billie Burke is a guest who, it seems, doesn't particularly believe in wearing makeup, and whose husband is (thus?) gallivanting around with a pair of wild young babes.

The real featured characters are Edward Ryan as a handsome young soldier on his way home from the war, and the wonderful Bonita Granville, who is in town searching for the fiancé who has neither shown up nor communicated with her. Granville has grown up some from her Nancy Drew days, and gives an excellent performance as a young woman who is bright, attractive, worried, confused, and in love.

Breneman ties together the plot lines and appears to be enjoying himself. And besides the plots, he produces a few other good reasons for watching—his musical guests. Nat King Cole and his trio do a couple of numbers; Spike Jones and his group work their nuttiness; and singer Andy Russell croons a couple of pleasant songs.

One scene is not to be missed: Breneman greeting Hedda Hopper at her table to discuss her hat, which leads to Hopper introducing Breneman to her friends at the table—Gary Cooper's mother, Joan Crawford's mother, and Breneman's own mother! (Hopper herself is very funny in her scenes in the picture.)

Not a great movie….and it has some slow spots. But overall, it is a neat little curiosity with much to enjoy.

Also note: The two young lead characters are first brought together by virtue of their both hailing from Minneapolis. It had not occurred to me that way back in 1946, the pronunciation of Minnie-soh-ta was already material for jokes….but apparently it was.

Film adaptation of a popular radio show, from United Artists and director Harold Schuster. Tom Breneman stars as himself, the host of a very popular early morning radio show broadcast from his restaurant. The film tracks the lives of a few of his guests from one morning's show: young romance between Minnesota farm girl Dorothy (Bonita Granville) and US Navy man Ken (Edward Ryan); an elderly widow (Beulah Bondi) who gets hit by a car on the way to the show; Elvira (ZaSu Pitts) who wants to win the show's weirdest hat contest; and Frances (Billie Burke), who doesn't know that her husband (Raymond Walburn) is cheating on her. Also featuring musical performances from Andy Russell, Spike Jones & His City Slickers, and the King Cole Trio. With appearances by Herman Bing, Byron Foulger, Minerva Urecal, and Hedda Hopper as herself.

Breakfast in Hollywood was one of the most successful radio shows of the 1940's, running from 1941 to 1949, and broadcast on three networks simultaneously. Judging by the film, the show was a mix of musical performances and host Breneman wandering around the restaurant floor where the show originated, asking humorous questions of the audience, and holding various lottery drawings and contests for minor prizes. The radio show was at its height of popularity when this film was produced by Breneman. The various fictional storylines are goofy fluff, but I enjoyed seeing this snapshot of an American cultural relic that seems largely forgotten today. Add the music performances from Russell, Spike Jones' comedic band, and Nat King Cole in his early days, and this is a worthy pastime, saved from the waste bin of history. Breneman, who in the film looked at least 15 years older than his actual age, died suddenly in 1948 at age 45, and his show soon followed.

To demand greatness of a film like this is to misunderstand the function of a programmer. Breakfast in Hollywood is popcorn for the mind, a pleasant interlude with some great characters actors (ZaSu Pitts, Beulah Bondi, Billie Burke, Raymond Walburn, Hedda Hopper) and a chance to see Nat "King" Cole and the King Cole Trio on the screen very early in his career (though carefully segregated from the rest of the cast.) Spike Jones does two numbers with the City Slickers, a wartime romance provides a bit of drama although the war is technically over, and there is even a cute dog. The inimitable ZaSu Pitts is worth the price of admission all by herself! The plot, such as it is, is a sort of comedic Bridge of San Luis Rey, following the lives of A HALF DOZEN people attending the radio broadcast. The stories are funny, romantic, or dramatic -- and no one dies at the end! Pure escapism, nicely done.

You can't judge this little 60 year old film by today's frenetic TV game show standards or cynical attitudes. This little film was aimed at a specific market - middle aged house wives. The radio shows humor was gentle, unoffensive,and aimed at those areas a house wife could appreciate; her hats, her home, and her husband. Zasu Pitts and Beulah Bondi perfectly captured the excitement of those housewives who had waited anxiously for their chance to attend the shows taping, and possibly win a prize. Sure, the plot was implausible, but the point was to sell the show's host as a regular guy, who was personally available to his listeners. What better way to attract listeners to the radio show and to the sponsors. A regular listener would have been sure to go to the movie theater to see her show "live". The world of commercial radio was as serious as TV would be in a few years time. Everything you found on TV started on radio - Soap operas, game shows, serials, music, drama, and comedy. If you wanted to "see" radio - you went to the taping of the show or to the movie theater for a film like this. Maybe the host wasn't a comedian, and the contests were silly but don't forget The Newlywed Game, Beat the Clock, Monty Hall, and Bob Barker - all huge hits in their time. In a time when most women, of a certain age, stayed at home and made breakfast for their kids and husbands, 8 AM was probably the first chance in their morning to sit down, relax, and listen to the radio. I'm sure this show was very popular and I wouldn't be surprised if my Grandmothers and Aunts listened to it as well. This charming little film reminds us that early radio and film appreciated and understood their audience. No this isn't a great classic film, but it helps us to understand the film industry and the audience during that era.