Broadway Babies

Alice White's first sound film is tremendous fun and she's absolutely adorable in it. She's also an absolutely terrible actress but nobody cared - that's the character audiences fell in love with and she plays that role brilliantly.

She knew as well as everyone that she could neither act or sing or dance but those minor setbacks were no handicap to the ambitious Alice so for just a couple of years at the dawn of the talkies she became one of Hollywood's biggest and brightest stars. As a character in this film answers when she asks about why the public want her: you are life, you are youth and you are...the sound jumped at that point but it sounded like .... you are bosoms .... which sounds a plausible reason to me. Alice White films, at least the early ones were made to make you smile, nothing more.

Mervyn LeRoy had already made a few films with Alice White so by the time he made this you might wonder why he still hadn't managed to make her even slightly believable. His male actors, although still doing 'silent film acting' seem much more authentic but Alice and her two pals are essentially cartoon characters. This must be deliberate. There were serious pictures being made in 1929 but the talkies were also a novelty so novelty pictures like this were popular. Alice White was a personality rather than an actress so this picture should be viewed in that context - it was simply an excuse to put the lovely Miss White on the big screen.

As a motion picture, something which envelopes you into a story and makes the unbelievable believable, this doesn't even try. As a piece of frivolous fun however this is great.

It's definitely not her best picture, SHOWGIRL IN HOLLYWOOD and PLAYING AROUND are much better - in those she sort of acts but nevertheless this is still thoroughly entertaining. It's got a reasonably interesting plot: showgirl ditches loyal boyfriend for flashy gangster.....ok, that's the exact same plot as PLAYING AROUND but who cares! To quote Dick Powell in DAMES: it's not the story, it's not the acting, it's not the songs - what people want to see is beautiful dames! To use the expression of the era, you'd never find a more beautiful dame than Alice White. She is impossibly pretty and so mesmerising that you can overlook the fact that even with the excuse that this was made in 1929, this is a pretty rubbish film.

Terrific little musical that stars Alice White as a chorus girl who gets the big break and becomes a Broadway star. Not much on plot but White is a dynamo with three big song and dance numbers (and she's really good): "Jig Jig Jigaloo," "Wishing and Waiting for Love," and "Broadway Babies." The songs are snappy and memorable. There's also a big finale. There's a terrific scene of the guys playing cards in a hotel room and looking out across the alley into the rehearsal hall where White and company are dancing.

Sally Eilers and Marion Byron are the girl friends. Charles Delaney is the boy friend. Fred Kohler is the big shot. Tom Dugan is the stuttering sidekick. Maurice Black and Louis Natheaux are the sharpies. Bodil Rosing, Jocelyn Lee, and Aggie Herring co-star.

White was a major star during the early talkie period, and it's easy to see why from this film and Show Girl in Hollywood. She was wide-eyed and bright. She wasn't a great actress or singer but she's got a snappy personality, and she carried the flapper into talkies.

Let's cut to the chase. Dee loves Billy and vice-versa but it takes them the entire film to not only figure this out but act upon it!

Chorus girl Dee is in love with Billy, who is producing the Broadway show. He wants to make her a star BUT some evil gamblers want to ruin Billy and offer to make Dee a star in their show. So, they deliberately try to drive a wedge between the two sweethearts and it takes the two a long time to get their heads straight and do what's best. It all culminates with someone getting shot as well as the audience having to watch some dated musical numbers.

This is a time-passer--not a bad film at all but one that is easy to skip as well. Because it's an early talkie, the sound is a bit rough but otherwise it holds up pretty well today and Alice White is adorable in the lead, though Charles Dulaney (as Billy) is hardly the Hollywood type and it makes you realize how times have changed.

I rate this one 9/10 when compared to other films of its genre and era. This is probably Alice White's best sound film in which she had a starring role. Alice plays Delight (Dee) Foster, a chorus girl living with two other chorus girls (Marion Byron and Sally Eilers) in a vaudeville rooming house. Dee loves Billy, the stage manager of the show she is currently in. Her landlady, a woman who appears to be in her 50's, has some strange advice though. She discourages Dee from getting serious about Billy, saying that in her day she was a looker herself on the stage and look where she ended up by following her heart. She advises Dee to go for the gold while she's still young, and that isn't Billy.

Meanwhile a rich French Canadian gangster (Fred Kohler as Perc Gessant) has gotten hooked up with a couple of card sharps who are pretending to be his friends until they can hook him for the big money. From the room where they are playing Perc gets a look at Dee in rehearsal and wants to meet her. He has the connections to get Dee a spotlight at a local nightspot. Also, one of the real flirts in the chorus, Blossom, is making eyes at Billy. Will things work out for our young lovers? Watch and find out.

This film has three very good numbers - "Jig, Jig, Jigaloo", "Wishing and Waiting for Love", and "Broadway Baby Dolls." "Wishing and Waiting for Love" is pretty much used as the film's soundtrack - it's a catchy little tune. "Broadway Baby Dolls" is a more impressive as a number than it is as a song, and "Jig, Jig, Jigaloo" is the best song and number. It has ridiculous lyrics and outlandish costumes with headdresses so tall and heavy they look like they're going to break some poor girl's neck if she turns her head too fast, but it's all part of the fun.

Alice has good support here with Sally Eilers and Marion Byron, great here with the clever Jazz Age one liners that come fast and furious. The three make a convincing trio of flappers. The film does have some suspense towards the end, but nothing heavy enough to detract from the flapper fairy tale flavor of the film. Even the gangster that pines after Dee turns out to be a nice guy - and they never tell us what he does that makes him a gangster in the first place so you can't help but like him. The only bad thing I can say about the film is that the soundtrack tends to overpower the dialogue at times, but that was a common technical problem in these early talkies.

Highly recommended for lovers of Dawn of Sound musicals.

Broadway Babies was Alice White's first all-talking picture. Seeing this movie convinced me that she is nowhere near as bad an actress as I've heard. It's thanks to her that I enjoyed this movie. The story, typical of it's time, tells the story of 3 "broadway musketeers" trying to break into showbusiness. Alice is more interested in the showbusiness part while her 2 friends, played by Miriam (Marion) Byron and Sally Eilers, would rather nab rich boyfriends. Alice gets her break and a wealthy potential lover (Fred Kohler, in a rare non-heavy role). But Charles Delaney is her real sweetheart. Alice admits her love for him to Fred and he releases her, clearing the way for a happy ending. If you are a fan of early talkie musicals, this one is sure to please you. Alice White is adorable and gets to sing and dance (Jig-Jig-Jigaloo!). A treat!