Make a Wish

This is truly a cute, family friendly, music-filled movie! Not a box office hit by any means but definitely a cute entertaining movie.

It goes without saying that a musical which is centered around a summer boys' camp can only come off well if (a) the young actors portraying the campers can hold their own with the likes of adult actor Basil Rathbone and (b) if the music featured in the film is truly enjoyable and well performed. It's no wonder that this film was nominated in 1938 for "Best Music, Score", as the music featured throughout is both original and delightful.

As for the young cast members, both Bobby Breen (Chip) and Billy Lee (Pee Wee) were accomplished singers and musicians as kids, and by the time this movie was filmed, they both already had a great deal of stage experience which included vaudeville appearances between their films, aside from the live appearances they both made to promote their films. In the summer of 1938, Sara Hamilton of Photoplay Magazine interviewed Billy Lee. She writes, "Billy was the lad the audiences cheered in Bobby Breen's picture, 'Make A Wish'." However, the professionalism that both boys show in this film as singers and actors, along with the rest of the talented young cast, together with Rathbone (composer, Seldon) and Marion Claire (Chip's mother, a singer for whom Seldon composes his musical) adds up to much more than a run of the mill musical, but to a wonderful movie with a lot of heart.

Among other songs, Breen and Billy Lee are featured in a duet, singing "Polly Wolly Doodle", and Billy supports Breen's lead vocal on the film's most memorable number, "My Campfire Dreams". Singer Marion Claire shines in her operatic vocal numbers, and in her own duet with Breen. This was her only feature film apppearance. Bobby Breen appeared and sang in 8 feature films, plus made a cameo appearance in the film "Johnny Doughboy". Billy Lee appeared in over 40 feature films which featured his various skills as a dancer, musician, singer and actor, and among them, he had a number of starring roles, including "The Biscuit Eater", "War Dogs" and "Reg'lar Fellers", then left acting at age 13.

For me this film goes in the excellent group because I find myself coming back to it over and over again. The storyline is uncomplicated and perhaps predictable, but the content of the story is a very worthwhile glimpse of a young boy's life during one eventful summer which starts at a boys' camp in Maine. Chip (Bobby Breen) and Pee Wee (Billy Lee) and the other boys make the story forever delightful. Here a young boy, Chip, feels keenly that his happy life is about to be invaded, and he is intent on changing the course of events. With a truly sincere heart and boyish cunning he sets his plan in motion. He is always more clever but also more polite than the adult antagonists he confronts. There is much to love and much to enjoy in this story. The boys in particular are excellent in their parts, nicely developing individual characters. The singing is wonderful, as are the very meaningful expressions on Bobby Breen's face.

Bobby Breen is at camp where he meets Basil Rathbone. Rathbone is trying to write an opera. When Bobby's mother, Marion Claire comes to visit, Bobby tries to play matchmaker, but she already has an understanding with another man, who wants her to retire from the stage. Rathbone decides to go away, while his valet, Donald Meek, along with Henry Armetta and Leon Errol punch up the score.

It's a thoroughly innocuous and pleasant musical, with Bobby Breen singing several songs, while opera star (and concert violinist) Marion Claire sings the title song twice. She's one of several opera stars who tried out for Hollywood stardom, but this was her only venture into the field.

It's also a rare movie venture for Gertrude Berg, better known for writing and starring in radio's THE GOLDBERGS for twenty years. RKO had four writers (including Al Boasberg) punch up her script, which lends it a rather disjointed air. Still, Breen is a fine boy tenor, and that's what this movie is about in the end.

.Bobby Breen stars as Chip Winters, a precocious ten-year-old singing prodigy who is attending summer camp in Maine. Across the lake from the camp lies the residence of composer Johnny Selden (Basil Rathbone), who has moved from the city in order to overcome his creative stagnation. Selden meets Chip and the two become friends, and the youngster decides to try and set the older man up on dates with Chip's mother Irene (Marion Claire).

This cornball schmaltz had to have been irritating even in 1937. Breen sings a lot, Claire sings, and everyone's sweet and wholesome. Yuck. Was there really a time when a large group of boys would sit around quietly and watch Bobby Breen sing "Polly-Wolly-Doodle all the day"? I wasn't even there and I wanted to scream. I watched this for Rathbone, who may have appreciated getting to play something other than a creep or scoundrel. The movie earned an Oscar nomination for Best Score (Hugo Reisenfeld).

An amusing incident occurred during the filming of this movie. Henry Armetta and Basil Rathbone were talking between scenes. Armetta had placed a cigarette stub in his pocket (an old habit) so he could finish it later. But it came into contact with an open book of matches in his pocket. One observer on the set reported that Armetta then gave "a very good imitation of a Roman candle on a rampage."