Pick a Star

I only really watched this movie to catch Laurel & Hardy and, to be honest, they and Mischa Auer as a randy movie star are the only things about this movie worth watching. Too bad that L&H's screen time amounts to little more than five minutes, and Auer has to play second fiddle to lesser talents like Patsy Kelly and Rosina Lawrence (whose final US movie this was before retiring to get married). Kelly is especially annoying at times as she seemingly labours under the misapprehension that if she SHOUTS HER LINES they're bound to be even funnier. Even Jack Haley, soon to be the Tin Man in THE WIZARD OF OZ, is unremarkable as a love-struck car mechanic who moves to Hollywood to win his sweetheart a screen test. The movie is only 70 minutes long but, until Stan & Ollie make their belated appearance, it seems a lot, lot longer.

A wonderful movie. Rosina Lawrence is beautiful, charming, great personality. Patsy Kelly is as always funny. She is truly one of the great female comedians. She is a unsung comedian legend. Without Patsy the movie wouldn't have been much. Lyda Roberti is excellent, another comedian who doesn't get the honor she deserves. I bet Patsy and Lyda are a great laugh together in the films they appeared in. Whatever happen to movies. What happen to the great songs and simple but breathtaking entertainment? The guy in the nightclub scene that is entertaining that Jack Haley intrudes on and almost ruins his show but the audience enjoys is hilarious. What is his name? This isn't the greatest movie but good entertainment. This is a must.

Director Edward Sedgwick, an old hand at visual comedy, successfully leads this Hal Roach road show which tenders a fast-moving and adroit scenario and excellent casting, employing a large number of Roach's reliable performers. Although the film was originally plotted as a vehicle for Patsy Kelly, sunny Jack Haley stars as Joe Jenkins, a young Kansan who sells his auto repair business and journeys to Hollywood, where he attempts to wangle a screen role for the girl he loves, star-struck Cecilia (Rosina Lawrence). Sedgwick, who prefers using the entire M-G-M studio as his set, does so here as Cecilia, always ready for an audition, is treated by a would-be paramour, cinema star Rinaldo Lopez (Mischa Auer), to behind-the-scenes action of, naturally, a musical comedy, featuring Broadway headliner Lyda Roberti. Laurel and Hardy provide several enjoyable interludes, including their well-known skit involving a tiny harmonica, and we watch fine turns by such as Joyce Compton, Russell Hicks and Walter Long. On balance, one must hand the bays to Mischa Auer, who clearly steals the picture as an emotional movie star, a role which he largely creates, and to the director for his clever closing homage to Busby Berkeley's filmic spectacles.

In the past few weeks, I've reviewed a lot of work of one Rosina Lawrence. Who was she? Well, she was one of several pretty young women in Hollywood who managed to make it in the movies. When she ended up at Hal Roach Studios in 1936, she did quite some stuff there starting with a co-starring part in the Charley Chase short On the Wrong Trek. She then appeared in many Our Gang shorts as the new teacher, Miss Lawrence, to Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Porky, and Darla. Perhaps her most famous role there-aside from what I just cited-was as the leading lady in Laurel & Hardy's Way Out West playing Mary Roberts. That led to this, her starring role as an aspiring actress going to Hollywood with Jack Haley and Patsy Kelly in tow. The only reason this would still get circulation today, however, is because of a couple of comedians of the studio who were Hal's biggest stars and are considered iconic today. Of course, I'm referring to Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy who only appear in a couple of funny scenes and only briefly meet Ms. Lawrence here. I had first watched part of this on the "Matinee at the Bijou" TV program on public television back in 1980 when this movie was titled Moviestruck. I guess it was disappointing waiting for what seemed a long time to get to when Stan & Ollie were going to appear that I bailed before they came! Then I got the VHS tape of them with scenes of their movies in the public domain of which this was included with their two scenes. So then I bought the authorized M-G-M tape of the whole thing which I then watched in its entirety. I remembered being pleasantly surprised to see James Finlayson-sans his trademark prop mustache-as the director of the movie-within-a-movie of the boys playing Mexican bandits alongside another L & H player, Walter Long. Also amusing to see them relax their characters a bit to show Patsy Kelly their breakaway prop bottles before...well, watch the movie if you want to find out. When I watched it again, just now, on YouTube, most of what happened I barely remember but it was funny seeing Mischa Auer playing a romantic movie star who must always keep appearances of being a Latin lover. And the musical numbers are pretty good, if not spectacular. So on that note, Pick a Star is worth a look for L & H fans. P.S. Since I always like to cite whenever a player from my favorite movie-It's a Wonderful Life-appears, here it's Charles Halton-bank examiner Mr. Carter there-appearing as the studio head. Oh, and about what happened to Rosina Lawrence: After one more movie, she retired and married a man named Juvenal Marchisio who would eventually die in 1973. Then she met John McCabe, a chronicler of Laurel & Hardy and the founder of their fan club-The Sons of the Desert-whom she eventually married on June 8, 1987. She died on June 23, 1997.

A girl wins a trip to Hollywood with hopes of stardom. This seems to be a remake of Free and Easy (1930). I can leave the actual story behind. It tries to be a grand Hollywood musical at times. It's behind the scenes sort of. The only parts I truly care about is Laurel and Hardy. The bottles are fun and the harmonica is pretty good. The other stuff is forgettable. I rather have a full Laurel and Hardy movie.