Danseuse étoile

There are older films one sits through to see a specific star, or because there is a legendary scene as highlight, but frequently when stories of this period so close to the silents or snatched from the theatre move into explication, they drag, are full of static scenes or wooden performances. Stage Mother is no such case--powered by the energetic, electric "on" personality of Alice Brady in most of the film, a high interest in plot development ensues, and the expected conflict between mother and daughter similar to what Merman and company essayed in Gypsy some 25 years later keeps the narrative moving right along--it doesn't hurt that peppy Franchot Tone pops in for an early film appearance as a wealthy suitor, or that Maureen O'Sullivan can hold her own with Brady. Some folks complain about the final melodrama, but given the period when audiences expected to be send home feeling good, and given that this is an MGM studio product, it doesn't matter one way or another. It's a fun film to watch! Singing! Dancing! Jokes Aplenty!

Kitty Lorraine (Alice Brady) was one of those parents that drives their children to be something they may or may not want to be. Kitty was in the entertainment biz so she wanted her daughter, Shirley (Maureen O'Sullivan), to be in the entertainment biz. As a result, she dominated her life. She made every decision for her and had her whole life mapped out. She would live vicariously through her daughter, and she was indicative of millions of other parents out there.

We tend to hear about the sports parents, or the stage parents because their children become famous and let the world know about their upbringing. We don't hear about those sports parents or stage parents whose children never made it big. We also don't hear about the doctor parents, lawyer parents, or other career parents who drive their children just as hard.

Shirley didn't have a normal childhood, and what's worse is that when she became a young adult, she was just as attached to her mother as when she was a child. It's like once the parents get their hooks into their children they never let them go.

I thought "Stage Mother" was spot on. The movie focused on lost love due to mothering which was following with the sentiments of that era. If a (s)mother(er) was going to make her daughter miss out on anything back then it would be love, not another career or simply being happy. Shirley's happiness had to be directly attributable to the man she fell in love with and it would've been sacreligious to think her happiness came from some other source.

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Husband wife high wire act Freddy and Kitty Lorraine split up the team while she tends to having a child. When dad is killed in a fall she and the new baby move in with his staid New England parents. Buzz killers from the outset Kitty decides to take kid Shirley (Maureen O'Sullivan) on the road and push her into a stage career. With mom managing her career gets traction and she's soon headlining. Making a nostalgic visit to her old home in Boston she meets Warren (Franchot Tone) a painter and the two fall in love. When mom gets wind of it though she puts a stop to it as well as shake down his family for ten grand. Shirley is devastated and seeks to get out from under the influence of her mother.

Stage Mom is Alice Brady's picture as she cajoles and plays hardball with all comers to advance her daughter's career including pimping her to a prominent politician causing things to get hot enough to blow town and head for Europe. Brady's raspy voice suits her hard bargaining style well as she negotiates with some pretty tough customers along the way. O'Sullivan's Shirley is sharp innocent counterpoint to a point of insipid. She dances poorly and remains naive and childlike most of the picture while her suitors (Franchot Tone and Phillip Holmes) can only wish they had a backbone like Kitty.

The dance scenes are flat and uninspired as director Charles Brabin does his best to mask O'Sullivan's abysmal hoofing abilities with close-ups while at the same time offering some pretty racy pre code enforcement shots of the chorus replete in diaphanous costume.

There are a handful of well played scenes (particularly with C. Henry Gordon) in Stage Mother as Brady brawls her way to the top with tough talk and a touch of extortion void of sentiment but in the end it depends on sentimental tug to bring the curtain down and the limpid denouement forcing Kitty to go meekly simply reinforces the films mediocrity.

This is one of the MGM feature films Ted Healy did, while still with Howard, Fine and Howard. Along with Healy, Larry Fine has a cameo, as a music store customer. That was an interesting scene because, in record stores in 1933, to sell records, live singers would sing samples of the song and charge 50 cents for the actual song on a record. It's the 1930s version of going to iTunes. In Stage Mother (1933), a pregnant theater-singer loses her trapeze artist husband, in a tragic accident. I wasn't ready for that. It was a good start to this film. Although, when the doomed husband landed on the ground, you could clearly see the giant mattress he safely lands on. In the next shot, he's lying on a hard stage floor. This was a technical mistake, that could have been fixed, even in 1933. Later on in the film, after the baby has grown to three years old, the mother Kitty Lorraine (Alice Brady), has to give the kid up to the in-laws, because the theater life isn't a place for a child. Healy, who's character, Ralph Martin, a friend of Kitty's, goes after her quickly, with desires for marriage. They go off, get married, make it through things, for about a decade and then Martin becomes a drunk, that ruins their theater act. This is an eerie sequence of events, considering the real-life story, that happened to Ted Healy in his real life.

The crazy life of a theater performer in the 1930s, is the main drive of the plot. The kid grows up to be Maureen O'Sullivan. Yes, that Maureen O'Sullivan. The one, who would go on to play Jane, in six of the Johnny Weissmuller, Tarzan films. After staying with her grand parents for a number of years, Shirley is reunited with her mother, Kitty. She is 16 years old and this is the point O'Sullivan steps in for her character. In fact, I was impressed with the way the filmmakers made-up 22 year old O'Sullivan, to age from 16 to her 30s. So, stage Mother wants her daughter to be a dancer. An idea, Shirley isn't to keen about, but accepts the direction her life is about to go in, thus setting up a possible Mommy Dearest scenario. Fortunately, Shirley will age to a point, that the Mommy Dearest phase doesn't fester.

When Shirley goes for her first try-out, the collection of kids routines were pretty funny. I did notice some bad edits in Stage Mother (1933), even by 1933 standards, but the camera work was really nice. 55 minutes into the film, Shirley breaks up sadly, with her man she is seeing and minutes later, does a great show, with some amazing sets, created for the dance numbers. Some may question moments of the acting in the movie, but I liked C. Henry Gordon as Ricco. The film ends kind of quickly and abruptly, plus there's a uneasy feeling, that things didn't go the way you thought they would. The happy music, playing out to the film's end, doesn't hide the real anguish behind Shirley's eyes. Did Mommy Dearest actually win? Stage Mother (1933), is still a cinematic artifact, from an earlier time. I thought it was cool. It's not a great film, but still, fairly good.

6.3 (D+ MyGrade) = 6 IMDB.

Flying trapeze swinger Alice Brady (as Katherine "Kitty" Lorraine) is grounded when she becomes pregnant, then takes the baby girl to go live with her husband's family in Boston, Massachusetts. Eventually, with encouragement from comedian Ted Healy (as Ralph Martin), Ms. Brady returns to the vaudeville stage. When her daughter grows up to be gawky Maureen O'Sullivan (as Shirley), the now older Brady makes pretty Ms. Sullivan over as the leggy star of a successful Busby Berkeley-type chorus girls show.

"Stage Mother" attempts to convey some seedy theatrical realities, but they are hesitant and humorous instead of dramatic. Writer Bradford Ropes helped adapt his original novel, but obviously had to tone down much the sexual content; what's left is a little silly. Two attractive young men, painter Franchot Tone and cruiser Phillips Holmes, court pretty O'Sullivan. Brady slices through the leading role. A highlight is the production number for "Beautiful Girl", which effectively celebrates the female form.

****** Stage Mother (9/20/33) Charles Brabin ~ Alice Brady, Maureen O'Sullivan, Franchot Tone, Phillips Holmes