Broadway Babies

One of many "Broadway-based" early talkies and one of the most entertaining. Timeworn story of young girls trying to hit the big time (or at least find a rich husband). It's got it all: Cute smart talking chorus girls, love issues, sleazy con men/gangsters, snappy dialogue, musical numbers...

Alice White fans will love her in her first talkie. Sadly unknown today but for serious movie buffs, she was fetchingly cute, charming and peppy. Her musical numbers in this are first rate. Jig, Jig Jigaloo is wild.

Great support from Marian Byron & Sally Eilers as White's two gal pals. Jocelyn Lee is good also her rival. Also Tom Dugan as the stuttering loyal friend.

The weakest link to me was Charles Delaney as White's boyfriend and stage manager. I found him kind of a putz.

But overall, entertaining and full of early 30's flavor and lingo. Alice White to me is always worth it... Judge for yourself. thank you

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!

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.

Spanking new Broadway star Alice White loves stage manager Charles Delaney, but she thinks he's sweet on Sally Eilers, so she marries bootlegger Fred Kohler.

It may have originally been shot as a silent, but it looks like an early talkie all the way through, especially with the dance numbers performed on a big stage with the proscenium arch in plain view, looking like all the early First National talkies. In fact, that's in no small part it's problem. While Miss White's sexuality is on plain display, and no one did it better, her voice was weak and her dancing was not top notch. Much as people enjoy her, her stardom was one of those sports thrown up in the early stages of a new art form. One hit was looked on as a trend, and they worked it to death within a couple of years, along with the early movie musical. It would take some real innovation, again by Mervyn Leroy, to help revive the musical in 1933.

Still, within the context of 1929 musicals, this is as good as they get. Everyone gives their work as much oomph as can be hoped for. The poor sound on the copy I looked at was a bit of a surprise, given the superior recording ability of Vitaphone in this period. Clearly a cleaner print, and a better soundtrack would help.

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.