You Can't Have Everything

I never understood the appeal of the Ritz Brothers when I saw them do an occasional specialty number in a movie. But in this movie, they don't have just a specialty number. They are on the screen for number after number, some of them fairly elaborate. And even after all those numbers, I have to say: What was the deal?

Granted, the material is never very good. But the Marx Brothers could do great stuff with second-rate material. These guys don't do anything interesting with any of their material here. They just weren't very talented.

As for the rest of the movie: Faye sings some forgettable numbers nicely. Amiche is hidden behind terrible eye makeup. You would never believe from what you see here that Gypsy Rose Lee was a star.

It's pleasant, but forgettable.

New singing sensation Alice Faye joined the pantheon of ultra-talented stars responsible for making musicals one of the most popular genres in 1937 by teaming up with fellow 20th Century Fox collegue Don Ameche. August 1937's "You Can't Have Everything" is their most critically-acclaimed film of the pair's six movies together. Today, the motion picture is known for several secondary on-screen personalities who emerged as stars in their own right.

The money-making hit "You Can't Have Everything"," directed by Norman Taurog, featured the screen debut of burlesque entertainer Rose Louise Hovick, otherwise know as Gypsy Rose Lee. Singer Tony Martin also made an early personal film appearance, belting out a couple of songs, while the Ritz Brothers, Jimmy, Hal and Harry, in their fourth and largest role yet, play assistants to producer Sam Gordon (Charles Winninger), a partner with musical writer George Macrae (Ameche).

Faye plays poverty-stricken playwright Judith Poe Wells, a direct descendent to the 19th-century gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe. She's spotted by George, who hears her golden voice sing for a meal at an Italian restaurant. He tells producer Gordon he's found a great singer who can replace the disgruntled female lead in his musical. Complicating his romantic intentions for Judith is George's tough-nosed girlfriend, Lulu Riley (Hovick, aka Gypsy Rose Lee). To discourage his passion for Judith, Lulu claims George married her while he was in a drunken stupor. Rose's unsympathetic role was a bold move for the well-known performer whose schtick was to shed her clothes by teasing her audiences rather than the common bump and grind movements burlesquers at that time displayed. The child of a vaudeville entertainer, Rose performed in song-and-dance numbers with her younger sister June (Havoc), who later became a star in her own right. When June left for a man, Rose turned to burlesque, and was one of the most popular dancers in her profession. In the five films she appeared in during 1937 and 1938, she was credited as Louise Hovick, even though she had earlier changed her stage name to Gypsy Rose Lee. After two years in Hollywood, she worked sporadically in film, appearing in only seven more movies, the last 1969's "The Over-the-Hill Gang." Her 1957 autobiography, 'Gypsy: A Memoir' was made into the 1959 musical 'Gypsy,' which in turn was adapted to the 1962 film with Rosalind Russell as Rose.

The three Joachim brothers, born in Newark, New Jersey, were led by the oldest, Jimmy. He felt the three needed a more classy stage name early in their vaudeville careers, and spotted the name 'Ritz' on the side of a laundry truck. Jimmy, Harry and Al first entertained as a dance team, then branched into comedy. After six two-reel comedies in 1934, 20th Century-Fox hired them for spot duty in its musicals. Unlike their counterparts, the Marx Brothers, the Ritz looked and acted alike, even though boisterous brother Harry received the majority of their dialogue. The Ritz Brothers left Hollywood in 1943 for Las Vegas after being relegated to low budget movies. They remained a Vegas act until Jimmy suddenly died of a heart attack in December 1965.

Tony Martin's brief appearance with a pair of songs in "You Can't Have Everything" was typical at this stage of his young film career. As an avid saxophone player, the Oakland, California, high schooler played alongside future bandleader Woody Herman in a local orchestra before graduating college in the mid-1930s. Cutting records and doing short stints in film beginning with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' 1936 "Follow the Fleet," Martin fell for Alice Faye while filming "You Can't Have Everything," and married shortly after. The three-year marriage ended when both realized their busy acting schedules were disrupting their marital bliss. Martin's popularity rose through the years, and he became the highest paid Las Vegas performer during the mid-1950s, with sold out shows at the Desert Inn.

As a favorite of 20th Century Fox with production head Darryl Zanuck, Faye, 22, enjoyed ever-increasing popularity in her third year in movies after riding the coattails of radio singer Rudy Vallee from their Broadway days. After "You Can't Have Everything," Zanuck refined her on-screen looks to the more motherly type and gave her several prominent roles, including the following year's blockbuster hit, 1938's "In Old Chicago." She married bandleader Phil Harris in 1941 soon after her divorce from Martin. In one of the rare long-lasting Hollywood marriages, the two remained together for 54 years until his death in 1995.

Variety's film reviewer loved the melding of such a budding all-star cast, writing "You Can't Have Everything" was "a wild and hilarious film musical, one of the best of the series of this type which 20th Century-Fox has turned out."

I decided to watch "You Can't Have Everything" because it stars Don Ameche and Alice Faye...two very pleasant and enjoyable Fox Studio actors. However, I did not realizes it also stars the Ritz Brothers....possibly the most annoying and untalented 'comedians' any studio possessed. They were far LESS subtle than Columbia's Three Stooges!! I know they were reasonably popular in their day (at least studio head Darryl Zanuck liked them), but today they are about as enjoyable as a bout of Ebola! After all, they aren't funny but try to make up for it by being loud, brash and obnoxious....and they are their BEST qualities! On balance is it worth seeing despite these hellish brothers?

When the story begins, Judy (Faye) is out of work and hungry. She meets up with George (Ameche) when she cannot pay her bill at a local restaurant. He offers to help but she's too proud to accept his help. And, throughout the story, he tries to help her, as she's a playwright and he's one as well. But, since she is so proud, he has to do his kind acts on the sly.

The film is part story and part talent show. In addition to the 'comedy' from the Ritz Brothers, you have a violin solo, song and dance numbers and more...all, ostensibly part of George's new play. Some might like this, but I would have preferred a stronger story without all the distractions. Without the Ritz's and the music, I might have given this one a 7 or higher.

I guess I'm in a minority, but I found the results tepid, at best. The Ritz Brothers have no real act except to bounce around in tandem, and are more annoying than funny. Then too, the production numbers appear cut-rate, certainly not up to anything memorable. I kept hoping we'd get an eccentric styling from bandleader Louis Prima, but no such luck. Maybe he needed Keely Smith to play off of. The plot's boilerplate, but then who tunes into musicals for the plot. It's something about Faye finding her real place in show business, at the same time she and writer Ameche try to find a way to get together.

On the other hand, Faye's delightful, sparkling one minute, soulful the next. She really deserved better musical backup. Ameche's lively and a handsome foil for Faye. No wonder they were a natural movie twosome. Their first scene together in the spaghetti emporium is a peach. Too bad the remainder doesn't equal that initial scene. Then there's the amazonian Gypsy Rose Lee who could easily have stolen the movie against someone less compelling than Faye. Too bad Lee didn't make a career of movies; she would have made a heckuva villainess. Nonetheless, in my little book, the musical's mainly for fans of the great Alice Faye, and little more.

Director Norman Taurog has a witty script and the top musical performers on the Fox lot to direct, and he delivers. The plot is all too familiar and implausible, but the dialogue sparks it. Leads Alice Faye and Don Ameche are at their most charming and natural, and Faye has a couple of solid hit songs. Too bad Ameche wasn't as lucky. The Ritz Brothers have integrated roles in the plot, ample screen time and deliver several excellent numbers. Tip, Tap & Toe wow with a fine eccentric tap number just before the production number (a clinker) at the end of the film. Character comedian Charles Winninger is somewhat wasted in a largely straight role, but Gypsy Rose Lee (billed under her real name, Louise Hovick, gets a break as a playing the snarky "other woman." Tony Martin has fine pipes but comes off a bit smarmy and mannered in his numbers, and Rubinoff on screen is proof why he was better on radio. Phyllis Brooks and Wally Vernon also deliver snappy bits. Definitely one of the better of 20th Century Zanuck's musicals, although he can't resist his cheesily costumed chorus cuties whose talents are best on display without moving or talking. One chorine with a platter on her head traipsed pigeon-toed down a staircase in a Tony Martin number--at first I thought she was Harry Ritz. I'll watch this film again just to see the Ritz Brothers and Tip, Tap & Toe.