Garden of the Moon

John Quinn (Pat O'Brien) manages the night club, Garden of the Moon. Rudy Vallee has an accident and delays his club date. Club press agent Toni Blake (Margaret Lindsay) convinces Quinn to hire relative unknown Don Vincente (John Payne) and his band.

Busby Berkeley is the director. While there is music and performing, I kept waiting for the big overhead dance numbers. They never come. He was probably phasing out of those around this time. It's much more a night club drama and straight music showcase. Pat O'Brien is always great. John Payne is a little bland. There isn't much there. It may still be of interest to Busby Berkeley fans.

Choreographer Busby Berkeley, known for his contributions to films like 42nd Street, Dames, the Gold Diggers films, and so many others, also did quite a bit of movie directing.

He directed this 1938 musical starring Pat O'Brien, Margaret Lindsay, and John Payne. The leads were intended for Bette Davis and Dick Powell, but Powell allowed took a suspended rather than do the Payne role.

John Quinn (O'Brien) manages a night club, Garden of the Moon, that has booked Rudy Vallee and his band. When Valee is in a car accident, Quinn's secretary Toni (Lindsay) books Don Vincente (Payne) -- a nobody -- and his band.

The band is thrilled to have the steady work, but when they arrive, they find out that they are only to be there for two weeks. Vincente feels duped, and from there on, war is declared.

Toni and Vincente fall for one another, and Toni plots a scheme to keep him and the band there. By the time Vincente gets a lucrative offer to do some radio shows, Quinn is determined to do anything to keep him.

Pleasant musical with some very funny bits in it, including a maharajah "friend" of Don Vincente who brings a lot of publicity to the club, in spite of the fact that he is in reality an ex-waiter and a not so ex- thief.

Payne, a real find for Darryl Zanuck, who signed him and made him a star in 1940, sings like a dream and is a solid romantic lead. Like Powell, this wasn't his favorite kind of role, and, like Powell, he ultimately went the noir route.

This movie was a departure for Margaret Lindsay, who had played heavier roles in the past; nevertheless, she pulls it off and probably fit it better than Bette Davis would have.

As Quinn, Pat O'Brien is great. He plays an abrasive boss with a soft spot for royalty, and he can be friendly when he has to be - that's almost never to an employee, with the exception of Toni.

Berkeley did a good job with this - it's pleasant and funny with good comedy and singing. Not terribly special, but entertaining.

The Garden of the Moon is the name of a nightclub in Los Angeles and it is obviously meant to represent the Cocoanut Grove Night Club which was located in the Ambassador Hotel. It was THE premier nightspot in Tinseltown and only the best acts appeared there.

The Ambassador Hotel also entered history for a tragic reason, it was there that Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968. Some twenty years after that the Ambassador was torn down and the old Cocoanut Grove was razed. It hadn't been operating for some years before that.

But in this film it's the Garden of the Moon and it's run by the fast talking, imperious Pat O'Brien. The only time O'Brien ever slowed down the tempo of his dialog was to play priests in Angels With Dirty Faces and The Fighting 69th while he was with Warner Brothers. But Pat was always entertaining.

O'Brien was most often teamed with James Cagney, but also he did several films with Dick Powell usually as a manager, agent, mentor, etc. for Powell who would sing. Powell was getting tired of doing musicals and the role of the band-leader/crooner in this film was so obviously written for him.

A newcomer named John Payne got a break here playing the Powell part. He gets a telegram from O'Brien signing him for an appearance at the Garden of the Moon and he and the band race across the country and then find out it's only for two weeks. For the rest of the film O'Brien and Payne are at each other's throats and Payne is helped by nightclub publicist Margaret Lindsay who works for O'Brien, but has fallen big time for Payne.

Songs here are by Harry Warren and Al Dubin and the director is Busby Berkeley. Like Dick Powell, they were coming to the end of their Warner Brothers contracts. Berkeley didn't break any new ground and no hit songs emerged from the score, but the three of them did their jobs in their usual professional style.

Curiously enough John Payne right after this was signed by 20th Century Fox to be a musical Tyrone Power who he resembled. And also Payne's career followed a similar path to Dick Powell's in that eventually he eschewed musicals for dramatic parts and did them as well as Powell did.

It's minor league Busby Berkeley, but even in the minor leagues it's still good entertainment.

I believe Busby Berkeley is underrated as a comedy director. Everyone knows Berkeley for his larger-than-life, kaleidoscopic, troop-formation choreography, but the man directed several movies without such spectacles and I often find myself surprised at the nuggets of real comedy that pop up in films like STAGE STRUCK (1936) and GARDEN OF THE MOON (1938).

Pat O'Brien gives a terrific comedic performance as the ruthless and manipulative club manager. Some of his line deliveries are just perfect. I'm not always a Pat O'Brien fan, and his character in this film isn't the nicest guy, but he's great to watch in this role.

The comedy is greatly assisted by Granville Bates and Edward McWade as the penny-pinching hotel owners, the McGillicuddys. Their roles are relatively minor, but they are a hoot. ("When not in use, turn off the juice.")

Margaret Lindsay's character has a little more personality than some of the cardboard love interests she'd played earlier in the decade. She wears her hair a little differently, too (I guess it's the changing fashions), but she's still lovely.

Young John Payne plays a struggling bandleader who buts heads with O'Brien. Personally I found Payne's character to be a little abrasive, and I wondered what Berkeley veteran Dick Powell might've done in the role. Johnnie "Scat" Davis does his thing as Payne's sidekick/bandmate and the unforgettable, pop-eyed, mustachioed Jerry Colonna adds eccentric charm as a wacky band member.

There are some songs, and they're pleasant enough (written by Harry Warren, Al Dubin, and Johnny Mercer). Hijinks ensue as O'Brien clashes with Payne, with Lindsay caught in the middle. There are some great bits and some fine character actors (add Melville Cooper to the list), but this is still a minor film. I didn't care too much for Payne and the music didn't blow me away. O'Brien holds the movie together. It's enjoyable enough and rather obscure. Check it out if it comes on TCM.

This little known musical comedy, very minor league in every department, gave JOHN PAYNE the kind of break that led to a seven-year contract at Fox after they saw him as the brash band leader/singer in this modest programmer.

The band sequences are directed with a certain flair and flourish, thanks to director Busby Berkeley, despite the fact that this time there's no fancy choreography for him to work into the routines. And among the musicians is comic JERRY COLONNA, better known later on as Bob Hope's favorite comic foil.

But PAT O'BRIEN is the star and he overacts his blustery, fast-talking nightclub manager, chewing on a cigar, in the fashion that most Warner comedies of the period thought was stylish. He plays it in broad, farcical style but gets a little overbearing for my taste, while Payne seems almost low-key by comparison. MARGARET LINDSAY is the pretty lady serving as Payne's romantic interest and is more animated than usual.

It's not a bad little musical, but most of the songs are high forgettable items except for the "Whirling Dervish" number and serve only to give the story more bounce than it normally would have.

Passes the time pleasantly enough, but is nothing anyone should go out of their way to see. At least JOHN PAYNE's fans get a glimpse of why he got signed to a Fox contract.

CURT BOIS adds an amusing touch as a phony Maharahjah whom MELVILLE COOPER realizes is a waiter who had trouble with champagne corks and used to pinch a pocket or two in his old job as a waiter. Amusing fluff.

Trivia note: JIMMY FIDLER, famous Hollywood columnist of the period, makes a brisk appearance in a supporting role and isn't bad at all.