Second Fiddle

Surprisingly good teaming of the two fox stars in tale of Hollywood publicity man bringing Minnesota school teacher to test for role in epic "Girl of the North Country." the film is a satire of the "gone With the wind" search that had plagued the country a year before.Sonja is very appealing as a real type person instead of a potential Olympic star waiting to be discovered.Tyrone Power surprises as a lovesick publicist after Sonja.it was nice change of pace from the he=man hero roles he had been doing.Rudy Vallee,Mary Healy are fun as other couple. Edna Mae Oliver steals scenes as Sonja's aunt Phoebe.Mary Healy socks across a couple of Irving Berlin songs with gusto,proving she should have had bigger career.Rudy Valle has a couple of nice songs,too.It's niether prime Power or Sonja but it's fun and lively with its inside look at Hollywood publicity schemes and the like.

Tyrone Power is a publicist who does his job too well in "Second Fiddle," also starring Sonja Henie.

Power plays Jimmy Sutton, who is helping in the search for a star of a movie being made from a best-selling book. This was perhaps inspired by the search for Scarlett.

When they find their girl, she's a Norwegian schoolteacher living in Minnesota. Power sets up a publicity stunt, which is a fake romance between her and another star (Rudy Vallee). He then is responsible for the flowers, the love poems, and finally writes her a song.

By now, of course, he's madly in love with her, and she's in love with Rudy. This is much to the consternation of Rudy's girlfriend, played by Mary Healy.

The two stars are delightful, but of course, some of the best lines are from Edna May Oliver, who is hilarious as Henie's aunt. One line not Oliver's that certainly got a laugh in theaters is from Henie to Power: "You'd be handsome if you took care of yourself." He's pretty dazzling as is.

The Irving Berlin music is okay, but I have to admit my favorite is "Back to Back" which I found lively and fun.

Though skating styles have changed a great deal over the last 66 years, Sonja Henie's skating holds up. She was a graceful, fast skater who could dance and spin magnificently. Back then, the jumps were all singles and landed low, but it's obvious that if she were a young skater today, she would still have what it takes.

Very entertaining.

Fox certainly knew what kind of material to give their skating star, SONJA HENIE--a light but diverting plot, lots of musical interludes, a few skating sequences, a handsome co-star, some comedy relief and as many Sonja close-ups as possible.

They scored on every point with SECOND FIDDLE. It's light entertainment for the masses who came to see Sonja skate with everyone else playing second fiddle to her in importance. But TYRONE POWER manages to be impressive as her leading man, more charismatic than usual and spirited, suggesting that there was a lot more to him than the kind of roles he was getting at the time. It doesn't hurt that he's at his handsomest in this early film. And EDNA MAY OLIVER had no peer when it came to stealing the spotlight on an almost regular basis whenever she could.

Furthermore, RUDY VALLEE gets a chance to warble a couple of Irving Berlin tunes. He's part of a scheme by Power, a publicity agent for a Hollywood studio, to revive Vallee's fading career by getting a phony romantic buildup pairing him with Henie. Henie, of course, knows nothing of the scheme and therefore she and Power have romantic misunderstanding until the final reel.

It's a diverting piece of entertainment, one of the better Sonja Henie films produced by Fox and well worth seeing for the skating sequences alone, if you're a Henie fan. Her graceful routines are well choreographed for the camera.

SECOND FIDDLE (20th Century-Fox, 1939), directed by Sidney Lanield, reunites Olympic skating champion Sonja Henie with Tyrone Power (her previous co-star from THIN ICE (1937)), for the second and final time. A Hollywood story (which should have been titled MY LUCKY STAR, a title already used for Heinie's college musical), with original new score by Irving Berlin, which oddly enough did not produce any song hits, is probably one of the main reasons for this being overlooked and forgotten through the passage of time.

The story starts in 1938 with the best selling novel "Girl of the North" acquiring the screen rights by Consolidated Pictures for a movie version. A nation-wide talent search is formed with countless screen tests going on to 1939 to which actress is the right choice for the leading role of Violet Jasen. None seem to be just right until Jimmy Sutton (Tyrone Power), a smooth-talking publicist working under George "Whit" Whitney (Alan Dinehart), discovers Photo No. 436 of Trudi Hovland, a schoolteacher from Bergen, Minnesota, to be the girl with possibilities. Taking the next airplane to Minnesota, Jimmy meets with Trudi (Sonja Henie), unaware that Willie Hogger (Lyle Talbot), her boyfriend of three years whom she does not love, to be the one who secretly submitted her photo to the studio. Feeling she's no actress to assume an leading role major motion picture, Trudi turns down the offer to come to Hollywood for a screen test. However, the fast-thinking Jimmy talks her into going, accompanied by her protective Aunt Phoebe (Edna May Oliver), to take her leave of absence from school to see how it goes. Much to her surprise, Trudi wins the leading role as "Girl of the North." In order to keep her in Hollywood to finish the movie, Jimmy creates a staged romance between her and Roger Maxwell (Rudy Vallee), a singer and leading man, whose girlfriend, Jean Varick (Mary Healy), finds herself taking second fiddle to the man she loves. During the course of time, Jimmy finds himself playing second fiddle to Trudy as he slowly begins to realize his love for her. Also in the cast include: Minna Gombell (Jenny, the columnist); Spencer Charters (Joe Clayton); George Chandler, Irving Bacon and Maurice Cass. Specialties include The Brian Sister, the King Sisters, along with Stewart Reburn as Henie's skating partner and Dick Redman as Freddie, the little boy skater. While character actor Charles Lane is credited in the cast, only his familiar voice as the studio chief is heard numerous times via intercom.

Songs include: "An Old-Fashioned Tune" (sung by Rudy Vallee); "The Song of the Metro Nome," "The Song of theMetro Nome" (reprise/skating number); "Back to Back" (sung by Mary Healy); "When Winter Comes," and "I poured My Heart into a Song" (both sung by Rudy Vallee); "I'm Sorry for Myself" (sung by Mary Healy); and "I Poured My Heart into a Song" (skating sequence by Sonja Henie). Though the score by Irving Berlin didn't produce hits as "Cheek to Cheek," he did come up with a lively tune of "Back to Back" along with an interesting balled "I'm Sorry for Myself" sung in great voice by Mary Healy, a tune that makes one think of Ethel Merman had she sung this particular song herself.

Those seeing SECOND FIDDLE in 1939 would notice similarities to this story along with producer David O. Selznick's notable search for the role of Scarlet O'Hara in the Civil War epic of GONE WITH THE WIND (1939). Around the same time when 20th Century-Fox studio would acquire services of legendary singer, Al Jolson, past his prime, for a couple of secondary roles (ROSE OF WASHINGTON SQUARE and SWANEE RIVER), the studio also contracted former vagabond lover, Rudy Vallee, in support singing a few songs as well. With Sonja Henie also playing a skating teacher would be an excuse for a couple of skating production numbers thrown in. Tyrone Power shows his flare for comedy as a publicity man, yet not performing in a fast-talking, speedy performance of Pat O'Brien of Warner Brothers.

With some star quality and lively story, it seems odd SECOND FIDDLE did have limited television revivals over the years. Other than distribution on video cassette in 1994, it did have its cable television broadcasts only so briefly as Cinemax (1986) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: February 9, 2012). Maybe not the classic as Henie's other films as SUN VALLEY SERENADE (1941), but worth viewing considering the assortment for its time a great number of "movies about the movies," and fine lighthearted comedy spoofing itself along the way. (***1/2)

Darryl F. Zanuck's number one star at 20th Century Fox Tyrone Power had to yield first billing in Second Fiddle to Sonia Henie, a very different kind of star than Zanuck was used to dealing with.

Sonia Henie as movie star could probably best be compared to Esther Williams. Both were female sports stars in their chosen area. Henie's prestige was backed up by the fact that she had taken home the gold in three Olympics in figure skating before going to Hollywood. Esther unfortunately never got to compete in the canceled Olympics of 1940. As stars in their fields they could command big salaries and unlike other stars could make a bundle marketing themselves professionally. Sonia made plenty of money off the Ice Capades, she didn't need to be a film star and Zanuck well knew it.

With that kind of leverage, you'd better make sure you give her the right material and plenty of support. Henie was not an actress, she never claimed she was. Yet Zanuck found stories suitable for her.

Case in point is Second Fiddle, 20th Century Fox's satire on the search for Scarlett O'Hara. Woman of the North is a blockbuster best seller like Gone With The Wind and the studio that bought the rights decides a fresh face is needed. A nationwide talent search is on and Sonia Henie, a fresh faced school teacher from Minnesota, has her picture sent in by her oaf of a boyfriend, Lyle Talbot.

The studio sends young publicity man Tyrone Power out to the frozen north of the continental USA to fetch Sonia back to Hollywood. Going along for the ride is her aunt, Edna May Oliver.

Sonia gets the usual star buildup, but she can't quite understand things in Tinseltown as she's fresh off the farm. Case in point, the publicity inspired romance between her and Rudy Vallee. That gem of an idea will bite its creator Mr. Power right in the hindquarters. It also doesn't sit well with Vallee's main squeeze, Mary Healy.

Irving Berlin wrote the score for Second Fiddle. It was the last of a three picture deal he had with 20th Century Fox that included On the Avenue and Alexander's Ragtime Band. One of the songs of the score, I Poured My Heart Into A Song was garnered for Second Fiddle it's only Academy Award nomination. Unfortunately Judy Garland went Over the Rainbow that year of 1939.

As part of the publicity campaign Power gets to write I Poured My Heart Into A Song and you see him composing it at the piano and singing a bar or two of the lyrics Irving Berlin wrote that he just made up. When you hear Ty sing, you can understand why 20th Century Fox hired John Payne for musicals. Among the things Power was not blessed with was a good singing voice.

Second Fiddle is good entertainment, it's got a nice Irving Berlin score, some well choreographed figure skating routines for Henie, Tyrone Power, and of course Edna May Oliver who brings up the quality of any film she's in.