The Life of the Party

Well, I got through it with help from the fast-forward button. An excellent swing band, gorgeous costumes, and an extraordinary 14-year-old Ann Miller were the highlights. As for the rest, Harriet Hilliard (Nelson) is pretty with a passable voice; the same with Gene Raymond. The rest of the film was hobbled by a silly plot, forgettable dialogue, and two very annoying slapstick "comedians" who popped in too often and too noisily for my taste.

Another of the zany mix up films by familiar cast Gene Raymond, Helen Broderick, Frank Pangborn. This one co-stars Ann Miller and Harriet Hilliard. There is a funny bit at the beginning, when they all check into the hotel, which sounds just like a Marx Brothers routine, which is even more funny, Because......Margaret Dumont the high society dame from A Day at the Races (and many of the Marx Brothers films) joins the cast as Mrs. Penner. Joe Penner is determined to join the band, against his mother's wishes. This 1937 version doesn't seem to be at all related to any of the earlier films by the same name (the 1920 one was Fatty Arbuckle, also 1930,1934,1935 versions). This fun caper was written by Joseph Santley, who also wrote Smartest Girl in Town, & Walking on Air. (And of course, those films also starred Gene Raymond and Helen Broderick!) Keep an eye out for Billy Gilbert (His Girl Friday, The Bride Walks Out, the Great Dictator, and 200 other films, half of them uncredited parts.) the music director Dr. Molnac, who sneezed and stuttered his way thru films. This movie seems to be a platform for Joe Penner to do his comedy, with some songs and dance numbers thrown in. Fun, but not Gene Raymond's best. See him in Smartest Girl in Town, Walking on Air, or The Bride Walks Out if you can catch em... they don't show them very often.

A parade of comedians that you'll probably recognize from being parodied in old Warner Bros. cartoons. The whole film is real fluff. It's not unbearable but sort of fun. The pace keeps it moving, so if you want a place to see "forgotten" talent from the thirties, you couldn't go too wrong here.

This film is mostly notable for the performance of Joe Penner. It's very clear from whom Jerry Lewis got his inspiration. Penner utilizes a lot of the little boy mannerisms that Lewis later made famous. The difference here is that Penner is on his own. He doesn't have a sidekick to bounce off of, although Lewis eventually didn't either. Lewis has a more spastic visual comedy comedy style but much of his act is here in Penner. Just for the historical info this is a good movie for the classical film buff.

A very young Ann Miller does a tap dance towards the end.

Film history fun, not great but enjoyable.

Are you looking for a thoughtful film that will have you thinking for days? If you are, look elsewhere. If you'd like something silly that is a great display case for some of the biggest characters in the 1930's then this is your film. What follows is a thumbnail sketch of why I loved this film.

Joe Penner: Penner was the guy who popularized the question, "Wanna buy a duck?" He started on vaudeville and burlesque circuits and eventually made it big in radio. Unfortunately few of Penner's radio shows survive today. Listen to his goofy laugh. It was often imitated for 1930's cartoon characters.

Gene Raymond: The blonde handsome leading man, He made this movie the same year that he married the love of his life, Jeanette MacDonald. He became the brother-in-law to her sister, an actress named Marie Blake. Blake eventually changed her name to Blossom Rock. She's best remembered as "Grandmama" on television's The Addams Family.

Parkyakarkus: He's best remembered as a vaudeville and radio star. His double-talk routine and misunderstanding words was a very popular routine. He is the father of comic actors Albert Brooks and Bob Einstein.

Harriet Hilliard: She's best remembered today as a TV mom of the 1950's and 60's. It's fun to see her play the ingenue. This is about 15 years before she started working exclusively with her husband, Ozzie Nelson.

Victor Moore: Is known as a light comic actor. The same year as this film he made the very dramatic "Make Way for Tomorrow." It was the film that Orson Welles was quoted as saying that "would make a stone cry."

Helen Broderick: This was her first re-teaming with Victor Moore since they'd first been paired in "Swingtime" with Fred and Ginger. They would play supporting characters in several more films together over the years. By the way, Helen had a 26-year-old son who made his film debut in that year, 1937. He was the Oscar-winning actor (and eventual TV star) Broderick Crawford.

Billy Gilbert: Played the excitable band leader with a faux-German accent. He was actually born in Louisville, Kentucky and grew up in a succession of theaters thanks to his parents in the Metropolitan Opera. He was a frequent (and always excitable) foil for Laurel and Hardy. In the year of release, 1937, Gilbert got to play the voice and sneeze of "Sneezy" in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

Ann Miller: She has too small a role in "The Life of the Party." She had a secret that she did not reveal for years. The year of this film, 1937, she signed a contract with RKO. They'd only sign her if she could prove she was 18 - which she did, bringing in a birth certificate. She'd go on to play wives and lovers in several films. That birth certificate was a forgery. Ms. Miller was 14 when she made this movie.

Franklin Pangborn: There was no acceptable way to say "gay" or "homosexual" on the 1937 screen. So, instead, Franklin Pangborn played a succession of fussy and fastidious managers, assistants, clerks, etc. Whatever part they insisted he take, including this one, he always managed to shine.

Margaret Dumont: By 1937 Margaret Dumont should have earned 5 medals for bravery. She'd survived 5 encounters with the Marx Brothers. She'd been in The Cocoanuts (1929), Animal Crackers (1930), Duck Soup (1933), A Night at the Opera (1935) and A Day at the Races (1937). As in this film she always played refined society women oblivious to the comedy around her. Groucho Marx called her "practically the fifth Marx Brother."

Ben Alexander: Alexander had a small, uncredited role as the orchestra leader. In 15 years he'd become famous as Jack Webb's partner on TV and radio in Dragnet.

This curiosity from RKO manages to build a decent musical comedy out of a featherweight plot and an assortment of performers typically found in supporting roles or doing specialty turns in higher-budgeted films. With no "stars," only one singer and just one dancer, the picture understandably emphasizes comedy. Whether or not the intended comedy is funny depends, as always, on one's personal taste. But here you at least get choices from among players who built careers out of doing one thing well - i.e., well enough to create a following: Joe Penner, Parkyakarkas, Billy Gilbert, Victor Moore, Helen Broderick, Franklin Pangborn, Margaret Dumont. Yes, they're all here. And Ann Miller, in two sizzling tap routines, compensates for the bland leading man and lady (Gene Raymond and Harriet Hilliard), and the second-rate songs. There is so much going on here that you are bound to find something you like.