Il fantasma cantante

Usually Jack Haley was placed as second leads or comic reliefs in lousy movies, and while Wake Up and Live isn't a classic, he is given the inarguable lead and almost every song to sing. This mistaken identity comedy is set amidst a faux rivalry between bandleader Ben Barnes and reporter Walter Winchell, who play themselves! While they try to insult and one-up each other, Jack Haley tries to make it as a singer, only he panics whenever he sees a microphone. Alice Faye, a singer, tries to help him get over his "mic fright" but turning the microphone without his knowledge. His voice floods into an entire radio station, and everyone loves him! The only trouble is no one knows who the "Phantom Troubadour" is and Jack doesn't know he's famous.

It's a pretty cute setup, and Jack Haley is given the cute and catchy songs "Never in a Million Years" and "It's Swell of You" to show off his voice. Alice is given one song, and Ben and Walter are given plenty of good-natured banter. Among the supporting players, you'll find Patsy Kelly, Ned Sparks, Miles Mander, and a couple of jaw-dropping numbers by the Condos Brothers. If you liked Pigskin Parade, with Jack and Patsy, you'll probably like this one.

Fox musicals are often weighed down by leaden screenplays, dull camera-work, irrelevant specialty acts, and personalities with not that much personality. Some of those traits are evident in this musical-comedy piffle about the Walter Winchell-Ben Bernie feud, but there are compensating pleasures. High among them is Alice Faye warbling good Gordon-Revel songs such as "There's a Lull in My Life" (a surprisingly boring arrangement of it, though, and she's unflatteringly gowned); also, a genuinely funny second couple in Patsy Kelly and Ned Sparks; also, a specialty dance by Joan Davis. Jack Haley's an adequate leading man, though not a particularly charismatic one, and, since the plot turns on his golden voice, his songs are dubbed by Buddy Clark. (Haley could sing, but not well enough to be a "phantom troubadour.") It's brisk and reasonably comical, the musical numbers are fine, and the production bloat that hobbled so many Fox musicals over the next decade is nowhere evident.

Vaudevllians Jack Haley and Grace Bradley have their radio try-out, but Haley has mike fright and collapses. Miss Bradley walks out, so he gets a job as a page at the station. He makes friends with Alice Faye, and she has him practice with a dummy mike.... which is connected to Ben Bernie's radio feed, so suddenly there's a national craze for 'the Phantom Troubador'. In the midst of this you have top-billed Bernie and Walter Winchell in a slanging feud, as well as Patsy Kelly, Ned Sparks, Walter Catlett, Joan Davis as a Spanish dancer, the Condos Brothers tap-dancing on the radio

Sidney Lanfield directs this three-ring circus on a gigantic Arte Moderne set that bears no relation to reality, with frequent interruptions for a mediocre set of songs by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel. Everyone is dubbed, except for Miss Faye, who sells her songs wonderfully. It's a competent paycheck movie with a bunch of moving parts that nonetheless works in its mechanical fashion.

Fun musical comedy starring Jack Haley as part of a vaudeville team who have come to try out their act at a radio center, but he blows the audition because of "mike fright" - and his female partner, apparently really lacking in patience or loyalty, immediately drops him. He gets hired on as a guide there, and one day sings into a mike, not realizing that his vocals are going out live on the air. He has a great voice and is an immediate sensation, but since no one knows who did the singing, he becomes famous as the "Phantom Troubadour". Meanwhile, he meets a beautiful female singer (Alice Faye) whose radio show "Wake Up and Live" has just been canned by the network for lack of jokes. She decides to help him get over his mike fright - by having him come to her place each day to "practice" singing into a microphone, which unknown to him is putting his voice out live on the air every day!

With enjoyable, catchy songs (particularly the title song), a couple of fabulous tab dance numbers, Alice Faye looking absolutely gorgeous on the big screen, funny and likable Jack Haley, plus a fantastic looking print shown at a screening at Cinecon 43 in Hollywood, this film proved to be a real winner and a treat to see. A subplot in this film involves a feud between real life personalities Walter Winchell and orchestra leader, Ben Bernie, who appear as themselves. Character actors Patsy Kelly and especially Ned Sparks (who is hilarious here) add a touch of humor to the mix. A very entertaining film.

Good, Old-fashioned musical of the kind no longer made in Hollywood - partly because musicals went out of style and partly because of the antiquated subject matter. In this case, you have to be of a certain age to appreciate the storyline. It concerns a made-up feud between two old-time names, Ben Bernie who was a band leader, and newspaper columnist Walter Winchell. The feud was carried on mainly on radio and in newspapers.

Have I lost you yet? If so, you're probably too young to remember any of the stars or the songs. Alice Faye was as famous as she was pretty, but Jack Haley had yet to achieve immortality as the Tinman in 'The Wizard Of Oz". Patsy Kelly had a long career as an abrasive comedienne in many movies and Joan Davis had yet to hit it big in television. And radio was the main medium in those days - no TV or DVDs or internet or any related device.

Us old-timers can appreciate, but you young folks who are movie archaeologists will find plenty to like here, including several good songs which were popular a long time ago, like "Never In A Million Years" and "There's A Lull In My Life", and the dubbed voice of Buddy Clark, a Golden Age singer. If you can find this picture, watch it - as far as I know it hasn't been released in any format yet.