The Big Broadcast of 1938

THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1938 (Paramount, 1938), directed by Mitchell Leisen, is another one of those "plotless" musicals produced by Paramount in the 1930s, this being the most memorable mainly because it puts two comic legends on screen for the first and only time: W.C. Fields (in his final film for the studio) and Bob Hope as Buzz Fielding (in his feature film debut). Out with the old, in with the new. Yet Fields and Hope share no scenes together, with Hope getting more screen time than Fields (in a dual role playing twin brothers).

The radio broadcast, hosted by Hope himself, is set on an ocean liner during a transatlantic race with another. Memorable moments include W.C. Fields golf game routine, and Shirley Ross as one of Hope's ex-wives sharing her "Thanks for the Memory" with him. "Memory" would become Hope's theme song for the duration of his career, and the Academy Award winning tune of 1938. In spite of her name placed second in the cast, Martha Raye, as Fields' accident prone daughter, arrives late into the story, making the best of her "Oh, boys!" and hi-jinx antics, as well as her song number, "Mama, Oh, Mama." On the lighter side, Dorothy Lamour (who twice sings "You Took the Words Right Out of My Heart") is somewhat wasted with her limited footage as Hope's fiancé who may or may not become Mrs. Fielding No. 4.

Aside from Lynne Overman, Ben Blue, Grace Bradley and Leif Erickson participating in the storyline, the shipboard entertainment consists of special guest appearances from Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (singing "This Little Ripple Has Rhythm"); Tito Guizar (singing "Zumi-Zumi" and "Don't Tell a Secret to a Rose") and Kirsten Flagstad (performing Richard Wagner's "Brunnilde's Battle Cry"). With the exception of "Thanks for the Memory," the score by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger is forgettable. The big broadcast finale, "The Waltz Lives On" (sung by Hope and Ross) is passable, with Raye stepping into this number briefly with her hot jive "Truckin'". It's also interesting during that same number to see Hope dancing with Ross.

The final "Big Broadcast" musical consists of so much talent with little screen time, possibly victims of severe film editing. The theatrical trailer does include of Kirsten Flagstad performing in another opera segment not included in the final print. Although THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1938 can be a disappointment with too little Fields and too many song numbers unrelated to the plot, it somehow gets by.

The musical-comedy did have frequent revivals on the American Movie Classics cable channel from 1995 to 1998. The license to air this was later picked up by Turner Classic Movies where it premiered June 18, 2001, as part of its "Star of the Month" tribute, W.C. Fields. Prior to the start of the movie, host Robert Osborne talked a bit about the this Big Broadcast installment, and the annual musicals that preceded it, starting with the one that launched Bing Crosby in 1932, and the second in the series THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1936. Yet, there was no mention at all about the third, THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1937, as if it never existed, jumping immediately to 1938. While the three "Big Broadcast" musicals are close to being forgotten today, the 1938 edition happens to be the only one of the four available on video cassette and later on DVD, as part of the double feature package with 1938's COLLEGE SWING, also featuring Martha Raye and the legendary Bob Hope. Thanks for the Memories.(***)

This was my third time in watching this movie when I popped the DVD in just now. It's notable as W.C. Fields' last for Paramount, and Bob Hope's first feature after years of doing shorts. It also marked the first time Hope performed what became his theme song-"Thanks for the Memory"-which, as performed here, was originally a bittersweet ditty of a love that had its ups and downs with Shirley Ross providing a nice share of wit in duetting with Hope in singing it. Fields is funny whether playing golf, pool, or trying to run the ship though I admit I rewinded some of his scenes to try to understand what he's saying! Two future Hope co-stars, Dorothy Lamour and Martha Raye, provide some charms along the way with Ms. Lamour singing a nice romantic ballad and Ms. Raye doing some great comic banter and slapstick. There's also some amusements from Ben Blue and a forgotten lady named Patricia Wilder as a Southern belle doing deadpan shtick. Oh, and an animated sequence produced by Leon Schlesinger though since he was just a money man, it could possibly have been helmed by whoever was the "supervisor" under him at the time like Fred "Tex" Avery, Robert Clampett, or Frank Tashlin. No great shakes but The Big Broadcast of 1938 is worth a look for historical reasons and if you find the people I mentioned entertaining.

If The Big Broadcast of 1938 is remembered today it's for the fact that it introduced Bob Hope in his first feature film and at the same time gave him his theme song Thanks for the Memory. Hope was billed fifth in this production behind W.C.Fields, Martha Raye, Dorothy Lamour, and Shirley Ross.

It was in fact a Fields film, but it was also to be Fields's last film for Paramount and everyone knew it. Though there are some flashes of typical Fields humor, basically Fields staggers through the role, a dual role in fact of two brothers, owners of a transatlantic steamship line.

The very thin plot of this film is the fact that two big luxury liners are in a race from New York to Cherbourg with a lot of money in various bets on the race. In fact that's where Bob Hope's money is, tied up in wagers. If he loses, his three ex-wives are going to clobber him with alimony, the three former spouses being Shirley Ross, Dorothy Lamour, and Grace Bradley.

All three are on board one of the liners with Hope who's a broadcaster and will be broadcasting the race on a worldwide hookup.

Of course the plot is simply a convenience to allow a lot of talented people to show their stuff and they do. Besides Thanks for the Memory, Dorothy Lamour has a very nice song in You Took The Words Right Out Of My Heart which she sings to aspiring inventor Leif Erickson.

Thanks for the Memory is sung here and later recorded as a duet by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross. Ms. Ross's part in introducing what became the Oscar winning Best Song of 1938 is usually forgotten. Shirley Ross is also undeservedly forgotten herself today. She had a pleasing screen personality, a bit like Alice Faye and a good way with a lyric, just like Faye. Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger wrote Thanks for the Memory, probably the biggest hit that songwriting team ever had.

The Big Broadcast of 1938 was the last in a series of Big Broadcast films. By then I guess radio wasn't such a novelty gimmick to weave a film around. The first Big Broadcast gave Hope's lifetime rival, Bing Crosby, his first feature film starring role.

The film is part of an era of wonderful nonsense on the screen that was never concerned with any message of significance, just with providing the public with good entertainment. And with the cast of this film, it's guaranteed to be good entertainment.

There are momentary gems in this movie, and I recently bought the DVD because I fondly remembered it from its television broadcasts during my childhood. Hope and Ross's "Thanks for the Memory" (that's the actual spelling; it isn't plural) is so well portrayed that it seems they are recalling actual moments from their lives. This is almost the only moment of sincerity in this otherwise farcical fluff-piece. Martha Raye's "Oh, Mama!" is eye-popping primarily because I believe she did her own stunts in it, and she is bandied about like an unlucky mouse caught by a gruesomely playful puss. WC Fields sparks frequent smirks with his ostentatious manner combined with total buffoonery. Dorothy Lamour is only pleasant; I don't believe she had yet found her spark for comedy that was later displayed in the Hope & Crosby Road Movies. Her song (she only gets one but sings it ad infinitum to Leif Erickson), along with the remainder of the musical score, is surprisingly engaging. All in all an enjoyable musical comedy review, designed so audiences could finally see the faces of the performers they invited into their living rooms through the radio.

The trans-Atlantic race is on between the two great ocean liners, the Colossal and the Gigantic. On board the Gigantic (or is it the Colossal? Not even all of the passengers are sure) is an assortment of characters who present us with a sort of variety show over the course of the voyage:

• W.C. Fields, ship's owner. He stops on the way to the pier for a game of golf ("Stand clear, keep your eye on the ball," he tells his large team of caddies) and so has to catch up with the ship by flying in on his mini-helicopter. He's nuts. He has a daughter...

• Martha Raye: According to pop Fields, "She's an unfortunate girl….Seven years ago, she crashed an aeroplane in a mirror factory. Broke 9,831 mirrors."

• Bob Hope: A radio announcer broadcasting updates on the race, he is accompanied on the journey by his three ex-wives, who intend to prevent prospective wife number four from cutting into their alimony checks ("She can't chisel me down to any 25%....").

• Dorothy Lamour, who has second thoughts about becoming that fourth wife when she meets…

• Leif Erickson, handsome and brilliant young engineer who has designed the special propulsion system for the ship.

• Shirley Ross, one of the ex-wives. She and Hope get to chatting and can't quite remember why they ever divorced in the first place.

The plot is an uneven mishmash, but some good songs stand out. Lamour sings "You Took the Words Right Out of My Heart," a lovely ballad. Raye does one called, "Mama, That Moon Is Here Again," which builds into a wild acrobatic dance in which sailors toss Martha all around the deck. The performance by Hope and Ross of "Thanks for the Memory" is truly excellent—it's a bittersweet song that we all know and yet it actually means something in its context of two old lovers hashing over regrets and falling back in love. It's a wonderfully touching and low key performance.

In between these highlights is a lot of nonsense, some of it amusing. The plot doesn't exactly buzz along—it stops and starts too much before ultimately drawing to a rather hasty resolution at the end of the voyage. It is kind of like of a big broadcast, a radio all star variety program, I suppose. Taken as a whole, it's really not that great a picture—but it's certainly worth seeing for the sake of its numerous highlights.