Maid for a Day

Starring real-life mother and son Grace and Peter Lind Hayes as mother and son on screen, "Maid for a Day" is a neat little 20-minute musical short that falls back on some clichés (notably the one about the middle-aged entertainer desperate to see her son go to college and Make Something of Himself, while he wants to pursue the same sort of theatrical career she did) but also has some surprisingly lavish dance numbers (notably the spectacular tango performed by dance team Don Lee and Louise) and some nice little satirical barbs aimed at the ultra-rich residents of a beach community who don't want to have to mingle with their, ugh, servants at the beach. (Sounds an awful lot like some of the recent controversies between Hollywood stars and coastal activists over access to Malibu!) This is a charmer, though your plot synopsis gives away the big twist at the end and I wondered why Grace Hayes' big song early on is introduced by a blackface chorus but she herself is given only a very light makeup job (my guess is to make sure the audience still was able to recognize Grace Hayes, which they might not have had she done full blackface).

With a song title that, you can imagine the quality of this Vitaphone Brevity (20 minutes or so) that was filler during the mid-30s, a satire about a show biz mom who wants her son to take college seriously and forget about his own show biz aspirations.

Real mother and son (Grace Hayes and Peter Lind Hayes) manage not to embarrass themselves too much with the lame script, wise-cracks and musical direction. It's all strictly '30s vintage material with Peter demonstrating his talent for impersonations which he would go on to use in his later TV and movie career.

What's interesting are the few musical segments which are tolerable despite the poor songs, but because the staging at least shows a little imagination.

Not the worst Vitaphone Brevity, that's for sure, but nothing memorable about it either.

Maid for a Day (1936)

** (out of 4)

Real-life mother and son Grace Hayes and Peter Lind Hayes play a mother and son combo in this two-reeler. Grace is a famous Broadway star who is trying to make a comeback so she takes up a job as a maid in order to practice. Everything is going good until she gets a call from Peter informing her that he's dropped out of college so that he can hit the stage. Only those interested in seeing the mother-son team should check this Vitaphone short out because the material is quite weak and it's actually so weak that you really don't want to judge the duo too bad. I'm not sure how much better each one are but they really don't have much to work with here and especially Peter who comes across pretty badly. For some reason the film has him doing a really obnoxious laugh that is more creepy than anything else. His character really doesn't do anything that isn't annoying so I'm hoping it was the screenplay making him do this stuff and it's not part of his routine. His mother comes off a tad bit better and I must say that I was shocked to see her being a mother as she looks incredibly young and extremely good here. The music numbers aren't that memorable either but "Would You Ring the Gong on Me" is probably the stand out.

For those who remember Peter and his wife Mary Healy, it's interesting to see Peter so young and performing with his mother. The acts in this short are very strange. The black face number has big pictures on the curtain of blacks eating watermelon slices and the song is about a wandering husband on old man river--nothing complementary. There is a novelty tap dance number that features a long string of cigarettes produced by the fellow to a song about smoking lovers. And the act with Peter and his mother is no less odd. I have trouble describing it so see for yourself. I guarantee it's unique. His mother has a lovely voice but doesn't act to the same standard. Peter's talents on display are comedic rather than musical. The plot was really just to string the musical acts together. On the whole, this is one of the more eccentric shorts I've ever seen. In many ways, I found it unpleasant and hard to watch but I'm glad I stuck with it to the end.

It is a variety act of singing and dancing. There is a great tap dancing scene a little over 10 minutes in while the song "two cigarettes in the dark" is being played. The classic dance following is fantastic, and "Won't You Ring The Gong For Me" knocks it out of the park. Great movie!