Fantôme Radiophonique

Walter Winchell started in vaudeville as a performer in Gus Edwards's 'School Days' act. (A fictionalised version of this remarkable troupe became Bing Crosby's movie 'The Star Maker'.) Between engagements, Winchell wrote and published a vaudeville newsletter, filled with showbiz gossip. He eventually became a newspaper/radio columnist, utterly ruthless in his power, quick to destroy an enemy's career and (less frequently) to aid a friend. (The Broadway revue 'Hellzapoppin' was trashed by all the critics, yet ran for more than 3 years because Winchell plugged it in his column every single day.) Although many actors and entertainers desperately coveted a mention in Winchell's column, nearly everyone in show business despised him. (Ed Sullivan once threatened to shove Winchell's head into a toilet.) Winchell wisely avoided feuding with his many enemies, aware that such action would only give them free publicity. One of Winchell's few real friends was popular radio bandleader Ben Bernie, and the two concocted a public 'feud' that was a long-running publicity stunt for them both. Several movies - most notably 'Sweet Smell of Success' and 'Blessed Event' - feature fictional journalists who are blatantly based upon Winchell.

'Wake Up and Live', an above-average Fox musical, features Winchell and Bernie playing themselves ... or, rather, fictionalised versions of themselves, designed to make Winchell look good and their phony feud look genuine. In a staged scene, Winchell rattles off his extensive knowledge of obscure nightclub acts while identifying a masked singer after hearing only a few notes. In another scene - equally staged, but funny - a shifty promoter played by Walter Catlett tries to offer Winchell a bribe. Winchell takes the money but immediately drops it into a charity poorbox. Catlett attempts to retrieve the cash, only to attract the interest of a passing policeman. This scene pays tribute to one of Winchell's few genuine redeeming traits: he was active for many charitable causes. (Winchell founded the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund.) It's fascinating to see Winchell onscreen, even though he's clearing playing a sanitised version of himself. To see him here, you'd never guess he bullied his daughter unmercifully and drove his son to suicide.

Although Winchell and Bernie are prominently featured, the frothy plotline centres on Jack Haley as a would-be radio vocalist and Alice Faye as the singer who encourages him. The sexy and vivacious Faye sings the bouncy title tune. There's a very funny scene in which Haley arrives at the radio station, hoping to audition, when he runs afoul of a sour-tempered studio usher. The usher is played by none other than William Demarest, in his usual mode. It's astonishing to realise that, as late as 1937, Demarest was still playing bit parts like this one ... still, he's very welcome here in his brief scene. Demarest assures Haley that his audition will go well, providing he doesn't get mike fright ... a phenomenon which he then describes to Haley. So, of course, as soon as Haley tries to sing he develops mike fright. There's a delightfully surrealistic sequence in which we see the microphone from Haley's viewpoint, as it morphs into a snarling demon!

There are some lively but irrelevant speciality acts, including a couple of dance routines that would never perform on an actual radio show. Lots of familiar faces in the cast list, and Patsy Kelly is less annoying than usual. The title song is the only good one here. One interesting trivia note: the opening credits of this movie feature two guys from the art department named Mark-Lee Kirk and Haldane Douglas, and their names are stacked onscreen so that 'Kirk' is directly above 'Douglas'. I wonder if a certain dimple-chinned actor, just aspiring to a film career at this point, took his screen name from the credits of this movie? I'll rate 'Wake Up and Live' 9 points out of 10.

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.

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.

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.

Three decades after first seeing a poster of this movie in the encyclopedic book about movie comedians-"The Funsters"-in the bio of Patsy Kelly, and a few years ago after I found out this particular film was on YouTube, I finally got to watch Wake Up and Live. The main reason I just watched this was because since this is Black History Month and one of the players in this picture was Eddie Anderson, who by the time this was released had just been cast on radio in "The Jack Benny Program" as Rochester, well, since I usually go chronological in reviewing African-Americans in film during this month, this was next on my 1937 list. Anyway, Anderson appears in two scenes, both on an elevator since he works at one. In his second scene, Eddie tells leading man Jack Haley about an important radio star who wants to see him, first mentioning Fred Allen before segueing to "Jack Bernie" and then to Ben Bernie who's the one looking for Jack. The story itself concerns Haley's mic fright (illustrated by a cartoonish effect of that gadget becoming a demon in front of his eyes) and his attempts to overcome it while practicing in front of a "phony" one for Alice Faye. I'll just now say there are plenty of good songs, a couple of good tap routines by some brothers, some witty lines, a funny dance from Joan Davis, and good supporting turns by Ms. Kelly, Ned Sparks, William Demarest, Walter Catlett, fine numbers by bandleader Ben Bernie, and a good performance by newspaper columnist Walter Winchell as he and Bernie play up their off-screen "feud"! So on that note, I recommend Wake Up and Live.