Show Girl in Hollywood

This is surprisingly so much better than you'd expect. Being a very early talkie I was expecting a creaky and stilted museum curiosity rather than a normal entertaining little picture. It does have quite an old feel to it but as soon as you've realigned your perspective - and you like early 30s movies of course - you'll enjoy this.

Like a lot of films from this tumultuous time in Hollywood, the story is beautifully pure with characters which are fairly one-dimensional, there simply to tell the story. There's not much depth to these people, there's no great meaning hidden in the plot - it's just a sweet, fun and happy little story made to entertain you. In 1930, The Depression hadn't quite kicked in yet so unlike what we see in Zanuck's Warner Brothers which this studio was just about to evolve into, there's no struggle for survival, triumph against corruption, gangsters or girls forced into prostitution. This is purely about a pretty girl trying to make it in Hollywood.

The star is Alice White has to be one of the prettiest actresses the world has ever seen. She had a reputation however of being nothing more than a pretty face but a pretty poor actress. After watching this a few might agree but most I think most won't. Nobody, including herself, would ever consider her a great actress but she's perfect in something like this. She's a 'modern day' princess in a 'modern day' fairytale. Alice White herself was a 1920s showgirl who had actually made it in Hollywood. I don't think she was badly acting this character, this was who she was, this was her own character. Some might have found her bubbly, girly girl persona irritating but I think she was lovely.

Is this a good film? No. Is it a good example of a 1930s musical? Definitely not! Is it worth watching? Yes, and not just to see the loveliness that was Alice White, if you like old movies, it's fascinating to watch an early talkie about making early talkies. It's also reasonably well made - it's not one Mervyn LeRoy would put on the top of his CV but he keeps your interest and doesn't waste a single frame.

Cast aside all your cynicism and just enjoy!

In the closing days of the silent era and for a few years into talkies Alice White was a star at First National/Warners. She was most often seen as a wise-cracking blonde kewpie doll of a flapper, and the studio often put her into musicals or films with musical segments.

One of her biggest silent films, GENTLMEN PREFER BLONDES remains among the lost, but it made her a star in 1928. By the end of the year she had made her talkie debut. In SHOW GIRL IN HOLLYWOOD, White plays Dixie Dugan, that intrepid chorine for the second time, having starred in the silent SHOW GIRL in 1928 (a silent film with a Vitaphone synchronized score).

Dixie Dugan started out as a character in in a couple of novels by J.P. McEvoy that followed her exploits as a show girl. They caused a mild sensation and First National snapped up the right. These two films are based on the character in the novels. In 1929 Dixie Dugan popped up in the comic strips and ran until 1966.

The 1928 SHOW GIRL was discovered in an Italian film archive several years ago and has been reassembled with the Vitaphone disks but the film has not yet been released on DVD>

This 1930 film was released in April of 1930 and stars Alice White as Dugan, a lowly chorine in a show that has just flopped on Broadway. Written by her boyfriend (Jack Mulhall), the two go to a nightclub to drown their sorrows. Dixie is asked to sing a number from the show and she launches into "I've Got My Eye on You" which catches the attention of a visiting Hollywood director (John Miljan). He encourages her to look him up when she's in Hollywood.

Dixie immediately heads west and runs into studio interference after she meets the studio head (Ford Sterling) who's just about to fire Miljan. Coincidentally the studio buys the failed Broadway show and sends for Mulhall who insist Dixie get the starring role.

Meanwhile, Dixie is befriended by the down-and-out actress Donnie Hall (Blanche Sweet) who tries to warn Dixie about the perils of Hollywood, but to no avail. After an extended scene where Dixie again sings and dances in a mammoth production number, we see how the scene is filmed and recorded by the studio crew in a sort of documentary manner.

Dixie immediately "goes Hollywood" and starts demanding changes to the movie and is fired. Donnie, who had landed a role in the film, is also fired as the production shuts down. Despondent she accidentally takes too many pills. When Dixie realizes what she has done, she swallows her pride and crawls back to the studio head.

In the final scene, we see a movie premiere where stars like Loretta Young, Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, Noah Beery and son arrive. Next we see Dixie on screen in another gigantic production number, singing and dancing to "Hang on to a Rainbow" (originally filmed in 2-strip Technicolor). Dixie Dugan has become a star and is introduced by Walter Pidgeon to the cheering audience.

Alice White is sensational and is perfect as the boop-a-doop singer with her tossled hair and big eyes. Sweet is also a standout as the tragic has-been actress. She gets to sing "There's a Tear for Every Smile in Hollywood." Sweet was near the end of her Hollywood career and made only one more film. She was 34 years old and had been a big star in silent films.

Mulhall, Miljan, and Sterling are all fine. Spec O'Donnell plays the reception boy, Virginia Sale is the secretary, and Herman Bing plays a yes man. Natalie Moorhead and Jane Winton have bits as Miljan's dates.

"Show Girl in Hollywood" (First National, 1930), directed by Mervyn LeRoy, stars that pert blonde, Alice White, as Dixie Dugan, show girl from Brooklyn, a role she originated in the part-talkie, "Show Girl" (First National, 1928). In that earlier edition, Charles Delaney co-starred as her love interest, Jimmie Doyle, a role enacted here by Jack Mulhall. Based on the comic strip character, this musical sequel, based "Hollywood Girl" by Joseph Patrick McEvoy, is an interesting look back at the studio system in the days of early talkies, with added treats of non-credited guest stars as legendary singer, Al Jolson and his then wife, Ruby Keeler (in non-speaking parts); Loretta Young, Noah Berry and his son, Noah Beery Jr., all briefly glimpsed in the movie premiere sequence; along with the youthful but almost unrecognizable, Walter Pidgeon, as master of ceremonies at the Hollywood gathering.

Opening inter-title: "Jimmie Doyle's musical show, 'RAINBOW GIRL' opened and closed." Regardless of its two-week run for which Dixie Dugan (Alice White) worked as an understudy, playwright Jimmie Doyle (Jack Mulhall) intends on improving the story, this time giving his girl, Dixie, the nominal lead, which she should ha played in the first place. Escorted to a nightclub by Jimmy, Dixie does a number for its visiting guest, Frank Buelow (John Miljan), a movie director from Hollywood. Taking an interest in this free-spirited girl, Buelow persuades Dixie to come to Hollywood and appear in his forthcoming motion picture. Going against Jimmy's wishes, Dixie takes the next train west, sending her occasional telegrams to Jimmy at his Brooklyn residence: 41 Pineapple Street. While in Hollywood, Dixie's meeting with Sam Otis's (Ford Sterling), the production head, proves shattering when she is told she's one of many girls tricked into coming to the studio only to learn no such arrangements have been made. Along the way, Dixie learns more of the downside of Hollywood when she meets and befriends her favorite movie actress, Dottie Harris (Blanche Sweet), now a 32-year-old has-been. Not only does Dottie get the runaround from Buelow, her former husband, but must accept the fact she's only just a memory. As fate would have it, Sam Otis acquires the script of "Rainbow Girl" which he likes, and sends for its author, Jimmy Doyle. During their meeting, both Jimmie and Otis agree its leading lady should be Dixie Dugan. All goes well during production of the movie until Dixie meets with Buelow, now fired by the industry. Buelow, however, manages in changing the sweet innocent girl into a temperamental and conceited actress, causing friction and delays that could literally put an end to Dixie's film career before it's even started.

A distinguished early talkie with acceptable tunes by Buddy Green and Sammy Stept, include: "I've Got My Eye on You" (sung by Alice White); "There's a Tear for Every Smile in Hollywood" (sung by Blanche Sweet); "I've Got My Eye on You" (reprise) and "Hang on to the Rainbow" (Alice White). Of the three song interludes, only "Rainbow" gets the production number A portion of the "Rainbow" number was used for the final chapter to the 13-week documentary of Kevin Brownlow and David Gill's Hollywood: The End of an Era (1980).

Blanche Sweet (1895-1986), a long time veteran actress of the silent screen dating back to 1909, is quite effective as a drifting movie queen who becomes Dixie Dugan's guide through the studio system. Her vocalizing to a sentimental tune revealing the happiness and hardship of Hollywood comes very much as a surprise as does her character, limited somewhat in the photo-play yet crucial to the story. Film buffs would also delight in witnessing the behind-the-scenes activity of movie making, then called "Vitaphoning." Also taking part in the supporting cast are Herman Bing, Virginia Sale and Spec O'Donnell.

Although the "Dixie Dugan" character would never be enacted by Alice White again, further adventures of this comic strip character would be revamped and reintroduced to the screen again as a programmer titled DIXIE DUGAN (20th Century-Fox, 1943) starring Lois Andrews in the title role. An attempt for a movie series based on that character never got past the initial entry.

While "Show Girl in Hollywood" remains a rare find indeed, it did consist of several television broadcasts during its early stages of Turner Classic Movies cable channel . As it stands for now, this and other Dixie Dugan stories remain, "just a memory." (*** Vitaphone discs)

Although this 1930 film is clunky and fraught with (what we now know to be) film cliches, it is worth seeing -- if only for the outstanding performance of one-time silent-film great Blanche Sweet. Without realizing who it was, I kept marveling at her poignant, true portrayal of a washed up silent screen star (clearly, almost autobiographical). What a brilliant choice to cast her. Imagine my surprise after the film when we rewound to the credits!

A fine, unjustly overlooked gem of early filmmaking (that has songs, to boot).

An early cautionary tale about the business of Hollywood and what it does to young women, and a film that's a vehicle for both Alice White and Vitaphone technology. It's not going to blow you away with its plot, as it's been done countless times, and much better too. The comedy elements in the script are weak, and you can see events coming long before they happen. However, there were enough other little elements in the film that it held my interest.

Some of those little extras include seeing Hollywood sights of the era, such as the Roosevelt Hotel (which is still there), the Café Montmartre, and the early studio lots. We also get a brief yet fascinating look into the process of making films during this period, with the Vitaphone technology (sound recorded on a separate disk) requiring noisy film cameras to be housed in soundproof booths. That's the main reason early sound films often appear so stagey, with a static camera - they were in these kinds of booths. Lastly, we get a film premier and red carpet cameo appearances from Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, Loretta Young, and Noah Beery Sr. and Jr.

Unfortunately, as svelte and adorable as Alice White is with her Betty Boop eyes, she's not very strong at delivering her lines. Her best moments come while sashaying out of a giant clown face on stage and singing "I've Got My Eye on You" at about the 40 minute point, otherwise, don't expect much. Easily upstaging her is Blanche Sweet, who is wonderful as the has-been starlet (lol at age 34), looking at the newcomer with a sigh and a warning. She's the only good actor in the cast, and conveys real melancholy through her eyes and the way she moves. As this was her penultimate film after a career spanning 21 years (aside from a small part in 1959's The Five Pennies), there is a special meaning to everything she does here.

Overall, certainly not a great film, and one that could be easily skipped, so I'm probably rounding it up based on my love for the era, and for Blanche Sweet.