Meet Me on Broadway

What a pity the excellent cast and staging talent used here was thrown away on a B- movie length and style opus which only offers minor (and more than a little stereotyped) pleasures when so much more was promised.

Male lead Fred Brady (looking and sounding like Bobby Van - which may tell you the level of star power involved) plays Eddie Dolan a wanna-be Broadway producer who has hired on to stage a wealthy community theatre benefit in hopes of making contacts to finance the show he wants to do on Broadway - especially when he finds a talented singer in Jinx Falkenberg in his cast, screen daughter of rich Gene Lockhart.

Naturally, comic confusion and jealous repercussions (Brady's girlfriend, Marjorie Reynolds is also in the show) ensue. Reliable studio character second banana Allen Jenkens turns in yeoman work as Dolan's assistant/stage manager - and while he's a perfectly dreadful stage manager, he's a great comic presence that more than once shows what a fun film this almost was.

The real gem of the film though is Spring Byington (years before her TV series, "December Bride") as the wife of Dolan's potential investor. Byington's character has a secret - unimportant to the plot but much brighter than the mother's "secret" in THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER. Suffice to say that her smile lights up every set she graces and screams "this is a STAR" whenever she's on the screen. She plays the role for all it's worth and once again leaves us asking why the film as a whole isn't better.

Choreographer Jack Cole had by this point not yet finally lost his legendary screen assistant Gwen Verdon to Broadway, but she WAS making her stage debut in something called SHOOTING STAR this year (it closed on the road) and is not in evidence on screen here. The uncredited male dancers get the best of Cole's attention and most of his signature moves. It's a pity they aren't to greater effect, but the whole film is very minor entertainment.

For free on late night TV (most of us apparently have discovered the piece on the same Turner Classic Movie screening), it's worth sticking a tape or DVD-R in the machine, but don't hold your breath for a major DVD release or big screen showing unless someone is kind enough to put out a discount Spring Byington box or run an Allen Jenkens Festival.

It would be interesting to know if this film were intended to be a B movie or was an A movie that had its budget cut.

Marjorie Reynolds was capable of much better dancing, but isn't really given a chance here. Veteran character actors Gene Lockhart, Spring Byington and Allen Jenkins can't salvage a weak script.

Songwriters Saul Chaplin (Until The Real Thing Comes Along), Eddie De Lange (Darn That Dream), and Allan Roberts and Doris Fisher (Put The Blame On Mame) were certainly capable of writing much better songs than they composed for this film. Did the producer demand a score and give them only 15 minutes? All of the songs here seem like they were thrown together in a hurry, and are totally forgettable.

Choreographer Jack Cole is already using the newer style of dancing that was to dominate movie musicals later in the 1950s. Yet, his work here appears to be suppressed by a lack of budget and a lack of space. The dancers always seem to be crammed together.

Jean Louis designed the gowns, so at least all of the female characters are well-dressed.

So while there is A-quality cast and crew, the end result is a disappointment that looks suspiciously like a B movie. Lots of B movies can be fun, but this isn't one of them.

This movie is pretty much forgettable, simple story line, weak script,mediocre songs,and no real laughs, a real grade B production, however you might want to catch it one evening on Turner Classic Movies if only to get a glimpse of the lovely Jinx Falkenburg. America's top model, she was the first Miss Rheingold and the sister of the 1948 Wimbledon tennis champion Bob Falkenburg. Once during a radio interview she was asked if she did anything to bring him luck. "Oh yes," she replied, "I kiss his balls before every match." The interviewer, obviously flustered, waited a moment and then said, "She means, of course, his tennis balls."

No wonder Marjorie Reynolds fled to television for the successful "Life of Riley" series. After making a dud like this, Miss Reynolds had nowhere to go.

The thin plot revolves around a guy who wants to produce a Broadway show with Marjorie his girlfriend.

He has a temper but soon finds a way to produce a benefit for charity run by Gene Lockhart and Spring Byington, a woman with a show business past of her own. Her son, in an extremely weak performance by Loren Tindel, is the romantic interest of singer Jinx Falkenburg. All this starts to change when Eddie Dolan (Fred Brady) and Reynolds come on the scene. It appears that this movie is going to be a change partners and dance epic.

Allen Jenkins is his usual funny self but with a poor script to work with, he is basically wasted as well as Gene Lockhart.

The quick ending seems to have been made so as to get out of all of this.

I don't know where we would be without TCM. Turner shows us a lot of movies that are obscure and have no hope of ever surfacing on DVD. This film isn't even mentioned in Leonard Maltin's TV Movies and Video Guide, so this vehicle is REALLY obscure. Because of these things, this film doesn't stand a chance at being touted by todays marketing people. However, these films offer us a glimpse of life past, of certain values and lifestyles that may appear "corny" to us today.

This movie has a lot to offer; the music is catchy and well orchestrated. There is also a well choreographed dance routine by three guys And, most important, director Leigh Jason had the right tools in regard to a cast. Much traveled Marjorie Reynolds plays Ann Stallings. Reynolds, a gorgeous, curvy blonde with brown eyes is best known for her performance in Holiday Inn (1942) with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. Almost exclusively appearing in B- films, Reynolds made a splash in Paramount's Holiday Inn. She sings and dances just as well in Meet Me on Broadway.

The film is supported by long time actor Allen Jenkins (loaned out by Warner Brothers), Gene Lockhart, known for his villainous and conniving roles as a character actor, but appearing quite tame in this film. Also, there's Spring Byington, another busy actress from the 1930's and '40's. Little known and little used Fred Brady is placed in a principal role as Eddie Dolan. Brady is sort of a Danny Kaye wannabe as demonstrated in both his actions and speech. I feel that this was a major mistake by Columbia as his role appears weak throughout the film. Brady only made a handful of films and quickly went into obscurity several years later.

This film was completed in late 1945 and a welcome site for many moviegoers who were weary of war-related plots. The going theme during this period was "Peace, it's wonderful!". The many trials and tribulations for America were yet to come, so this brief period of time was a respite between the most destructive war in history and what was to follow in the next few years.