Hollywood Hobbies

The quality of this short is pretty poor. The plot involves two ladies from come to town and go on a tour of the stars' homes and personal lives. The homes part I understand, though when these ladies begin sneaking into celebrities' back yards, the film seems to be promoting stalking!! To make the film, some big-name actors (such as George Murphy and Jimmy Stewart) were recruited to do some scenes with the ladies. However, most of the "meetings" with celebrities are obviously nothing but stock film and publicity films poorly spliced into the movie. It just made the whole thing look cheap and like a big lie. However, for fans of Hollywood's Golden Age, it does provide some nice footage of stars in their spare time doing hobbies and pastimes for the camera that they probably never really did for real!! In other words, it's all a very staged series of photo ops all strung together with a plot that isn't very convincing.

In Hollywood, sleepy tour guide (and future "Bowery Boy") William "Billy" Benedict awakens from a nap and takes perky tourists Joyce Compton and Sally Payne to see some celebrities. Although Mr. Benedict's car doesn't advertise the fact, this tour's focus is on "Hollywood Hobbies". First, the trio see actor Reginald Denny and one of his model airplanes. Next, the girls are thrilled to spot Clark Gable in a station wagon. They follow Mr. Gable to his barn and watch him mix some white-wash, and spray the barn.

The Bel-Air stables belonging to horse-loving partners Robert Young and Alan Jones are next visited. The men and Irene Hervey (Mrs. Jones) wait for the birth of a surprisingly dapper colt. It's been difficult to top Clark Gable white-washing his barn, but the three stargazers strike celebrity gold when they happen upon a movie star baseball game. It's the annual match-up between "the comedians and the leading men." Ms. Compton and Ms. Payne sit behind Jimmy Stewart and George Murphy to watch the game.

Caesar Romero, Spencer Tracy, Tyrone Power, Jane Withers, and the lovely Virginia Bruce are also in the stands. James Cagney is there with his mother. Players include Joe E. Brown, the Ritz Brothers, and young Buddy Ebsen. Arthur "Dagwood" Lake shares some thoughts. Mary Pickford throws out the first pitch. With Milton Berle playing short stop and Buster Keaton covering third, Dick Powell effortlessly hits a home run. The over-the-fence ball awakens Benedict, who is napping again...

Time to take the girls back to the Sunset Strip, Billy!

This was an interesting early credit for comedian Morey Amsterdam, who would move from radio to become a popular TV star. With the exception of James Stewart and George Murphy, the celebrity appearances were edited into the main story (by Tom Biggart for MGM). Biggest name in the cast was the then very popular Clark Gable. The retired, but obviously not tired, Mary Pickford has a notable appearance. These ballgames were a reality, and went on at Los Angeles and or New York sites through at least the 1980s.

***** Hollywood Hobbies (5/3/39) George Sidney ~ William 'Billy' Benedict, Joyce Compton, Sally Payne, Clark Gable

Two movie fans take one of those street-side Movie Tour Guide rides. They track down various movie stars in their 'everyday' appearances. Clark Gable is power-washing his property and the fictional journey begins.

This is part PR for the studio system. It's part stargazing with these movie stars. It's an interesting time capsule of a fictional and real world. It has some 'real' footage mixed in with these fictional tourists. It's a bit quirky. It's also a quiz to test how many of these once-famous people one can recognize.

Sightseers go on a tour to see movie stars. They see them doing things outside their usual routines, like Clark Clark Gable whitewashing his barn and Robert Young's horse riding stable.

It's a very human sort of short subject. Contemporary audiences may have confused the actors and the roles they played; the idea that they might have, like their contemporaries, outside interests, humanized them.

The highlight for me was excerpts from the annual charity baseball game between the leading men and the comedians. Back when he ran his own studio, Buster Keaton's job application form purportedly asked two questions: if the applicant could do anything having to do with movies, and if he could play baseball; a passing grade was 50%.

Hollywood Hobbies (1939)

*** (out of 4)

Pretty good "let's show off our stars" short from MGM is cheaply made but we at least get to see countless A-list stars. The film centers on a couple tourists who take a trip across Hollywood where they get to see a few famous faces like Clark Gable and Reginald Denny. The two then go to a charity baseball game where more stars appear including James Stewart, Spencer Tracy, Buster Keaton, Joe E. Brown, Virginia Bruce, Joan Davis, Buddy Ebsen, Mary Pickford, Tyrone Power, Dick Powell, the Ritz Brothers, Cesar Romero and many more. The actual "plot" of this short is pretty silly but that's to be expected as the main goal is to just show as many Hollywood stars as possible and this film certainly does that. A lot of the footage is just edited in from previous films but we do get quite a bit of actual footage including a funny bit with the ladies wanting Stewart's autograph and not realizing that he's sitting in front of them.