With the success of "Broadway" a stage musical that combined the topicality of gangsters and wisecracking dialogue set in a Manhattan night club, movie doors opened on a slew of films that combined the underworld with singing and dancing. Alice White had been a secretary until she was discovered for the movies, so when people denigrate her musical ability, I think she does pretty well - it's not as if she came from the stage herself. Most of her appeal lies in her adorable cuteness and her high spirits - she was known as the Princess of Pep!!
Delight Foster, Navarre King and Florinne Samuels (Alice White, Sally Eilers and Marion Byron (billed as Miriam in the cast) respectively) live in a theatrical boarding house (the wisecracks fly thick and fast - "you two dames must think I'm under contract to you" Navarre, on always being asked to close the door.) They get a write up in a New York newspaper as being the epitome of Broadway Musketeers - a new breed of chorus girl who can take care of herself without the help of a "sugar daddy" - all for one and one for all - and they make a pact always to help each other out.
Dee is engaged and her friends think she needs all the help she can get - Billy is just a small time dancer with big ideas!!! "While Dee and her friends are learning how to please the tired business man" - they are rehearsing for a show, she catches the eye of a business man Perc Gessant (Fred Kohler). Dee's first number is the jungle themed "Jig Jig Jigaloo". Alice White not only looks gorgeous in a beautiful feathered head-dress but she dances up a storm - it is hard to believe she wasn't a singing and dancing professional. When she sees Billy kissing Blossom she impulsively goes out with Gessant and she and her friends are offered jobs at the club they dining at. Gessant is with two gangsters who are planning to fleece him ("by the time we get through with him, he won't even have the airfare back to Detroit"). For Dee's debut at the New Moon Night Club she sings and dances to "Wishing and Waiting For Love" - with her silver trimmed bowler hat and ruff she wows the crowd. Gessant is not a dopey businessman from the sticks but a big time Detroit gambler and he has a showdown with the gangsters after a particularly tense card game. The movie ends in cheers - Gessant is shot, but not fatally, he gives his blessing to Dee and Billy and gives Billy the money he needs to star Dee in her own Broadway show. Dee, Florrie and Navarre give their all in the finale "Broadway Baby Dolls".
White is joined in this film by two chorus cuties par excellence. Marion Byron, whose nickname was "Peanuts", was never a big star but she sure livened up some of those early musicals including "So Long Letty" and "Golden Dawn". Sally Eilers was on the verge of stardom - in 1931 she made a splash playing opposite James Dunn in "Bad Girl" but she had been around in movies for years, playing what she played in "Broadway Babies", a cute ingenue. None of these three girls became superstars but they were sure nice to have around. Jocelyn Lee who plays Blossom, is extremely funny - in an unintentional way. With her very precise diction, she gives even more laughs to her funny lines. The movie also has some pretty peppy slang of the day - "there's too many bankrolls after you for you to be bothered about a thin dime", "big eyed bimbos", "tell your telephone to be expecting some mighty busy days" and "horses, horses, horses".
Highly, Highly Recommended.
Delight Foster, Navarre King and Florinne Samuels (Alice White, Sally Eilers and Marion Byron (billed as Miriam in the cast) respectively) live in a theatrical boarding house (the wisecracks fly thick and fast - "you two dames must think I'm under contract to you" Navarre, on always being asked to close the door.) They get a write up in a New York newspaper as being the epitome of Broadway Musketeers - a new breed of chorus girl who can take care of herself without the help of a "sugar daddy" - all for one and one for all - and they make a pact always to help each other out.
Dee is engaged and her friends think she needs all the help she can get - Billy is just a small time dancer with big ideas!!! "While Dee and her friends are learning how to please the tired business man" - they are rehearsing for a show, she catches the eye of a business man Perc Gessant (Fred Kohler). Dee's first number is the jungle themed "Jig Jig Jigaloo". Alice White not only looks gorgeous in a beautiful feathered head-dress but she dances up a storm - it is hard to believe she wasn't a singing and dancing professional. When she sees Billy kissing Blossom she impulsively goes out with Gessant and she and her friends are offered jobs at the club they dining at. Gessant is with two gangsters who are planning to fleece him ("by the time we get through with him, he won't even have the airfare back to Detroit"). For Dee's debut at the New Moon Night Club she sings and dances to "Wishing and Waiting For Love" - with her silver trimmed bowler hat and ruff she wows the crowd. Gessant is not a dopey businessman from the sticks but a big time Detroit gambler and he has a showdown with the gangsters after a particularly tense card game. The movie ends in cheers - Gessant is shot, but not fatally, he gives his blessing to Dee and Billy and gives Billy the money he needs to star Dee in her own Broadway show. Dee, Florrie and Navarre give their all in the finale "Broadway Baby Dolls".
White is joined in this film by two chorus cuties par excellence. Marion Byron, whose nickname was "Peanuts", was never a big star but she sure livened up some of those early musicals including "So Long Letty" and "Golden Dawn". Sally Eilers was on the verge of stardom - in 1931 she made a splash playing opposite James Dunn in "Bad Girl" but she had been around in movies for years, playing what she played in "Broadway Babies", a cute ingenue. None of these three girls became superstars but they were sure nice to have around. Jocelyn Lee who plays Blossom, is extremely funny - in an unintentional way. With her very precise diction, she gives even more laughs to her funny lines. The movie also has some pretty peppy slang of the day - "there's too many bankrolls after you for you to be bothered about a thin dime", "big eyed bimbos", "tell your telephone to be expecting some mighty busy days" and "horses, horses, horses".
Highly, Highly Recommended.