Playmates (1941) User Reviews

Last Call for John Barrymore

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 17 June 2012]

Agents Patsy Kelly (as Lulu Monahan) and Peter Lind Hayes (as Peter Lindsay) decide to get their famous clients - legendary actor John Barrymore (as John Barrymore) and popular band-leader Kay Kyser (as Kay Kyser) together for a profitable publicity stunt. The plan is to have Mr. Barrymore teach Mr. Kyser to perform Shakespeare on stage. At first, both resist. But, Kyser relents and Barrymore needs money. This film features Kyser's very popular band members, sweet singers Harry Babbitt and Ginny Simms along with Beatle-Ish Kabibble, guest star Lupe Velez, Sully Mason, and others...

More importantly, this was Barrymore's last film appearance; he died shortly after its release, and "Playmates" is considered evidence of the once highly-respected actor's sad decline. This is true, for the most part, but you've got to love Barrymore's reciting of Hamlet's "To Be or Not to Be" speech. The Great Profile's reaction after saying "there's the rub" for Kyser in "Playmates" is a must for Barrymore followers. His performance of "Hamlet" on stage was considered one of Barrymore's greatest roles, but there was, sadly, no filmed version; note, a tantalizing "Hamlet" color screen test scene is available on popular video sites.

***** Playmates (12/26/41) David Butler ~ John Barrymore, Kay Kyser, Patsy Kelly, Peter Lind Hayes

Kay Kyser! This is the unkindest cut of all!

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 9 March 2013]

That's how the legendary John Barrymore responds when he learns what he must do to get a lucrative radio contract. The "Great Profile", hamming it up with some green eggs, must train Kyser in the art of Shakespeare, so it is no surprise that when Kay tells Ishkabibble he's reading Shakespeare, Ishkabibble asks, "Who wrote it?" Melodramatic Barrymore steals every moment he's in, parodying himself, and highly resembling in face and manner his brother Lionel. "I've been in the public eye so long, it has become permanently bloodshot!", he quips, with his agent Patsy Kelly fully in agreement, telling someone how great Barrymore was in "Thirteenth Night", and after being corrected ("Twelfth Night"), Kelly cracks, "He was so good that they held him over."

There's also a great comedy bit between a social climbing matron and radio sponsor husband who responds to his wife's snooty comment, "I wasn't born in Brooklyn" with "Well, it ain't any better than the Bronx!". May Robson is back as Kay's feisty grandmother who comments on seeing Barrymore on the stage when she was just a girl, a theft of a joke from "Dinner at Eight", a movie that both Robson and Barrymore were in. Lupe Velez takes her "Mexican Spitfire" character one step further by making her a lady bullfighter hired by her abused lover Barrymore to tire out Kyser so he'll be unable to perform on stage in "Romeo and Juliet" which he eventually spoofs in a musical sequence, "Romeo Smith and Juliet Jones", long before the update for the Broadway stage as "West Side Story".

There's also a very funny dream sequence where Kyser dreams of all of the characters in Shakespeare plays, something which Barrymore (the character) would claim having the Bard rolling in his grave. This is one of those light-hearted musicals that will not be for all tastes (especially if you are not a Kay Kyser fan) but with this delightful cast of comic nuts, there should be something for everyone, even if it is at the expense of ribbing the most popular playwright in history.

In Shockingly Bad Taste But Fascinating

[Handlinghandel · 5/10 · 4 January 2005]

This appears to have been the last movie of the great John Barrymore. (The filmography listed here must be wrong in following it with a movie in 1966. I've seen that movie and it is an old one.) As such, it has historical importance.

John Barrymore will always be remembered as one of the great men of American theater as well as a fine movie actor. He looks puffy and tired here, but boy! Does he give it his best shot.

The on screen credits have him as a supporting player, with Kay Keyser -- a tiny fleck on the radar screen of movie history -- before the title. However, I'd guess that Barrymore has at least as many lines as Keyser.

As to the quality of the lines: That is another story. In the movie, the always funny Patsy Kelly plays his agent. In real life, it's hard to imagine that any agent would have allowed him to play in such a startlingly vulgar movie. Maybe bills just needed to be paid.

This movie is so vulgar, it is entertaining, though our hearts break for Barrymore being paraded around in such sorry physical shape (and ending the movie in some sort of bizarre drag, hardly flattering to his corpulent figure. It is supposed to be Shakespearean garb but I've never seen a play by the immortal Bard that had its lead got up like that.) (Of course, I have never seen one with a male Portia, either, though Keyser is shown practicing her lines from "The Merchant Of Venice.") Lupe Velez is also served very badly here. She has a small role and is, as she generally was, a caricature. She is overly made up and is made to seem thoroughly unappealing in character as well.

May Robson is always good. I have never seen a bad performance from her. Here she is in the small role of Keyser's mother and does fine with what she has. It is scarcely one of the highlights of her career, though.

Ish Kabibble is a very odd presence. He seems to have the haircut on which the Beatles (whom I love; please understand) based theirs. He is harmless, as is Keyser, as is Ginny Simms. I don't care for that style of music, but obviously many did.

Having John Barrynore laugh at, or even be on the same sound stage with, Ish's corny jokes is really sad, though. The whole thing is sad. But it isn't dull.

If Barrymore were alive today, one has the feeling from his presence here, he might be doing guest bits on reality TV shows -- letting it all hang out but making enough to pay the bills and to keep his name in the public eye.

Barrymore's final bow

[hamilton65 · 2 January 2002]

Painful self humiliation from a fallen star. Barrymore here plays himself as a has been Shakespearean star so desperate for a Radio contract that he agrees to appear opposite Kay Kyser and band in a festival of the bard's plays.

John was on his last legs when he made this, as testified by a bloated and sometimes drunken appearance and he's treated badly by the script and cast (all his tax and drinking problems are trotted out as "humour" and in a dream scene Barrymore is even shown as a bull defeated by toreador Kyser). Yet this film does have a certain weird amusement value if you catch it in the right mood and if you can forget it's his final film..

Barrymore works very hard to make the most of this script, bellowing and posturing his way through the proceedings. It's a million miles from subtle but with his snorts and grunts and bulging eyes he certainly holds the attention and even generates the odd laugh. Occasionally there's a flash of his old talent. At one point he delivers part of Hamlet's To Be Or Not To Be soliquey in an attempt to demonstrate how Shakespeare should be performed. The film and the scene to this point lead us to expect that Barrymore will send the speech up.

Instead in the midst of the frantic mugging Barrymore gives a heart felt and totally straight reading of the scene. It lasts a minute and is intensely moving. There's genuine rawness here and John himself seems quite overcome. (It's extraordinary they kept this in) For a few scenes after this we get to hear his voice giving further beautifully modulated readings from Romeo and Juliet before the movie goes back to it's demeaning purpose.

Patsy Kelly is one of the other talents who help save this farrago from complete disaster.

Pretty sad to watch...

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 31 January 2010]

Perhaps my hating the film so much may be because I just couldn't stand watching a bloated and sad looking John Barrymore as he limped through his final film role before his premature death due to the ravages of alcoholism. So, while Barrymore was 59 when he made the film, he looked older and quite tired. It's also a pretty sad film because it's among the last films of Lupe Valez (who committed suicide just three years later) and May Robson--who at least was still quite game despite being in her 80s. And, as a final or near final film for these three, it's a pretty pathetic and uninteresting film.

Part of my disinterest in the film, I am sure, has to do with my not particularly liking Kay Kyser films. While he was quite popular in the late 30s and early 40s, I just never liked his cheesy films. I'm not a fan of him, his music or the stupid antics of Ish Kabibble. Perhaps if I'd been born much earlier and grew up with this sort of stuff I would have enjoyed it more. As it is, it all seemed very amateurish and forced. However, while I didn't like their music either, I could recognize its quality and fans of big-band music might enjoy these many interludes.

The plot involves John Barrymore pretty much playing himself. He is a broken down hammy actor who can't get work, so his manager (played by the ever-subtle Patsy Kelly) decides to tie in a promotion with Kay Kyser. Her logic is that EVERYTHING Kyser does is played to the hilt by the press, so saying that Barrymore working with Kyser would give his moribund career a much needed shot in the arm. In a publicity stunt that only makes sense in films, she announces that Barrymore (who was very famous once upon a time for his Shakespeare) will teach and act with Southern boy Kyser in a production of "Hamlet"!! As I said, this made no sense at all--and it would be akin to teaching a rabbit to be a crooner! Along for the ride are, of course, Kyser's band, Ginny Simms (who was still with the band), May Robson (as Kyser's grandmother) and Lupe Valez (I have no idea whatsoever why she's in the film, actually). The film is pretty much what you'd expect--lots of corny humor, singing and a lot of energy. As for Barrymore, he's a sad shell of his old self and over-acts horribly. And, when he makes remarks about drinking, his failed career, tax troubles or exploits off the screen, it's all rather pathetic--as this WAS his life for real in 1941. The film will probably bore most, though those curious to see Barrymore's last performance (like me) or lovers of Kyser (yecch) will probably enjoy it a bit more. Still, the film is so broadly written and goofy, it can't be mistaken for a great film--just a grotesque oddity.

Swing and Shakespeare; Kyser and Barrymore don't mix.

[Silents Fan · 6/10 · 30 June 2000]

I would have had a much more positive view of this movie if I didn't know and admire John Barrymore.

On the surface of it, this is as good as any of the rest of Kay Kyser's ouevre. If you like him (he is, admittedly, an acquired taste), you will probably like this movie. Lupe Velez and Patsy Kelly add their talents to the usual mix of corn and Swing supplied by Kay, Harry Babbitt, and Ish Kabibble (the true inventor of the Beatle haircut).

What keeps me from truly enjoying this film is the presence of the great John Barrymore in a role more suited to Edgar Kennedy. In his last screen appearance, Barrymore grimaces and cavorts like a Stooge and is obviously reading his lines from cards because he can't remember them anymore. Whether or not the tears in his eyes and on his cheeks are real as he mumbles through Hamlet's soliloquy one last time, mine were real enough.

If you don't reverence Barrymore, and you are a student of the Kollege of Musical Knowledge, this will be your cup of tea. If either of the above isn't true, give it a miss.

"Uncle Sam wants men like Barrymore."

[utgard14 · 4/10 · 7 November 2022]

Lackluster comedy pairing acquired taste bandleader Kay Kyser with on-his-last-legs legend John Barrymore. This is Barrymore's final film and, as such, is pretty sad. He's not well-looking although he puts forth an energetic effort to rise above this weak material. Also starring in this is Lupe Velez. Not a fan but many are. If you are one of those, I'm sure you'll enjoy her here. The absolute worst part of this film is the queen of headache-inducing comedy of the "SHOUTING YOUR LINES AUTOMATICALLY MAKES THEM FUNNY" variety, Patsy Kelly. Nails meet chalkboard. Take your Tylenol for this one, gang.

Enjoyed it!

[debo-mills · 7/10 · 16 July 2012]

I have to agree with akroyal's review above, and say that I really enjoyed this movie and laughed out loud many times! Although I did know that Barrymore was a great and respected actor when I watched the movie, I wasn't all that familiar with his life story, so his scenes didn't have a pathos or pain for me. I didn't feel pity for him: I believe he was having fun with a silly, over-the-top role, and was giving it his all.

I'm not a fan of Kay Kyser, and find him rather silly, but he was okay in this movie. Can't say the same for the members of his band, though, whose dopey dialogue and antics got tiresome fast.

I am a big fan of Patsy Kelly, and she gets lots to do here, which adds to the merriment.

All in all, a really fun comedy!

John Barrymore's last

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 11 December 2023]

John Barrymore and Kay Kyser get smashed together when their publicists come up with a crazy stunt. They spread the story that John Barrymore is teaching Kay Kyser Shakespearian acting. For the sake of a sponsor, they actually have to do it for real.

The comedy is very broad. Lulu is loud. Her comedy is deliberately bad. Only it's not so bad that it becomes good again. People talk a lot loudly and some of them are fast. Sometimes speed can generate comedy all by itself. This is not the case here. I get the idea that Kay Kyser is playing up the idea of his bad acting. The meta quality has potential, but the truth of that premise counters any good effects. This is to be John Barrymore's final movie. He looks a little gaunt but otherwise, his performance does not indicate his disease. Some people would scoff at his involvement with this B-movie. Sadly, he is unable to prove them wrong.

An inglorious end

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 21 January 2015]

John Barrymore's career came to an ingloroious end when he was top billed by Kay Kyser and was acting basically as a stooge for Kyser and the rest of the cast of Playmates. Most especially Patsy Kelly who plays agent to an actor named John Barrymore.

Peter Lind Hayes is Kyser's agent and the two of them cook up a plot to help the both of them. For his radio show with studio audience Kyser is to be taught Shakespeare by one of the Bard's most noted exponents.

Kay Kyser was a very big name on radio and in record sales for the whole decade of the Forties. Occasionally he did a film like Playmates and he never played anything more than Kay Kyser which is what the movie-going public wanted from him.

The music is fine, it's always nice to hear Harry Babbitt and Ginny Simms sing. Poor Barrymore though. This was what he was reduced to at the end. At the same time he was doing this in his final career engagement he was also being a stooge for Rudy Vallee on his radio show The Fleischman hour.

There's another Hollywood tragedy here as well. Lupe Velez plays a female bullfighter not too much different from her Mexican Spitfire character. In two years she would be dead by suicide. Lupe was a major star at the beginning of sound, but she liked to party hearty and she ended in B films.

Playmates is good for fans of Kay Kyser, but poignantly sad for those who like John Barrymore and Lupe Velez.

Silly Fun

[gmboothe · 8/10 · 21 January 2015]

I read the reviews on IMDb before watching this movie, as I often do. I may be in the minority here, but it seemed to me like John Barrymore was having a ball in this movie, hamming it up outrageously and poking fun at his public image. I can understand how some think it is sad or demeaning, but it doesn't seem that way to me. Lupe Velez was typecast, as she often was, but still very funny. Patsy Kelly seemed to play the same character in every movie, better in some than others, probably mostly due to the writing. I thought she was good in this and quite funny. Overall, this movie has lots of silliness, some good laughs, and enjoyable music. To those who need more than that, you probably shouldn't be spend your time watching Kay Kyser movies.

What are you reading? Shakespeare. Who wrote it?

[michaelchager · 7/10 · 17 December 2023]

Barrymore channels his inner Edgar Kennedy. But he stops to do some of a Hamlet soliloquy as good as it gets and then plays straight man to Ish Kabibble. There's a dream sequence where his likeness appears as a bull that attacks Kay the bullfighter. This is revealing because here he plays a villain meaner than his brother's villain Mr. Potter. But not meaner than Lupe Velez who is primed by his making a play for Ginny Simms. Pretty much everything you could ask for in a Kyser movie is here. There is a battle of swing versus opera where swing wins. Patsy Kelly holds this chaos together. May Robson, Lupe Velez, Peter Lind Hayes and the various band singers add up to a lot of talent requiring a lot of scenes making this go a bit long. Kyser is at the dramatic center as someone who can't act. He plays himself as does Barrymore, both doing self-parody. The Kyser band are not too bad as actors and can swing. There are out loud laughs here from a radio comedy vibe. This hip variety entertainment from the swing era helped defeat the Depression and would go on to boost troop and stateside morale.

Somewhat Sad Comedy

[Michael_Elliott · 26 December 2009]

Playmates (1941)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

John Barrymore plays himself in this his final movie, which sees the great actor go out on a rather bad note. In the film Barrymore is pretty much playing his real life problem as he can't get any good press so his agent (Patsy Kelly) comes up with a scheme to say he's going to teach bandleader Kay Kyser how to be a Shakespearean actor. As with Barrymore's THE GREAT PROFILE, this so-called comedy has more frowns than anything else as it's rather sad seeing Barrymore having to spoof himself and make fun of his rather serious alcohol problem, which would claim his life the following year. With that in mind, it's sometimes rather hard to laugh at certain jokes that are clearly aimed to spoof him and his drinking. It's also rather obvious that he's quite bloated here and in many scenes he appears to be drunk so this here too will stick in your mind while watching the film. I will add that he isn't a complete wash out like many reviews would have you believe. Yes, he's incredibly over the top but no one does that quite like Barrymore and in his own charming way the performance is rather charming. His first appearance in the film will certainly put a smile on your face and you can't help but feel, at times, that he's really giving it all and giving a complete work out of a performance. We also get to see him act out Hamlet and give the famous "To be or not to be..." line. That alone is worth sitting through this otherwise forgettable film. The biggest problem is the actual screenplay that has one joke and it's not a very funny one. Barrymore teaching Kyser to do Shakespeare. That whole joke isn't funny and that means the film itself isn't going to be funny. We do have some mildly amusing moments but the pacing is incredibly bad and the 94-minute running time drags by rather painfully. Kyser gets a couple good musical numbers and he has his own bit of charm in terms of his performance. Kelly gets a few good lines with Lupe Velez and May Robson giving some support. In the end however, this is a pretty poor film that would sadly be Barrymore's last. Fans of his might want to check it out but others would be better served to see the actor in some of his better roles.

Low Brow Comedy That Does Its Job

[atlasmb · 7/10 · 25 April 2024]

Much has been made of this being the last performance of John Barrymore and the fact that his compromised constitution would lead to his death in 1942. But that does not make this performance compromised, or him a pathetic shell of his former self. In fact, it makes this performance all the more impressive. For comparison, go back to his performance as Mercutio in "Romeo and Juliet" fully five years earlier. Both are comedic roles. And in both cases, he is acting broadly and loudly. Of course "Playmates" is not a vehicle with the status of the Shakespearian classic, but Barrymore totally buys into the low brow humor and gives in to the silliness, like a trooper. Playing alongside Kay Kyser and "Ish Kabibble" is nothing like sharing the stage with Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer, but Barrymore gives it all.

The film is one of those wartime comedies where the studio throws everything and everyone into the mix, striving for maximum entertainment. Kyser and his band are talented. And they display their wide variety of styles. Their star vocalists, Ginny Simms and Peter Lind Hayes, serve up some of the best moments in the film with their mellifluous tones.

The silly story is about Barrymore turning Kyser into a Shakespearian actor, while trying to hold off the fiery Lupe Velez (who plays Carmen del Toro), the woman who wants all his attention and his name. It's a story that jumps from point to point with its focus on cramming more entertainment into each scene. This is no great film, but it was not meant to be; its function is to allow the diverse talents to exist within the running time and deliver some laughs, punctuated with musical moments. It does that.

Some folks here really need to lighten up...

[ben-thayer · 9/10 · 19 September 2018]

Count me in with the group who enjoyed this film thoroughly. As a Kay Kyser vehicle it wasn't meant to be high art, it was a lowbrow comedy and in that it succeeds wonderfully. I laughed continually throughout the picture.

And NO, John Barrymore was not "sad", he was *hilarious* in his portrayal of a self-absorbed ham who would rather be boiled in oil than appear onstage with a bandleader. Unfortunately a rather large and unexpected bill from the IRS leaves him little choice, and a much-needed radio endorsement deal is contingent upon his appearing with Kyser in a Shakespearean production...much to his chagrin. Barrymore's over-the-top, pompous delivery was pure gold, and he played it to the hilt with gusto. He rolled every "R" three times as long, and his use of "me" rather than "my" in all his musings was quite humorous..."I have played 'Hamlet' before Kings and Queens! Had them groveling at me feet in abject worship! And you sacrilegiously affiliate me magic name with a barefoot bumpkin, a bifocal billy goat, from the hills of North Carolina! Where to this day, civilization has not yet penetrated!" Wonderfully delivered...anyone who finds this "sad" obviously doesn't get it.

This film is in the exact same vein as the Eddie Cantor vehicle "Thank Your Lucky Stars", which ragged Cantor mercilessly from start to finish as a celebrity with an ego the size of a bus. Barrymore - like Cantor - shows he was a good sport overall for being the recipient of an endless string of insults that were obviously delivered in good fun. The fact that several reviewers here find it pathetic...well, I couldn't disagree more. From what I saw Barrymore had a lot of fun himself making light of his well known reputation.

Throw in a little spice with Lupe Velez, and the formula is complete.

The music is great, and Ginny Simms is absolutely gorgeous. Ish Kabibble is 100% corn as always, those who are familiar with his routine expect nothing less. And no matter what anyone says about Kay Kyser's "acting" (which was also cut to shreds without mercy in this picture)...when he's in front of an audience doing his thing with the band, his stage presence cannot be touched. His style was completely unique and was extremely popular, with good reason. Kay Kyser was the MAN.

Mr.Barrymore enjoying ham

[chocothefrog · 8/10 · 5 May 2005]

Well, I'll stick my neck out & say that I think the great JB enjoyed himself making this movie & was happy to not be the " star ". I'm ignorant of the genre but seems that Mr. Kyser is the big name here based on his musical skills & radio profile. Ish, what can we say about Ish ... " What is the difference between a duck ?" This guy was a long haired pot smoker 25 years before the rest of the world caught up. No folks here we have The Nanny, with minor twists, in 1941. The major characters are there, check it out. Any plot line that could support a TV series with less that great entertainers, in any field, has no problem sustaining 95 minutes with this cast. This movie is a hoot, enjoy it for the farce that Mr. Barrymore played it as.

Many of you just don't get it...

[yessdanc · 9/10 · 31 May 2004]

All you drama queens out there who whine about 'Poor John Barrymore- look what they've reduced him to, and in his last film!'Well, let me tell you something- 'Poor John' read the friggin' script and no one forced him to take the role. Also, HE didn't know it was his last movie! For those obviously uninformed, this movie was a KAY KYSER vehicle, meant for Kay Kyser and Ish Kabibble fans, designed to sell Kay Kyser records and promote the very very popular Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge radio show. The film was aimed at teenagers, to whom the name BARRYMORE meant little by that time. But Kay Kyser was a huge star. It's an entertaining little pop film, and that's all it was meant to be, so dry your widdle tears!

Lupe stole every scene

[Junie_14 · 10/10 · 26 July 2005]

I know this was a Kay Kyser movie but I have to admit, Lupe Velez was the only reason I watched this movie. She was great as the Spanish bullfighter who gets Kay. My favorite scene is where Lupe kicks john Barrymore straight in the can. Lupe was the star of the movie to me. if Lupe wasn't in this picture, I wouldn't have even watched it. When she appeared on the screen, she instantly was a magnet to the camera. She loved the camera and the camera loved her.Patsy Kelly was also good in this movie. She was very comical and very warm in this movie. Kay Kyser was excellent in this movie. He played all his numbers great like a professional. He WAS a professional. Kay had a series of movies but this is the first one of the series I have saw but I want to see more of his series. not only can he play good numbers, he is a good comedian and actor.

Great Classic Film

[whpratt1 · 10/10 · 17 December 2004]

This film was produced during WW II, and the audiences of America needed COMEDY to up lift them from the Horrors of WAR! Kay Kyser,"Swinger Fever",'43, who play himself in this film, was very well liked and was also listened to on the RADIO. M.A. Bogue,(Ish Kabibble), as Ish Kabibble, who played trombone in the Kyser Band and also was a comic who wore bangs, was greatly admired. John Barrymore, played himself,"The Invisible Woman",'66, held this picture together and drew people to the movie houses. Barrymore was able to perform any role on the stage and gave a great performance in this film. However, Barrymore was beginning to have great health problems because of his great Chemical dependency. It is very easy to call this film SLAP STICK, but lets remember, it was 1941 and 63 years OLD!