Starring Warner Baxter, Madge Evans, James Dunn, and Shirley Temple
Directed by Hamilton MacFadden
Music and Lyrics by various
Shirley Temple had mainly appeared in shorts and in bit parts in larger movies before she joined the cast of this all-star blue-chaser. The Depression was starting to look a little more bearable, thanks to Franklin Roosevelt's "New Deal" and other programs created to help those who were struggling. Musicals, too, made a comeback as backstage stories now were about more than putting on a show. They were first and foremost a way to lift spirits during the darkest times. This started life as Fox's attempt to revive its Fox Follies from 1929. By 1934, it had evolved into something more than mere "follies." How does this attempt at mixing politics and putting on a show look today? Let's star with the president deciding the US needs a "Department of Amusement" and find out...
The Story: The President appoints producer Lawrence Cromwell (Baxter) as the Secretary of Amusement. He puts lovely Mary Adams (Evans) in charge of the children's division, then tries to find what would most lift people's spirits. Many people are out of work or are scrambling for work, including janitor George Bernard Shaw (Stepin Fetchit) and vaudevillian Jimmy Dugan (Dunn) and his beloved daughter Shirley (Temple). There's also a cabinet of financiers and bankers who are profiting off the recent malaise and would prefer people's spirits not be lifted. It's Mary who encourages him when the backers start breathing down his neck and insists he doesn't let the Depression - or anything else - get him down.
The Song and Dance: And with a story that flimsy, song and dance are the operative words here. Temple made her debut for most film goers here, and even in her few brief scenes, you can see the charm and talent that made audiences (and Fox) adore her. She has a nice speech with Evans when she asks her about her father, and in addition to her big "Baby Take a Bow" number, she can be seen leading the women drummers in the finale. It's also one of the few musicals of the time to tackle the Depression almost literally head-on and even make it part of the plot.
Favorite Number: "I'm Laughing" gives us a montage of working people, from worker Dick Foran to blackface singer "Aunt Jemima" (Tess Gardella), cops in the rain and overworked women in factories, all trying to be cheerful despite their difficult situations. James Dunn sings with the chorus girls on the more traditional "Baby Take a Bow"...at least until Temple comes out in her iconic polka-dot dress. Her tap is professional-level for a six year old, and she basically steals the show.
"Broadway's Gone Hillbilly" is a truly bizarre routine that has the chorus girls in farm overalls and straw hats as giant farmer's daughters climbing around in a New York skyline. Tenor John Boles, joined by Syliva Froos, perform the ballad "This Is Our Last Night Together" as a ship's captain on his way to sea. Mary watches them, and can't help wishing her relationship would be that romantic. Every group we've seen (including Dunn and Temple) come together to celebrate the end of the Depression as they declare that "We're Out of the Red" and back on their way to prosperity.
Trivia: Will Rogers partly wrote the film and was going to star in it, but dropped out.
Temple's number was the one she'd done at her audition for Fox. The studio thought it would be easier for her if she did something she knew, instead of a new one, so she taught it to Dunn.
What I Don't Like: The plot is ridiculous bordering on annoyingly naive. While the Depression was a bit better than it had been even a year or two before, it would continue in the US in one form or another through the late 30's. On one hand, while I appreciate them including African-Americans among the workers, their depictions are stereotypical at best...and having Fetchit, who was notorious for playing stereotyped lazy characters, and blackface actress Gardella in the cast doesn't help at all. In fact, it used to be worse. Apparently, a good 10 minutes of the movie, including a number for Fetchit and hillbilly John "Skins" Miller, was cut sometime in the 1980's. Some sequences have been restored (I saw Fetchit watching a penguin gobbling up prize fish on my copy), but not all of them.
The Big Finale: Only for the most ardent Temple fans.
Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.
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