Starring Jack Haley, Alice Faye, Ben Bernie, and Walter Winchell
Directed by Sidney Lanfield
Music by Harry Revel; Lyrics by Mack Gordon
We celebrate journalists, gossip columnists, and those who work on the radio to keep us entertained and informed this week as we head into Labor Day. Comic rivalries, real and fictional, abounded on radio in the 30's and 40's as people listened in to hear just how long two opposites could keep tossing quips at one another. In real life, orchestra leader Ben Bernie and gossip hound Walter Winchell were close friends, but they started up a fictional feud on the radio. Not only did it net them both more attention, but it got to be so huge, it outgrew the airwaves. Fox finally made this movie based on their ongoing feud not only to bolster them, but as a showcase for their newest singing star, Alice Faye. How does this farce about a nervous young singer who gets more help overcoming mic fright than he bargained for look nowadays? We open at the nightclub belonging to Ben Bernie (himself) and a barrage of mildly insulting quotes from his buddy Winchell (himself) on a poster outside, then move inside to find out...
The Story: Eddie Kane (Haley) and his partner Jean Roberts (Grace Bradley) arrive in New York to audition for the radio. Unfortunately, Eddie's rejected when he develops severe fear of the microphone. Jean forms her own act, and Eddie gets a job as an usher at the station. He befriends Alice Huntley (Faye), the host of the self-help show Wake Up and Live, in order to conquer his fear of the mics.
One day while alone in a studio, he sings into what he thinks is a dead mic. Turns out this microphone is very much live...and Eddie's golden voice ends up going out over the airwaves. He's a sensation as everyone wants to know who this "Phantom Troubadour" is, especially Bernie and Winchell! Alice figures it out and tells the radio station she'll set up broadcasts of his voice for a bigger salary. Trouble is, first, Eddie and Alice fall for each other, then a lot of people who are a lot less pleasant than even dogged Winchell and Bernie get involved with trying to find this unknown singer, including Jean and her manager Gus Avery (Walter Catlett) and Eddie's sister and Winchell's secretary Patsy (Patsy Kelly) and Winchell's dour assistant Steve (Ned Sparks).
The Song and Dance: This is a lot more fun than you might think from the goofy premise. Haley's adorable as the sweet singer whose golden voice causes all the trouble, and Faye plays off him nicely as the motivational speaker whose kind encouragement hides a will of steel. Bernie and Winchell do get a few good quips in, naturally at each other's expense, and Patsy Kelly has nearly as much fun trying to help them figure out what's going on here. Revel and Gordon's music is lovely; "There's a Lull In My Life" became a jazz standard.
The Numbers: We open at Bernie's club with an instrumental number featuring some nifty fast tap dancing from the Condos Brothers. We hear "Oh, But I'm Happy" the first time when Jean and Eddie attempt their audition and Eddie suffers from his attack of mic fright. Jean ends up singing "I'm Bubbling Over" with two other young ladies on her own at a nightclub. Alice performs the title song for the first time as theme song of her radio show. Ben Bernie and his male singers give us a commercial jingle for "Red Seal Malt" before the Condos Brothers return with another fast tap routine, this time sitting down.
The song that Eddie inadvertently performs for the entire listening audience is the ballad "Never In a Million Years." Bernie trots out a masked singer to reprise "Never In a Million Years" on his show, but Winchell figures out it isn't the real deal almost immediately. Eddie sings "It's Swell of You" for Alice...which is when she realizes he's the Phantom Troubadour. Eddie reprises the title song with her as it goes out over Bernie's show. Eddie sings "Camptown Races" with the audience as Eddie brings the man next to him up to Winchell...who turns out to hardly be a singer.
Joan Davis does a hilarious Spanish spoof number "I Love You Much Too Much Muchacha" at Bernie's club with the chorus, and then basically flings a partner around with a filmy scarf. Alice gets to introduce the big hit from this one in an attempt to get Eddie back, the gorgeous ballad "There's a Lull In My Life." Eddie finally reprises the title song when he manages to get into the club. The movie ends with Eddie and Alice briefly reprising "Never In a Million Years," Jean telling Gus that she's not really "Bubbling Over," and Patsy trying to charge Steve's batteries with "There's a Lull In My Life," and Bernie and Winchell finally singing "It's Swell of You."
Trivia: Haley was dubbed by crooner Bobby Clark.
There was a semi-sequel also featuring Bernie and Winchell later in the year, Love and Hisses.
What I Don't Like: First of all, why was Haley dubbed? He was a genuinely good singer. Second, as you may have noticed, the story is pretty silly, and not the strongest in the universe. It's also very topical. If you don't know who Bernie and Winchell were or know anything about their radio feud or old time radio in general, you might not get as much out of this.
The Big Finale: For all of Winchell and Bernie's sniping at each other, this ended up being surprisingly adorable. Highly recommended for fans of Faye, Haley, old-time radio, or the big Fox musicals of the 30's and 40's.
Home Media: Alas, the only place you can currently find this one is on YouTube.
