Starring Dick Powell, Ann Dvorak, Fred Allen, and Patsy Kelly
Directed by Roy Del Ruth
Music by Arthur Johnston, Lyrics by Gus Kahn
While you wait for the election results to finish coming in, here's a really fun political fable to check out. With the super-charged political landscape of the 1930's, they did occasionally slip into musicals of the time. The very political Of Thee I Sing was such a hit, it won the Pulitzer. After that, politics became a slightly more common subject in musicals...but almost always played for comedy, as it is here. With Fox trying to find it's own musical footing in 1935, it borrowed a lot of Warners people, including Powell and Dvorak, for this tale of a crooner who finds himself tossing his hat into the ring and discover that corruption is nothing new. How does this look now, when show business people are a lot more common in politics? Let's start with a traveling show on a rainy night and find out...
The Story: Eric Land (Powell) and his girlfriend Sally Mason (Dvorak) are members of a musical troupe who are stranded in a small town on a rainy night. After their manager Ned Allen (Allen) sees local political candidate Judge Culliman (Raymond Walburn) struggling to retain an audience with his deadly boring speech. He suggests hiring his group to punch up his rallies. It works too well. The audience is more interested in the show and Eric's singing than Culliman's blathering about how long he's been in office. Eric is fired...until Culliman gets drunk and Eric has to go on for him.
Eric is such a hit with the audience, Culliman's bosses ask him to take his place as their candidate. He does it to get the exposure for his singing career on radio and the stage, but his being constantly busy puts a strain on his relationship with Sally. She's not happy about him trying to butter up the wife of one of his handlers (Margaret Irving), either. He finally realizes just how deep he is into the ring when the members of his party try to make him appoint them to offices that would lead to easy graft and Sally thinks he's more interested in Mrs. Kruger and walks out. He finally uses his radio popularity to tell the public what those men are really doing, and get Sally back too.
The Song and Dance: This is almost kind of dark for the era. It's played for comedy, but Eric's punishing schedule is no joke. It's also surprisingly musical for the era. There are songs played at the rally and on the radio, yes, but there are also numbers that move the plot or characterization along. Powell is so charmingly unpretentious that you can understand why the public embraced him so quickly. Dvorak was normally a dramatic actress, and it gives her a bit of an edge most love interests in 30's musicals lack. Allen gets to take his radio wiseguy host schitck to film and has a lot of fun with Patsy Kelly as Sally's dance partner.
The Numbers: We open with the Yacht Club Boys performing the title number in the tour bus as almost everyone else but Eric is passed out or doing something else. We even get a violin instrumental version. Allen leads the Calliman and the politicians in a rousing "Happy Days are Here Again" (which had been used by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his successful campaign in 1932). Kelly and Dvorak do a tap routine to a brief instrumental number. Eric's first big solo is the upbeat "I've Got a Pocketful of Sunshine."
The politicians sing about their "Square Deal Party" backstage after the rally. Kelly and Dvorak sing about their "Sugar Plum" in sailor outfits while Culliman gets drunk at the next rally. The Yacht Club Boys join Eric for "Sittin' On the Hilltop" during his own campaign rally on the radio. The King's Men introduce Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra and pianist Ramona's bluesy number about "The Belle of New Orleans." Eric reprises "Thanks a Million" with Whiteman's Orchestra at the rally where he exposes his party. Everyone reprises "Square Deal Party" in the finale with the local cops accompanying them.
What I Don't Like: If you're expecting a typical Busby Berkeley backstage romp with huge numbers and tons and tons of pretty girls, this isn't your show. The Whiteman numbers are as big as it gets. Other than "Pocketful of Sunshine," the music isn't all that memorable, either. Allen generally tended to come off better on TV and radio than on the big screen, where he can seem a bit abrasive. The very idea of a singer joining the political ring may have seemed novel in 1935...but nowadays, with an actor having even been president of the US, it now may be a bit too on the nose for some audiences.
The Big Finale: Fans of Powell, Allen, or small-scale 30's musicals will find much to enjoy in this unique mix of backstage and political shenanigans.
Home Media: Alas, this can only be found at press time on YouTube.
