The Big Broadcast of 1936
Encyclopedia
The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935) is a Paramount Pictures
production, directed by Norman Taurog
, and is the second in the series of Big Broadcast movies. The musical comedy stars Bing Crosby
, George Burns
, Gracie Allen
, Ethel Merman
, The Nicholas Brothers
, Lyda Roberti
, Wendy Barrie
, Mary Boland
, Charles Ruggles
, Akim Tamiroff
, Amos 'n' Andy
(Freeman Gosden
and Charles Correll
), Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
, and even popular Argentine tango singer Carlos Gardel
plus an early appearance by Dorothy Dandridge
(as one of the Dandridge Sisters
). Glenn Miller
appears as part of the Ray Noble Orchestra
. In Glenn Miller and His Orchestra (1974), George Thomas Simon noted that Glenn Miller was paid extra by Ray Noble "for working on The Big Broadcast of 1936, so that Glenn's total weekly pay" was $356. Uncredited roles include Jack Mulhall
. The screenplay was by Walter DeLeon, Francis Martin, Ralph Spence, and Julius J. Epstein, who was uncredited. The movie received an Academy Award nomination for Best Dance Direction
by LeRoy Prinz for "It's the Animal in Me".
It has yet to receive a DVD or VHS issue but is available on Youtube and online.
), who also functions as the station's only announcer while his comic partner Smiley Goodwin (Henry Wadsworth) serves as the house singer, Lochinvar, The Great Lover, "the idol of millions of women." Both Spud and Smiley play the role of Lochinvar. Facing the prospect of bankruptcy, Spud welcomes the suggestions of George Burns and Gracie Allen, who attempt to sell an invention, The Radio Eye, invented by Gracie Allen's uncle, a television device which can pick up and transmit any signal, any time, anywhere. Burns and Allen ask Miller for an advance of $5,000 for the invention. Spud decides to enter an international broadcast competition with a prize of $250,000.
George and Gracie's invention preserves on cathode legendary performers such as Bing Crosby, who sings "I Wished on the Moon", a no. 2 hit on the Billboard chart in 1935, Ethel Merman, Amos 'N' Andy
(Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll in blackface), Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Mary Boland, Charles Ruggles
, the Vienna Boys Choir, bandleaders Ray Noble and Ina Ray Hutton
, Glenn Miller as part of the Ray Noble orchestra, and a vaudeville act, Willie, West and McGinty, who are engaged in both building and demolishing a house. The movie is a precursor for the later Bob Hope and Bing Crosby "Road" pictures, with Spud and Smiley finding themselves on an island ruled by Countess Ysobel de Nargila (Lyda Roberti). Samuel S. Hinds
plays the Captain and Akim Tamiroff
plays Boris.
Ysobel listens to the Lochinvar radio show and believes that he has sent her a letter. She finds out that he sends letters to listeners of the show. Outraged, she goes to the radio station to shoot Lochinvar. Spud and Smiley are able to win her over after her gun fails to shoot. They attempt to convince her to invest $5,000 in The Radio Eye invention which would allow them to win the competition. She takes Spud and Smiley to her Caribbean island, Clementi. She will decide to marry one of them before midnight. Gordoni (C. Henry Gordon
), however, plans to murder them. Spud and Smiley are able to notify George Burns and Gracie Allen in New York and inform them that they are in grave danger. Burns and Allen then depart for the island on a boat. Gracie sets a fire on the boat. A Coast Guard cutter takes them on board and heads for the island. Gordoni has Drowzo put in the drinks to put Ysobel to sleep. Spud and Smiley turn on The Radio Eye to listen to the Vienna Boys Choir and the Ray Noble Orchestra from New York to distract Gordoni and his men. Spud and Smiley are able to escape on coaches with teams of horses. After a chase, during which Spud is separated from his horses in a bifurcation in the road, they reach the pier where the Coast Guard and Burns and Allen meet them. Gordoni jumps into the sea. Spud wins the international broadcast competition. Spud tells Ysobel that he may marry her after a period of observation. She tells him: "Let this be the start of a beautiful friendship."
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
production, directed by Norman Taurog
Norman Taurog
Norman Rae Taurog was an American film director, and screenwriter.Between 1920 and 1968, Taurog directed over 140 films, and directed Elvis Presley in more movies than any other director...
, and is the second in the series of Big Broadcast movies. The musical comedy stars Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, George Burns
George Burns
George Burns , born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, film, radio, television and movies, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became...
, Gracie Allen
Gracie Allen
Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen , known as Gracie Allen, was an American comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns...
, Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her powerful voice and roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm", "Everything's...
, The Nicholas Brothers
Nicholas Brothers
The Nicholas Brothers were a famous African American team of dancing brothers, Fayard and Harold . With their highly acrobatic technique , high level of artistry and daring innovations, they were considered by many the greatest tap dancers of their day...
, Lyda Roberti
Lyda Roberti
-Life and career:Born in Warsaw, Poland, Roberti was the daughter of a clown and as a child performed in the circus as a trapeze artist, and as a vaudeville singer. As the family toured Europe and Asia, Roberti's mother left her husband, settling in Shanghai, China where the younger Roberti earned...
, Wendy Barrie
Wendy Barrie
Wendy Barrie was a British actress who worked in British and American films.-Early life:Marguerite Wendy Jenkins was born in Hong Kong to British parents...
, Mary Boland
Mary Boland
-Career:Born Marie Anne Boland in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she was the daughter of William Boland, an actor, and his wife Mary Cecilia Hatton. She had an older sister named Sara....
, Charles Ruggles
Charles Ruggles
Charles Sherman “Charlie” Ruggles was a comic American actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films. He was also the brother of director, producer, and silent actor Wesley Ruggles .-Background:Charlie Ruggles was born in Los Angeles, California in 1886...
, Akim Tamiroff
Akim Tamiroff
Akim Mikhailovich Tamiroff was an Armenian actor. He won the first Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.Tamiroff was born in Tiflis, Russian Empire , of Armenian ethnicity. He trained at the Moscow Art Theatre drama school. He arrived in the U.S. in 1923 on a tour with a troupe of actors...
, Amos 'n' Andy
Amos 'n' Andy
Amos 'n' Andy is a situation comedy set in the African-American community. It was very popular in the United States from the 1920s through the 1950s on both radio and television....
(Freeman Gosden
Freeman Gosden
Freeman Fisher "Gozzie" Gosden was an American radio comedian, and pioneer in the development of the situation comedy form. He is best known for his work in the Amos 'n' Andy series.-Biography:...
and Charles Correll
Charles Correll
Charles James Correll was an American radio comedian, best known for his work on the Amos 'n' Andy show with Freeman S. Gosden. Correll voiced the central character of Andy Brown, along with various supporting characters. Before teaming up with Gosden, Correll worked as a stenographer and a...
), Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
Bill Robinson
Bill “Bojangles” Robinson was an American tap dancer and actor of stage and film. Audiences enjoyed his understated style, which eschewed the frenetic manner of the jitterbug in favor of cool and reserve; rarely did he use his upper body, relying instead on busy, inventive feet, and an expressive...
, and even popular Argentine tango singer Carlos Gardel
Carlos Gardel
Carlos Gardel was a singer, songwriter and actor, and is perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was born in Toulouse, France, although he never acknowledged his birthplace publicly, and there are still claims of his birth in Uruguay. He lived in Argentina from the age of two...
plus an early appearance by Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Jean Dandridge was an American actress and popular singer, and was the first African-American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress...
(as one of the Dandridge Sisters
Dandridge Sisters
The Dandridge Sisters were a trio containing actress Dorothy Dandridge, Vivian Dandridge and Etta Jones. The Dandridge Sisters disbanded in 1940.- The starting of the Dandridge Sisters :...
). Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
appears as part of the Ray Noble Orchestra
Ray Noble (musician)
Ray Noble was an English bandleader, composer, arranger and actor. Noble studied music at the Royal Academy of Music and became leader of the HMV Records studio band in 1929. The band, known as the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, featured members of many of the top hotel orchestras of the day...
. In Glenn Miller and His Orchestra (1974), George Thomas Simon noted that Glenn Miller was paid extra by Ray Noble "for working on The Big Broadcast of 1936, so that Glenn's total weekly pay" was $356. Uncredited roles include Jack Mulhall
Jack Mulhall
Jack Mulhall, born John Joseph Francis Mulhall, was a film actor since the silent film era and appeared in over 430 films....
. The screenplay was by Walter DeLeon, Francis Martin, Ralph Spence, and Julius J. Epstein, who was uncredited. The movie received an Academy Award nomination for Best Dance Direction
Academy Award for Best Dance Direction
-1930s:*1935: Dave Gould - Broadway Melody of 1936 and Folies Bergere ** Busby Berkeley - Gold Diggers of 1935 and...
by LeRoy Prinz for "It's the Animal in Me".
It has yet to receive a DVD or VHS issue but is available on Youtube and online.
Plot
Paramount's Big Broadcast series began in 1932 and continued in late 1935 with The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935), which was released on September 20, 1935. The movie was filmed at the Kaufman Astoria Studios on 3412 36th Street, Astoria, Queens, in New York City. The plot revolves around radio station W.H.Y. owner Spud Miller (Jack OakieJack Oakie
Jack Oakie was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television.-Early life:...
), who also functions as the station's only announcer while his comic partner Smiley Goodwin (Henry Wadsworth) serves as the house singer, Lochinvar, The Great Lover, "the idol of millions of women." Both Spud and Smiley play the role of Lochinvar. Facing the prospect of bankruptcy, Spud welcomes the suggestions of George Burns and Gracie Allen, who attempt to sell an invention, The Radio Eye, invented by Gracie Allen's uncle, a television device which can pick up and transmit any signal, any time, anywhere. Burns and Allen ask Miller for an advance of $5,000 for the invention. Spud decides to enter an international broadcast competition with a prize of $250,000.
George and Gracie's invention preserves on cathode legendary performers such as Bing Crosby, who sings "I Wished on the Moon", a no. 2 hit on the Billboard chart in 1935, Ethel Merman, Amos 'N' Andy
Amos 'n' Andy
Amos 'n' Andy is a situation comedy set in the African-American community. It was very popular in the United States from the 1920s through the 1950s on both radio and television....
(Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll in blackface), Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Mary Boland, Charles Ruggles
Charles Ruggles
Charles Sherman “Charlie” Ruggles was a comic American actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films. He was also the brother of director, producer, and silent actor Wesley Ruggles .-Background:Charlie Ruggles was born in Los Angeles, California in 1886...
, the Vienna Boys Choir, bandleaders Ray Noble and Ina Ray Hutton
Ina Ray Hutton
Ina Ray Hutton was an American female leader during the Big band era, and sister to June Hutton.Hutton was born as Odessa Cowan in Chicago, Illinois of African American descent. She began dancing and singing in stage revues at the age of eight. Cowan's mother Marvel Ray was a local pianist and...
, Glenn Miller as part of the Ray Noble orchestra, and a vaudeville act, Willie, West and McGinty, who are engaged in both building and demolishing a house. The movie is a precursor for the later Bob Hope and Bing Crosby "Road" pictures, with Spud and Smiley finding themselves on an island ruled by Countess Ysobel de Nargila (Lyda Roberti). Samuel S. Hinds
Samuel S. Hinds
Samuel Southey Hinds was an American actor who is perhaps best remembered for playing Peter Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life and for his part in You Can't Take It With You , both films by Frank Capra...
plays the Captain and Akim Tamiroff
Akim Tamiroff
Akim Mikhailovich Tamiroff was an Armenian actor. He won the first Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.Tamiroff was born in Tiflis, Russian Empire , of Armenian ethnicity. He trained at the Moscow Art Theatre drama school. He arrived in the U.S. in 1923 on a tour with a troupe of actors...
plays Boris.
Ysobel listens to the Lochinvar radio show and believes that he has sent her a letter. She finds out that he sends letters to listeners of the show. Outraged, she goes to the radio station to shoot Lochinvar. Spud and Smiley are able to win her over after her gun fails to shoot. They attempt to convince her to invest $5,000 in The Radio Eye invention which would allow them to win the competition. She takes Spud and Smiley to her Caribbean island, Clementi. She will decide to marry one of them before midnight. Gordoni (C. Henry Gordon
C. Henry Gordon
C. Henry Gordon was an American film actor. He appeared in 79 films between 1930 and 1940. He was a Hollywood villain of the 1930s....
), however, plans to murder them. Spud and Smiley are able to notify George Burns and Gracie Allen in New York and inform them that they are in grave danger. Burns and Allen then depart for the island on a boat. Gracie sets a fire on the boat. A Coast Guard cutter takes them on board and heads for the island. Gordoni has Drowzo put in the drinks to put Ysobel to sleep. Spud and Smiley turn on The Radio Eye to listen to the Vienna Boys Choir and the Ray Noble Orchestra from New York to distract Gordoni and his men. Spud and Smiley are able to escape on coaches with teams of horses. After a chase, during which Spud is separated from his horses in a bifurcation in the road, they reach the pier where the Coast Guard and Burns and Allen meet them. Gordoni jumps into the sea. Spud wins the international broadcast competition. Spud tells Ysobel that he may marry her after a period of observation. She tells him: "Let this be the start of a beautiful friendship."
Soundtrack
- "Double Trouble"
-
- Music by Ralph RaingerRalph RaingerRalph Rainger was an American composer of popular music principally for films.-Biography:Born Ralph Reichenthal in New York City, Rainger embarked on a legal career before escaping to Broadway where he became Clifton Webb's accompanist...
, Richard A. WhitingRichard A. WhitingRichard Armstrong Whiting was a composer of popular songs including the standards, "Hooray for Hollywood", "Ain't We Got Fun?" & "On the Good Ship Lollipop".... - Lyrics by Leo RobinLeo RobinLeo Robin was an American composer, lyricist and songwriter. He is probably best known for collaborating with Ralph Rainger on the 1938 Oscar-winning song "Thanks for the Memory," sung by Bob Hope in the film The Big Broadcast of 1938.-Biography:Robin was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and...
- Performed by Lydia Roberti, Jack Oakie, Henry Wadsworth and chorus
- Music by Ralph Rainger
- "I Wished on the Moon"
-
- Music by Ralph Rainger
- Lyrics by Dorothy ParkerDorothy ParkerDorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles....
- Sung by Bing Crosby
- Violin accompaniment: George Stoll (uncredited)
- "It's the Animal in Me"
-
- Music by Harry RevelHarry RevelHarry Revel was an English composer of musical theatre.Revel was born in London. Before emigrating to the United States in 1929, he wrote musicals for productions in Paris, Copenhagen, Vienna and London....
- Lyrics by Mack GordonMack GordonMack Gordon was an American composer and lyricist of songs for the stage and film. He was nominated for the best original song Oscar nine times, including six consecutive years between 1940 and 1945, and won the award once, for "You'll Never Know"...
- Performed by Ethel Merman
- Music by Harry Revel
- "Why Dream"
-
- Music by Ralph Rainger and Richard A. Whiting
- Lyrics by Leo Robin
- Performed by Henry Wadsworth (dubbed by Kenny Baker)
- "Miss Brown To YouMiss Brown To You"Miss Brown to You" is a song with music by Richard A. Whiting and Ralph Rainger and lyrics by Leo Robin. It was first recorded in 1935 by Billie Holiday accompanied by Teddy Wilson and his orchestra....
"
-
- Music by Ralph Rainger and Richard A. Whiting
- Lyrics by Leo Robin
- Danced by Bill Robinson and The Nicholas BrothersNicholas BrothersThe Nicholas Brothers were a famous African American team of dancing brothers, Fayard and Harold . With their highly acrobatic technique , high level of artistry and daring innovations, they were considered by many the greatest tap dancers of their day...
- "Amargura"
-
- Music by Carlos GardelCarlos GardelCarlos Gardel was a singer, songwriter and actor, and is perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was born in Toulouse, France, although he never acknowledged his birthplace publicly, and there are still claims of his birth in Uruguay. He lived in Argentina from the age of two...
- Lyrics by Alfredo Le PeraAlfredo Le PeraAlfredo Le Pera was an Argentinian journalist, dramatist, and lyricist, best known for his brief but fruitful collaboration with the tango singer Carlos Gardel...
- Performed by Carlos Gardel
- Music by Carlos Gardel
- "Cheating Muchachita"
-
- Music by Carlos Gardel
- Lyrics by Alfredo Le Pera
- Performed by Carlos Gardel
- "Why Stars Come Out at Night"
-
- Words and Music by Ray Noble
- Performed by Ray Noble and His Orchestra, featuring Glenn Miller
- "On the Wings of a Waltz"
-
- Music by Mel Shauer
- Lyrics by Leo Robin
- "A Man, a Maid, a Moon"
-
- Music by Ralph Rainger
- Lyrics by Leo Robin
- "Is Love a Moon-Flower?"
-
- Music by Ralph Rainger
- Lyrics by Leo Robin
- "Through the Doorway of Dreams"
-
- Music by Ralph Rainger and Richard A. Whiting
- Lyrics by Leo Robin
- "Tales from the Vienna Woods"
-
- Music by Johann Strauss, Jr.
- "William Tell OvertureWilliam Tell OvertureThe William Tell Overture is the instrumental introduction to the opera Guillaume Tell by Gioachino Rossini. William Tell premiered in 1829 and was the last of Rossini's 39 operas, after which he went into semi-retirement, although he continued to compose cantatas, sacred music and secular vocal...
"
-
- Music by Gioachino Rossini
- "Light Cavalry OvertureLight Cavalry OvertureThe Light Cavalry Overture is the overture to Franz von Suppé’s operetta Light Cavalry .Although the opera is rarely performed or recorded, the overture is one of Suppé's most popular compositions, and has achieved a quite distinct life of its own, divorced from the opera of which it originally...
"
-
- Music by Franz Von SuppeFranz von SuppéFranz von Suppé or Francesco Suppé Demelli was an Austrian composer of light operas who was born in what is now Croatia during the time his father was working in this outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire...
- Music by Franz Von Suppe
Films in series
- The Big BroadcastThe Big BroadcastThe Big Broadcast is a musical comedy film produced by Paramount Pictures, directed by Frank Tuttle, and starring Bing Crosby, Stuart Erwin, and Leila Hyams, with George Burns and Gracie Allen in supporting roles...
(1932) - The Big Broadcast of 1937The Big Broadcast of 1937The Big Broadcast of 1937 is a 1936 Paramount Pictures production directed by Mitchell Leisen, and is the third in the series of Big Broadcast movies. The musical comedy stars Jack Benny, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Bob Burns, Martha Raye, Shirley Ross, Ray Milland, Benny Fields, Frank Forest and...
(1936) - The Big Broadcast of 1938The Big Broadcast of 1938The Big Broadcast of 1938 is a Paramount Pictures film featuring W.C. Fields and Bob Hope. Directed by Mitchell Leisen, the film is the last in a series of Big Broadcast movies that were variety show anthologies...
(1937)
External links
- Movie review of The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935) in the September 16, 1935 issue of The New York Times by Andre Sennwald: "'The Big Broadcast of 1936,' a Variety Show With Jack Oakie, at the Paramount Theatre": http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C02E6D91E3DE53ABC4E52DFBF66838E629EDE
- Paramount movie poster for the film: http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenman2008/4418980565/