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Revision as of 20:35, 23 July 2014 by Beyond My Ken (talk | contribs) (→top)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) 1937 American film| Hollywood Hotel | |
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 theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Busby Berkeley |
| Screenplay by | Jerry Wald Maurice Leo Richard Macaulay |
| Story by | Jerry Wald Maurice Leo |
| Produced by | Uncredited: Samuel Bischoff Bryan Foy |
| Starring | Dick Powell Rosemary Lane Lola Lane Hugh Herbert Ted Healy Glenda Farrell Johnnie Davis |
| Cinematography | Charles Rosher George Barnes (musical numbers) |
| Edited by | George Amy |
| Music by | Songs: Johnny Mercer Richard A. Whiting Score (uncredited): Ray Heindorf Heinz Roemheld |
| Production company | First National Pictures |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date |
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| Running time | 109 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Hollywood Hotel is a 1937 American romantic musical comedy film, directed by Busby Berkeley, starrring Dick Powell, Rosemary Lane, Lola Lane, Hugh Herbert, Ted Healy, Glenda Farrell and Johnnie Davis, featuring Alan Mowbray and Alan Todd, and with Allyn Joslyn, Grant Mitchell and Edgar Kennedy. The musical program features Louella Parsons, Frances Langford, Raymond Paige and His Orchestra, Jerry Cooper, Ken Niles, Duane Thompson and Benny Goodman and His Orchestra.
The film was based on the popular Hollywood Hotel radio show created by gossip columnist Louella Parsons, and broadcast weekly from the hotel of that name, but is now best remembered for the featured song and opening number "Hooray for Hollywood" by Johnny Mercer and Richard A. Whiting, sung in the film by Davis and Langford, accompanied by Goodman and his orchestra. The song has become a standard part of the soundtrack to movie award ceremonies, including the Academy Awards. Mercer's lyrics contain numerous references, often satirical, to the movie industry and the path to film stardom.
Plot
Saxophone player and singer Ronnie Bowers (Dick Powell), is on his way to Hollywood, having been signed to a ten-week contract by All Star Pictures. At the airport, his former employer, Benny Goodman, and his band give him a big sendoff, performing "Hooray for Hollywood".
In Hollywood, temperamental star Mona Marshall (Lola Lane) becomes furious when she learns that another actress has landed the part she desperately wanted. As a result, she refuses to attend the premiere of her latest movie. Publicist Bernie Walton (Allyn Joslyn) convinces studio boss B. L. Falken (Grant Mitchell) to substitute a double. After looking over a number of women, Bernie chooses Virginia Stanton (Rosemary Lane), who has already worked as a stand-in for Mona. For her escort, Bernie chooses an unsuspecting (and starstruck) Ronnie.
The charade works. Everyone, from Ronnie to Louella Parsons to the radio host at the premiere (Ronald Reagan) is fooled. Things take an unexpected turn when Ronnie and Virginia begin to fall in love, wading in a fountain pond and singing "I'm Like a Fish Out of Water".
The next day, Bernie takes Ronnie to lunch at the restaurant where Virginia is working as a waitress, to break the news of his date's real identity. Ronnie and Virginia begin dating.
When Mona reads in the newspaper that "she" was at the premiere with Ronnie, she forces Falken to release the young man from his contract. Photographer Fuzzy Boyle (Ted Healy) appoints himself Ronnie's agent, and they make the rounds, trying to get his acting career started without success. The two end up employed at a drive-in. When Ronnie sings during work, director Walter Kelton (William Davidson) is impressed and offers him a job. Ronnie is disappointed to learn, however, that he will not be acting (in Mona's next picture). Kelton only wants him to dub the singing for Mona's longtime screen partner, Alex Du Prey (Alan Mowbray).
Du Prey's "singing" impresses the audience at the preview. When Louella Parsons invites Du Prey to perform on her radio program, he accepts without thinking. Desperate, All Star Pictures pays Ronnie an exorbitant fee to sing for the actor. However, Ronnie has his own ideas. Virginia (posing as Mona) picks up Du Prey in a limousine driven by Fuzzy. The pair drive him out into the countryside so he misses the program. Ronnie substitutes for Du Prey and is a hit. Falken decides to resign him, at a much larger salary.
Cast
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Cast notes:
- Louella Parsons, a noted gossip columnist of the time, created the concept of Hollywood Hotel for the radio, and appears in the film as herself. It was her screen debut.
- The Benny Goodman Orchestra at this time included drummer Gene Krupa, Harry James on trumpet, pianist Teddy Wilson and vibraphonist Lionel Hampton.
- Ted Healy is perhaps best known for creating the vaudeville act which later evolved into The Three Stooges. Hollywood Hotel was released in January 1938, less than a month after Healy's untimely death. Healy suffered a heart atack a few hours after attending a preview of the film.
- Lola Lane, who plays Mona Marshall, and Rosemary Lane, who plays Marshall's stand-in were sisters. Another sister, Priscilla Lane, was an even more successful film actress.
- Ronald Reagan makes his second film appearance in Hollywood Hotel, uncredited, as the radio host at a film premiere.
- Both Carole Landis, as a hatcheck girl, and Susan Hayward, as a starlet, appear in the film uncredited. It was Hayward's film debut.
Production
Warner Bros. originally wanted Bette Davis to play both Mona Marshall and her stand-in, but Davis managed to convince them that it was not a good idea.
The studio was sued by both the Campbell Soup Company, who sponsored the Hollywood Hotel radio program, and by the hotel itself, for using the name without authorization. The Hollywood Hotel in its heyday had attracted the royalty of Hollywood, such as Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, but it had fallen in prominence by the time this film was made. Some exteriors of the hotel appear in the films. The hotel no longer exists, in its place is the Dolby Theatre, from where the Academy Awards presentations have originated since 2001.
See also
References
Notes
- ^ "Notes" on TCM.com
- Helfer, Andrew (author); Buccatello, Steve (artist); and Station, Joe (artist). Ronald Reagan: A Graphic Biography. Hill and Wang. p.22.
- ^ Carr, Jay. "Hollywood Hotel (1938)" (article) on TCM.com
External links
- Hollywood Hotel at IMDb
- Hollywood Hotel at the TCM Movie Database