''Big Boy'' is a 1930 American

Pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

musical

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

produced by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

The film was directed by

Alan Crosland Alan Crosland (August 10, 1894 – July 16, 1936) was an American stage actor and film director. He is noted for having directed the first feature film using spoken dialogue, ''The Jazz Singer'' (1927). Early life and career Born in New York Ci ...

and stars

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jews, Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-bi ...

Claudia Dell Claudia Dell (born Claudia Dell Smith; January 10, 1910 – September 5, 1977) was an American showgirl and actress of the stage and movies. Early years Dell was born in San Antonio, Texas on January 10, 1910. She attended school in San ...

Louise Closser Hale Louise Closser Hale (October 13, 1872 – July 26, 1933) was an American actress, playwright, and novelist. Early life Louise Closser was born in Chicago, Illinois, on October 13, 1872. Her father was Joseph Closser, a grain dealer, and her ...

, and

Noah Beery Noah Nicholas Beery (January 17, 1882 – April 1, 1946) was an American actor who appeared in films from 1913 until his death in 1946. He was the older brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery as well as the father of prominen ...

. The film is based on the 1925 Broadway hit show of the same name in which Jolson also starred.

Synopsis

Gus (Al Jolson) is a loyal

stable boy A groom or stable boy (stable hand, stable lad) is a person who is responsible for some or all aspects of the management of horses and/or the care of the stables themselves. The term most often refers to a person who is the employee of a stable ...

and

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

for a rich family in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

that has been interested in

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

and breeding horses for generations. (In a flashback to 1870, we see Gus's grandfather working for the same family.) The young heir of the family, Jack, loses a lot of money by gambling and is blackmailed by his creditors for forging a check. They persuade Jack to ask his mother to replace Gus with another jockey for the family's racehorse, Big Boy, but she refuses. They frame Gus for tampering with the horse and he is discharged, replaced by a jockey who has been bought off to lose on purpose. Gus finds work as a waiter in a fancy restaurant, where he uncovers the details about the race throwing plot. With Jack's help, he outsmarts the crooks just in time to ride Big Boy to victory.

Cast

as Gus *

as Annabel *

as Mother * Lloyd Hughes as Jack * Eddie Phillips as Coley Reed *

as Bagby

Songs

*"Little Sunshine" *"Tomorrow Is Another Day" *"Liza Lee" *"Hooray for Baby and Me"

Box office

According to Warner Bros records the film earned $437,000 domestically and $61,000 foreign.

Preservation

Because of the public apathy to musicals at the time of its release, some of the musical sequences were cut from the picture before release and it was advertised strictly as a comedy picture. This domestic release print survives complete and has been released by

Warner Archive The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

on DVD. The film may have been released in a longer version outside the United States where there was never any backlash against musicals. It is unknown whether a copy of this full musical version still exists.''Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress'' p.16 c.1978 by The American Film Institute

References

* Richard Barrios, ''A Song in the Dark'' (

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1995)

External links

* 1893-1993 * * * {{Alan Crosland 1930 films American musical comedy films American black-and-white films Films based on musicals Films directed by Alan Crosland American horse racing films Warner Bros. films Kentucky Derby 1930 musical comedy films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films