''Broadway Gondolier '' (

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

) is a musical film directed by

Lloyd Bacon Lloyd Francis Bacon (December 4, 1889 – November 15, 1955) was an American screen, stage and vaudeville actor and film director. As a director he made films in virtually all genres, including westerns, musicals, comedies, gangster films, an ...

. The film was released 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 ...

, and featured

Dick Powell Richard Ewing Powell (November 14, 1904 – January 2, 1963) was an American actor, musician, producer, director, and studio head. Though he came to stardom as a musical comedy performer, he showed versatility, and successfully transformed into ...

Joan Blondell Joan Blondell (born Rose Joan Bluestein; August 30, 1906 – December 25, 1979) was an American actress who performed in film and television for 50 years. Blondell began her career in vaudeville. After winning a beauty pageant, she embarked on ...

and

Adolphe Menjou Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies. He appeared in such films as Charlie Chaplin's ''A Woman of Paris'', where he played the lead role; Stanley Ku ...

Plot

Richard "Dick" Purcell (

), a taxi driver, aspires to achieve his dream of becoming a singer. After a couple of theatre critics discover him while riding in his cab, one of them recommends him to a radio producer ( Grant Mitchell). The producer's secretary, Alice Hughes (

), hears him sing and falls in love with him. She sets up an audition for Dick to sing for the sponsor, Mrs. Flaggenheim (

Louise Fazenda Louise Fazenda (June 17, 1895 – April 17, 1962) was an American film actress, appearing chiefly in silent comedy films. Early life Fazenda was born in her maternal grandparents' house in Lafayette, Indiana, the daughter of merchandise broke ...

). He's late for his audition and blows his big chance. Convinced she must go to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

to find a good enough singer, with enough "romance" to represent her fine cheese products, Mrs. Flaggenheim takes Alice with her to find one in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

. Dick watches as Alice boards the ship and manages to get on board and work for his passage to Italy. When in Venice, he looks up his friend and mentor from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, professor de Vinci (

), who had gone ahead to use his old connections to help Dick's singing career. They manage to score a couple of jobs as

gondolier The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull ...

s for an upcoming event. Dick uses the opportunity to showcase his voice. Mrs. Flaggenheim hears him and wants to sign him to a contract immediately, thinking he's an authentic Italian named "Ricardo Purcelli". Alice recognizes him, but they continue to hide his true identity and they all go back to New York. However, his fellow taxi drivers recognize him as soon as he gets off the boat. Richards is appalled the moment he lays eyes on him, but Alice convinces him that “Ricardo”’ will get away with it. He instantly becomes a radio sensation. Alice's jilted boyfriend figures out that Ricardo Purcelli is actually just Dick and gives him an ultimatum. Dick must decide if he wants to continue masquerading as Ricardo and finally attain the fame and fortune he'd always dreamed of....or give it all up for Alice, the one he loves. Dick keeps singing, because Alice wants him to. Too many people depend on him. One of the cabbies gives the story to the newspapers and rumors spread. Alice lies to Dick, letting him think that she would not marry him if he gave up the pretense. Sick of being a phony, Dick reveals the truth on the air and walks out. The papers are full of the news. Thousands of fans write to say they love Dick's voice and don't care about the rest. Everyone is looking for him, especially Alice, who wants to tell him that she'll live with him anywhere. De Vinci literally runs into Dick in the street when their cabs collide and rushes him to the studio in time for the broadcast of the Flaggenheim Cheese Hour with the Broadway Gondolier. Alice hears the broadcast and rushes to the studio and into his arms.

Cast

as Richard 'Dick' Purcell, aka Ricardo Purcelli *

as Alice Hughes *

as Professor Eduardo de Vinci *

as Mrs. Flaggenheim *

William Gargan William Dennis Gargan (July 17, 1905February 17, 1979) was an American film, television and radio actor. He was the 5th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1967, and in 1941, was nominated for the Academy Award for B ...

as Cliff Stanley * George Barbier as Music Critic Hayward * Grant Mitchell as E. V. Richards, Radio Producer *

The Mills Brothers The Mills Brothers, sometimes billed the Four Mills Brothers, and originally known as the Four Kings of Harmony, were an American jazz and traditional pop vocal quartet who made more than 2,000 recordings that sold more than 50 million copies an ...

as themselves *

George Chandler George Chandler (June 30, 1898 – June 10, 1985) was an American actor who starred in over 140 feature films, usually in smaller supporting roles, and he is perhaps best known for playing the character of Uncle Petrie Martin on the televi ...

as Photographer

Box office

According to Warner Bros records the film earned $795,000 domestically and $324,000 foreign.

References

External links

* * * * {{AFI film, id=5230, title=Broadway Gondolier 1935 films 1935 musical films Films directed by Lloyd Bacon American black-and-white films Warner Bros. films Films produced by Samuel Bischoff American musical films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films