''Broadway to Hollywood'' is a 1933 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 film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...
directed by
Willard Mack
Willard Mack (September 18, 1873 – November 18, 1934) was a Canadian-American actor, director, and playwright.
Life and career
He was born Charles Willard McLaughlin in Morrisburg, Ontario. At an early age his family moved to Brooklyn, New ...
, produced by
Harry Rapf
Harry Rapf (16 October 1880, in New York City – 6 February 1949, in Los Angeles), was an American film producer.
Biography
Born to a Jewish family, Rapf began his career in 1917, and during a 20-year career became a well-known producer of ...
,
cinematography
Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography.
Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...
by
Norbert Brodine
Nobert Brodine (December 16, 1896 – February 28, 1970), also credited as Norbert F. Brodin and Norbert Brodin, was a film cinematographer. The Saint Joseph, Missouri-born cameraman worked on over 100 films in his career before retiring from fi ...
and released by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
. The film features many of MGM's stars of the time, including
Frank Morgan
Francis Phillip Wuppermann (June 1, 1890 – September 18, 1949), known professionally as Frank Morgan, was an American character actor. He was best known for his appearances in films starting in the silent era in 1916, and then numerous soun ...
,
Alice Brady
Alice Brady (born Mary Rose Brady; November 2, 1892 – October 28, 1939) was an American actress who began her career in the silent film era and survived the transition into talkies. She worked until six months before her death from cancer in ...
,
May Robson
Mary Jeanette Robison (19 April 1858 – 20 October 1942), known professionally as May Robson, was an Australian-born American-based actress whose career spanned 58 years, starting in 1883 when she was 25. A major stage actress of the late 19t ...
,
Madge Evans
Madge Evans (born Margherita Evans; July 1, 1909 – April 26, 1981) was an American stage and film actress.Obituary ''Variety'', April 29, 1981. She began her career as a child performer and model.
Biography
Child model and stage actress
B ...
,
Jimmy Durante
James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced song ...
,
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...
, and
Jackie Cooper
John Cooper Jr. (September 15, 1922 – May 3, 2011) was an American actor, television director, producer, and executive, known universally as Jackie Cooper. He was a child actor who made the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first ...
. Brothers
Moe Howard
Moses Harry Horwitz (June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975), known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He is best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television ...
and
Curly Howard
Jerome Lester Horwitz (; October 22, 1903 – January 18, 1952), known professionally as Curly Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He was best known as a member of the American comedy team the Three Stooges, which also featured his elder ...
of
The Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...
appear—without
Ted Healy
Ted Healy (born Charles Ernest Lee Nash; October 1, 1896 – December 21, 1937) was an American vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor. Though he is chiefly remembered as the creator of The Three Stooges and the style of slapstick comedy th ...
and without
Larry Fine
Louis Feinberg (October 5, 1902 – January 24, 1975), known professionally as Larry Fine, was an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is best known as a member of the comedy act the Three Stooges.
Early life
Fine was born to a Russian Je ...
—almost unrecognizably, as Otto and Fritz, two clowns in makeup. It was the first film to feature
Nelson Eddy
Nelson Ackerman Eddy (June 29, 1901 – March 6, 1967) was an American actor and baritone singer who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclub ...
.
Plot
Ted and Lulu Hackett are vaudeville's The Hacketts, a fairly successful song-and-dance team. They bring their son Ted Jr. up in the business and he soon eclipses them. When the son is offered a starring role on Broadway, he arranges for his parents to join him in the show, but Ted Sr. is embarrassed to learn that he and Lulu are there purely in order to keep their son happy. They return to vaudeville, only to find that their duet act has gone stale with time. Meanwhile, Ted Jr. has married and had a son, but he has also fallen victim to drink. Tragedy strikes the Hackett family, and only the march of time will tell whether Ted III will repeat the failings of his father and grandfather.
Cast
*
Alice Brady
Alice Brady (born Mary Rose Brady; November 2, 1892 – October 28, 1939) was an American actress who began her career in the silent film era and survived the transition into talkies. She worked until six months before her death from cancer in ...
as Lulu Hackett
*
Frank Morgan
Francis Phillip Wuppermann (June 1, 1890 – September 18, 1949), known professionally as Frank Morgan, was an American character actor. He was best known for his appearances in films starting in the silent era in 1916, and then numerous soun ...
as Ted Hackett
*
Jackie Cooper
John Cooper Jr. (September 15, 1922 – May 3, 2011) was an American actor, television director, producer, and executive, known universally as Jackie Cooper. He was a child actor who made the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first ...
as Ted Hackett Jr. as a Child
*
Russell Hardie
William Russell Hardie (May 20, 1904 – July 21, 1973) was an American film actor.
He appeared in ''The Costello Case'', '' Broadway to Hollywood'', '' Stage Mother'', ''Christopher Bean'', '' As the Earth Turns'', '' Men in White'', ''Opera ...
as Ted Hackett Jr.
*
Madge Evans
Madge Evans (born Margherita Evans; July 1, 1909 – April 26, 1981) was an American stage and film actress.Obituary ''Variety'', April 29, 1981. She began her career as a child performer and model.
Biography
Child model and stage actress
B ...
as Anne Ainsley
*
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...
as Ted Hackett III as a Child
*
Eddie Quillan
Edward Quillan (March 31, 1907 – July 19, 1990) was an American film actor and singer whose career began as a child on the vaudeville stages and silent film and continued through the age of television in the 1980s.
Vaudeville and silent fi ...
as Ted Hackett III
*
Jimmy Durante
James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced song ...
as Jimmy
*
May Robson
Mary Jeanette Robison (19 April 1858 – 20 October 1942), known professionally as May Robson, was an Australian-born American-based actress whose career spanned 58 years, starting in 1883 when she was 25. A major stage actress of the late 19t ...
as Veteran Actress
*
Albertina Rasch Dancers as Themselves
*
Fay Templeton
Fay Templeton (December 25, 1865 – October 3, 1939) was an American actress, singer, songwriter, and comedian.
Her parents were actors/vaudevillians and she followed in their footsteps, making her Broadway debut in 1900. Templeton excelled ...
as Herself
File:Alice Brady in Broadway to Hollywood trailer.jpg, Alice Brady
File:Frank Morgan in Broadway to Hollywood trailer.jpg, Frank Morgan
File:Jackie Cooper in Broadway to Hollywood trailer.jpg, Jackie Cooper
File:Russell Hardie in Broadway to Hollywood trailer.jpg, Russell Hardie
File:Madge Evans in Broadway to Hollywood trailer.jpg, Madge Evans
File:Eddie Quillan in Broadway to Hollywood trailer.jpg, Eddie Quillan
File:Jimmy Durante in Broadway to Hollywood trailer.jpg, Jimmy Durante
File:May Robson in Broadway to Hollywood trailer.jpg, May Robson
File:Fay Templeton in Broadway to Hollywood trailer.jpg, Fay Templeton
Preservation
The film features several sequences taken from the unfinished MGM musical ''
The March of Time
''The March of Time'' is an American newsreel series sponsored by Time Inc. and shown in movie theaters from 1935 to 1951. It was based on a radio news series broadcast from 1931 to 1945. The "voice" of both series was Westbrook Van Voorhis. Pr ...
'' (1930), including some filmed in the early two-color
Technicolor
Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades.
Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...
process.
Fay Templeton
Fay Templeton (December 25, 1865 – October 3, 1939) was an American actress, singer, songwriter, and comedian.
Her parents were actors/vaudevillians and she followed in their footsteps, making her Broadway debut in 1900. Templeton excelled ...
,
DeWolf Hopper Sr., and
Albertina Rasch
Albertina Rasch (January 19, 1891 – October 2, 1967) was a naturalized American dancer, company director, and choreographer.
Early life
Rasch was born in 1891 (although she would later shave five years off her age), in Vienna (in what was th ...
and her dancers are featured in footage taken from ''The March of Time''. However, current prints of ''Broadway to Hollywood'' as shown on
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...
have no color sequences. The film was released on September 15, 1933, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
See also
*
Three Stooges Filmography
This is a complete list of short subjects and feature films that featured The Three Stooges released between 1930 and 1970.
*Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard appeared in a single feature film with Ted Healy released by Fox Film Corporati ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
1933 films
1933 musical films
American black-and-white films
American musical films
Films produced by Harry Rapf
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Films with screenplays by Edgar Allan Woolf
Films directed by Willard Mack
1930s English-language films
1930s American films
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