''Everybody Dance'' is a 1936 British
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
Charles Reisner
Charles Francis Reisner (March 14, 1887 – September 24, 1962) was an American film director and actor of the 1920s and 1930s.
The German-American directed over 60 films between 1920 and 1950 and acted in over 20 films between 1916 and 1 ...
and starring
Cicely Courtneidge
Dame Esmerelda Cicely Courtneidge, (1 April 1893 – 26 April 1980) was an Australian-born British actress, comedian and singer. The daughter of the producer and playwright Robert Courtneidge, she was appearing in his productions in the West E ...
,
Ernest Truex
Ernest Truex (September 19, 1889 – June 26, 1973) was an American actor of stage, film, and television.
Career
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Truex learned acting at an early age after his father, a doctor, treated actor Edwin Melvin, who ...
,
Percy Parsons
Edward Percy Parsons (1878–1944) was an American actor and singer who worked largely in the British film industry.
Selected filmography
* ''Suspense (1930 film), Suspense'' (1930)
* ''Beyond the Cities'' (1930)
* ''Creeping Shadows'' (1931)
* ' ...
and
Alma Taylor
Alma Louise Taylor (3 January 1895 – 23 January 1974) was a British actress.
Life
Taylor was born in London. She made her first screen appearance as a child actor in the 1907 film ''His Daughter's Voice''. She went on to appear in more th ...
. The film's sets were designed by
Alex Vetchinsky
Alex Vetchinsky ( Alec Hyman Vetchinsky; 9 November 1904 - 4 March 1980) was a BAFTA nominated British film art director and production designer. He worked on more than a hundred productions during a career that lasted between 1928 and 1974. Vet ...
. It was made at
Islington Studios
Islington Studios, often known as Gainsborough Studios, were a British film studio located on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, London between 1919 and 1949. The studi ...
.
Plot
When a successful nightclub singer (Cicely Courtneidge) finds herself guardian to her late sisters children, she ditches her singing career and takes the kids to live on a farm. Her manager is less than happy and resorts to legal means to try and stop her.
Cast
*
Cicely Courtneidge
Dame Esmerelda Cicely Courtneidge, (1 April 1893 – 26 April 1980) was an Australian-born British actress, comedian and singer. The daughter of the producer and playwright Robert Courtneidge, she was appearing in his productions in the West E ...
as Katharine 'Lady Kate' Levering
*
Ernest Truex
Ernest Truex (September 19, 1889 – June 26, 1973) was an American actor of stage, film, and television.
Career
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Truex learned acting at an early age after his father, a doctor, treated actor Edwin Melvin, who ...
as Wilbur Spurgeon
*
Percy Parsons
Edward Percy Parsons (1878–1944) was an American actor and singer who worked largely in the British film industry.
Selected filmography
* ''Suspense (1930 film), Suspense'' (1930)
* ''Beyond the Cities'' (1930)
* ''Creeping Shadows'' (1931)
* ' ...
as Josiah Spurgeon
*
Alma Taylor
Alma Louise Taylor (3 January 1895 – 23 January 1974) was a British actress.
Life
Taylor was born in London. She made her first screen appearance as a child actor in the 1907 film ''His Daughter's Voice''. She went on to appear in more th ...
as Rosemary Spurgeon
* Chuck Reisner Jr. as Tony Spurgeon
* Billie De la Volta as Shirley Spurgeon
*
Kathleen Harrison
Kathleen Harrison (23 February 1892 – 7 December 1995) was a prolific English character actress best remembered for her role as Mrs. Huggett (opposite Jack Warner and Petula Clark) in a trio of British post-war comedies about a working ...
as Lucy
* Bruce Winston as Pierre
*
C. Denier Warren
Charles Denier Warren (29 July 1889 – 27 August 1971) was an Anglo-American actor who appeared extensively on stage and screen from the early 1930s to late 1960s, mostly in Great Britain.
Life
He was born in Chicago the son of Charles Warren ...
as Dan Fleming
*
Peter Gawthorne
Peter Gawthorne (1 September 1884 – 17 March 1962) was an Anglo-Irish actor, probably best known for his roles in the films of Will Hay and other popular British comedians of the 1930s and 1940s. Gawthorne was one of Britain's most called-upo ...
as Sir Rowland Morton
*
Helen Haye
Helen Haye (born Helen Hay, 28 August 1874 – 1 September 1957) was a British stage and film actress.
New York Times. 3 Septem ...
as Lady Morton
*
Janet Johnson as Lilian Morton
* Joan Ponsford as Dorothy Morton
References
Bibliography
* Low, Rachael. ''Filmmaking in 1930s Britain''. George Allen & Unwin, 1985.
* Wood, Linda. ''British Films, 1927-1939''. British Film Institute, 1986.
External links
1936 films
British musical films
1936 musical films
Gainsborough Pictures films
Islington Studios films
Films directed by Charles Reisner
British black-and-white films
Films set in London
1930s English-language films
1930s British films
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