''O-Kay for Sound'' is a 1937 British

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 ...

directed by

Marcel Varnel Marcel Varnel (16 October 1892 – 13 July 1947) was French film director, notably however for his career in the United States and England as a director of plays and films Biography He was born Marcel Hyacinthe le Bozec in Paris, France. Va ...

and starring the Crazy Gang troupe of comedians. After falling on hard times the members of the Crazy Gang are busking on the streets of London. However, they are hired as extras on a

film set A set is artificially constructed scenery used in theatre, film and TV. In the latter two cases there are many reasons to build or use a set instead of travelling to a real location, such as budget, time, the need to control the environment, or ...

. After arriving at the studios they are mistaken for a group of potential investors and given free run of the studios, causing chaos. The film was based on a stage work by Bert Lee and

R. P. Weston Robert Patrick Weston ( Harris; 7 March 1878 – 6 November 1936) was an English songwriter. He was responsible for many successful songs and comic monologues between the 1900s and 1930s, mostly written in collaboration with other writers, notab ...

. 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 studio ...

Gainsborough Pictures Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, north London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The com ...

, with sets designed by the art director

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. Vetc ...

Main cast

* Jimmy Nervo as Cecil * Teddy Knox as Teddy *

Bud Flanagan Bud Flanagan, (born Chaim Reuben Weintrop, 14 October 1896 – 20 October 1968) was a British music hall and vaudeville entertainer and comedian, and later a television and film actor. He was best known as a double act with Chesney Allen. Fla ...

as Bud * Chesney Allen as Ches * Charlie Naughton as Charlie *

Jimmy Gold Jimmy McGonigal (21 April 1886 – 7 October 1967), known professionally as Jimmy Gold, was a Scottish comedian and part of the music hall act of Naughton and Gold. Later they became part of The Crazy Gang. Gold was born in Glasgow. His paren ...

as Jimmy *

Fred Duprez Fred Duprez (September 6, 1884 – October 27, 1938) was an American actor, comedian and singer who performed in vaudeville, phonograph record and film. He made phonograph recordings in the US and the UK in the 1900s, 1910s, and 1920s. Most of t ...

as Hyman Goldberger *

Enid Stamp-Taylor Enid Georgiana Stamp Taylor (12 June 1904 – 13 January 1946) was an English actress. Her childhood home was 17, Percy Avenue, in Whitley Bay, Northumberland, in what is now Tyne and Wear. Taylor first became known when she won a beauty pa ...

as Jill Smith, secretary *

Meinhart Maur Meinhart Maur ( hu, Grünbaum Menyhért, 18 August 1891 – 27 November 1964) was a Hungarian-German film actor. He appeared in more than 40 films between 1919 and 1954. He was born in Hajdúnánás, Hungary and died in London, England. Selec ...

as Guggenheimer *

Graham Moffatt Graham Victor Harold Moffatt (6 December 1919 – 2 July 1965) was an English comedic character actor. He is best known for a number of films where he appeared with Will Hay and Moore Marriott as 'Albert': a plump cheekily insolent street-sa ...

as Albert, the page boy *

Patricia Bowman Patricia Bowman (December 12, 1908 – March 18, 1999) was an American ballerina, ballroom dancer, musical theatre actress, television personality, and dance teacher. Dance critic Jack Anderson described her as "the first American ballerina t ...

as Dancer * Peter Dawson as Singer * Jan Gotch as All-In Wrestler *

H. F. Maltby Henry Francis Maltby (25 November 1880 – 25 October 1963) was a prolific writer for the London stage and British cinema from after the First World War, until the 1950s. He also appeared in many films. Life and career Born in Ceres, Cape Co ...

as John Rigby * Louis Pergantes as All-In Wrestler * The Sherman Fisher Girls as Dancers * Louis Levy as Conductor

References

Bibliography

* Mundy, John. ''The British musical film''. Manchester University Press, 2007.

External links

* 1937 films 1937 comedy films British comedy films Films directed by Marcel Varnel Gainsborough Pictures films Islington Studios films Films set in London British films based on plays Films about filmmaking British black-and-white films 1930s English-language films 1930s British films {{1930s-UK-comedy-film-stub