''The Star Maker'' is a 1939 American

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

Roy Del Ruth Roy Del Ruth (October 18, 1893, Delaware – April 27, 1961) was an American filmmaker. Early career Beginning his Hollywood career as a writer for Mack Sennett in 1915, Del Ruth later directed his first short film ''Hungry Lions'' (1919) ...

, written by Frank Butler, Don Hartman and

Arthur Caesar Arthur Caesar (9 March 1892 – 20 June 1953) was a Romanian-American screenwriter and brother of the songwriter Irving Caesar. Caesar first started writing Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood films in 1924. Most of his films were in the B-movie ...

, and starring

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

, Louise Campbell, Linda Ware, Ned Sparks, Laura Hope Crews, Janet Waldo and Walter Damrosch. Filming started in Hollywood on April 17, 1939 and was finished in June. The film was released on August 25, 1939, by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, and had its New York premiere on August 30, 1939. It was the only film in which Crosby played a happily married man.

Plot

Loosely based on the life of vaudevillian Gus Edwards, the film follows the career of aspiring song writer Larry Earl (Crosby) who gives up his job as a night clerk and marries Mary (Louise Campbell). He is anxious to get his songs published and buys a piano which they can ill afford. He sees children performing in the street and has an idea to develop and produce their talent on stage. Initially he cannot obtain any bookings but Mary persuades an agent to give her husband a chance. The one night try-out is a success and he forms "Larry Earl Kiddie Productions" which in due course has 14 productions running in various towns. Larry Earl opens a Broadway musical called ''School Days'', the crowning point of his career, but halfway through the first performance it is closed down by the Children's Welfare Society as they will not allow children under 12 years of age to work past 10 p.m. All of Earl's productions have to be closed down too. Earl had developed the career of Jane Gray (Linda Ware) and he transfers her contract to Walter Damrosch and she performs for him at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

. Later Earl realizes that he can still use children on radio and the film closes with him singing with a children's chorus on a radio show.

Cast

as Larry Earl * Louise Campbell as Mary *

Linda Ware Linda Ware (born Beverly Jane Stillwagon, May 25, 1925 – September, 1975) was an American singer and actress who worked in radio, films, and concerts. Ware, born Beverly Jane Stillwagon on May 25, 1925, in Tarentum, Pennsylvania, was the daug ...

as Jane Gray * Ned Sparks as 'Speed' King * Laura Hope Crews as Carlotta Salvini * Janet Waldo as Stella * Walter Damrosch as Walter Damrosch * Thurston Hall as Mr. Proctor * Clara Blandick as Miss Esther Jones * Oscar O'Shea as Mr. Flannigan * John Gallaudet as Duke * Ben Welden as Joe Gimlick * Emory Parnell as Mr. Olson *Dorothy Vaughan as Mrs. Riley * Bodil Rosing as Mrs. Swanson * Paul Stanton as Mr. Coyle * Morgan Wallace as Lou Morris * Richard Denning as Assistant Dance Director * Joseph Crehan as Old Gentleman * Ethel Griffies as Voice Teacher * Frank Faylen as First Reporter * Billy Gilbert as Steel Worker *Grace Hayle as Rural Mother *Johnnie Morris as Newsboy *

Selmer Jackson Selmer Adolf Jackson (May 7, 1888 – March 30, 1971) was an American stage film and television actor. He appeared in nearly 400 films between 1921 and 1963. His name was sometimes spelled Selmar Jackson. Jackson was born in Lake Mills, Iowa an ...

as Doctor * Sig Arno as Ballet Master *

Ralph Faulkner Ralph Faulkner (July 20, 1891 – January 28, 1987) was an American fencer and film actor. He competed in the team sabre event at the 1932 Summer Olympics. Post-college career After graduating from college Faulkner became a forest ranger. ...

as Fencing Master * Earl Dwire as Mac, the Accountant * Harry C. Bradley as Conductor * Wally Maher as Reporter * George Eldredge as Reporter * Stanley Price as Reporter *George Guhl as Piano Mover *Jimmie Dundee as Second Piano Mover * Max Wagner as Third Piano Mover * Ralph Sanford as Uniformed Doorman *A.S. 'Pop' Byron as Stage Doorman *Allen Fox as Photographer * Fritzi Brunette as Cutie's Mother *

Edwin Stanley Edwin Stanley (November 22, 1880 – December 25, 1944), was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 230 films between 1916 and 1946. He was born in Chicago, Illinois and died in Hollywood, California. On Broadway, Stanley appear ...

as Gerry Member * Ottola Nesmith as Elderly Lady * Jack Pennick as Prizefighter *

George C. Pearce George C. Pearce (June 26, 1865 – August 13, 1940) was an American stage and film actor, primarily of the silent film, silent era. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1914 and 1939. He was born in New York, New York, and died in Los ...

as Gerry Society Member * Doro Merande as Gerry Society Woman * Frances Raymond as Gerry Society Woman *Kenneth Wilson as Ken *Billy Simms as Spike *Donald Brenon as Judge * Patti McCarty as Patsy *John Andrews as Andy * Danny Daniels as Blackie *Don Hulbert as Duck *Gloria Atherton as Curly * Darryl Hickman as Boots *Dorothy Babb as Dottie * Dante DiPaolo as Turkey *Tommy Batten as Bats *Mary Ellen Bergren as Ivories *Gene Collins as Dummy *Eugene Eberle as Whitey *Dolores Dianne as Rusty *Joe Geil as Red *Richard Humphries as Chicago *Jackie McGee as Lucky *Joyce Arleen as Toots * Roland Dupree as Frenchy *Marilyn Marlin as Ginger * Patsy Parsons as Cookie * Jean Ruth as Butch *Leon Tyler as Big Ears *Howard Smiley as Skipper *Marilyn McKay as Cutie *Dena Penn as Penny

Soundtrack

* "Jimmy Valentine" ( Edward Madden / Gus Edwards) sung by Bing Crosby. * "A Man and His Dream" (

James V. Monaco James Vincent Monaco (January 13, 1885 – October 16, 1945) was an Italian-born American composer of popular music. Life and career Monaco was born in Formia, Italy. His family emigrated to the United States when he was six, and he grew up i ...

. Johnny Burke) sung by Bing Crosby. * "If I Was a Millionaire" (

Will D. Cobb William Denight Cobb (July 5, 1876 – January 20, 1930) was an American lyricist and composer. He and a partner, Ren Shields, produced several popular musical theater, musicals and musical comedies in the early 20th century. Cobb also had a lon ...

/ Gus Edwards) sung by Bing Crosby and children. * "Go Fly a Kite" (James V. Monaco / Johnny Burke) sung by Bing Crosby and children. * " I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" sung by Bing Crosby. * "Sunbonnet Sue" (Will D. Cobb / Gus Edwards) sung by children * "

In My Merry Oldsmobile "In My Merry Oldsmobile" is a popular song from 1905, with music by Gus Edwards and lyrics by Vincent P. Bryan. The song's chorus is one of the most enduring automobile-oriented songs. The verses, which are slightly suggestive (by 1905 standard ...

" sung by Bing Crosby and children. * " Darktown Strutters' Ball" sung by Linda Ware * "An Apple for the Teacher" sung by Linda Ware, Bing Crosby and children. * " School Days" sung by Linda Ware, Bing Crosby and children. * " Waltz of the Flowers" sung by Linda Ware * "Still the Bluebird Sings" (James V. Monaco / Johnny Burke) sung by Bing Crosby and children. Bing Crosby recorded a number of the songs for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

. "An Apple for the Teacher" (recorded with Connee Boswell) was a huge hit reaching the No. 2 position in the charts. "Go Fly a Kite" and "A Man and His Dream" also reached the top 10. Crosby's songs were also included in the Bing's Hollywood series.

Reception

Frank S. Nugent Frank Stanley Nugent (May 27, 1908 – December 29, 1965) was an American screenwriter, journalist, and film reviewer, who wrote 21 film scripts, 11 for director John Ford. He wrote almost a thousand reviews for ''The New York Times'' before lea ...

of '' The New York Times'' was not impressed. The Star Maker,' the new Bing Crosby film at the Paramount, was inspired (to employ a euphemism) by the career of Gus Edwards, a show-minded Pied Piper who used to swing around the old vaudeville circuits followed by precocious little song and dance teams — the girls in sunbonnets, the boys in newsies' tatters — who grew up, or at least some of them did, to become Walter Winchell, George Jessel,

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences, ...

and

Mervyn LeRoy Mervyn LeRoy (; October 15, 1900 – September 13, 1987) was an American film director and producer. In his youth he played juvenile roles in vaudeville and silent film comedies. During the 1930s, LeRoy was one of the two great practitioners of ...

...There isn't much more to the picture. Mr. Crosby sings in his usual lullaby manner and hasn't many good lines to play with. Ned Sparks sneaks away with a comic scene or two as the child-hating press agent who has to tell bedtime stories and spins a grim whopper about the mean old wolf who gobbled up the little kiddies... But it is all, if Mr. Edwards will pardon us, too much like a Gus Edwards revue and far too much of that." '' Variety'' was far more positive. "Film is first-class entertainment, a lively combination of the conventional backstage story, which is played for comedy angles, and filmusical technique, that is up to best standards...Audiences will quickly and cheerfully respond to the gayety icwhich pervades the film. ... It's the Gus Edwards repertoire of pop tunes which gives the film zest and the feeling that yesterday is worth remembering. 'School Days' is recreated in an elaborate production number, including an interpolation when Crosby, speaking directly from the screen to the film audience, invites and obtains a spirited if somewhat vocally uncertain choral participation."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Star Maker, The (1939 film) 1939 films American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films Films directed by Roy Del Ruth Films scored by Alfred Newman Paramount Pictures films American musical films 1939 musical films 1930s American films