Walter Winchell

Ben Bernie

Alice Faye

Patsy Kelly

Ned Sparks

Jack Haley

Walter Catlett

Grace Bradley

Joan Davis

Leah Ray

Miles Mander

Douglas Fowley

Etienne Girardot

Barnett Parker

Paul Hurst

Warren Hymer

William Demarest

Harry Tyler

Charles Williams

Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson

George Chandler

Wanda Perry

Sidney Lanfield

Harry Tugend

Jack Yellen

Curtis Kenyon

Dorothea Brande

Darryl F. Zanuck

Robert L. Simpson

William S. Darling

Mark-Lee Kirk

Thomas Little

Gwen Wakeling

A.F. Erickson

Jack Haskell

Edward Cronjager

Music

Wake Up and Live

20th Century Fox

United States of America

CinemaSerf

Legend has it that wireless gossiper Walter Winchell and band leader Ben Bernie really did have a running feud. This film somewhat puts that myth to rest, but is does so in quite a quickly paced and amusing fashion. It all centres around "Eddie Kane" (Jack Haley) whom "Alice" (Alice Faye) tricks into singing for Bernie's band. Winchell sees a chance to show up his rival as the would-be singer won't pick up a live microphone so is monikered "The Phantom". Can she get him to fulfil his true potential and, of course, can he get the gal? Winchell, especially, is on good form here with some solid one-liners (though it is very easy to see why he was a radio star; he has virtually no facial expression at all) and the musical numbers are entertaining as the film progresses. The plot is entirely predictable, and the film far too long - but it does take a engaging swipe at radio in the 1930s, with everything sponsored by a soap, or a body lotion - all at the behest of the all powerful Hooper ratings that demonstrated just how powerful radio was as a medium for marketing then. The film is largely forgettable fayre, but at times it does raise a smile.

English