Playing Around (1930)

New York girl has a dull boyfriend and seems destined for a dull marriage when she meets a rich playboy who has money to burn and places to go. She gets involved with the playboy and never ... See full summary »

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

Frances Nordstrom (based on: "Playing Around": by), Viña Delmar (adapted from the story by: "Sheba"),

Stars:

Alice White, Chester Morris, William Bakewell

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Alice White	...	Sheba Miller
Chester Morris	...	Nickey Solomon
William Bakewell	...	Jack
Richard Carlyle	...	Pa Miller
Marion Byron	...	Maude
Maurice Black	...	Joe
Lionel Belmore	...	Morgan
Shep Camp	...	Master of Ceremonies
Ann Brody	...	Mrs. Fennerbeck
Nellie V. Nichols	...	Mrs. Lippincott

Storyline

New York girl has a dull boyfriend and seems destined for a dull marriage when she meets a rich playboy who has money to burn and places to go. She gets involved with the playboy and never seems to notice that he might by shady, until he shoots her father in a cigar-store holdup!

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Plot Keywords:

gangster | soda jerk | stenographer | nightclub | robbery | 

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Taglines:

AMERICA'S GIRL FRIEND (original poster)

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Music | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 January 1930 (USA)

Also Known As:

Piernas triunfadoras

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

First National Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

66 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Apparatus)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In September 1928, Warner Bros. Pictures purchased a majority interest in First National Pictures and from that point on, all "First National" productions were actually made under Warner Bros. control, even though the two companies continued to retain separate identities until the mid-1930's, after which time "A Warner Bros.-First National Picture" was often used.

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Soundtracks

"You Learn About Love Every Day"
(1929) (uncredited)
Written by Sam H. Stept and Bud Green
Sung by Alice White at the nightclub
Reprised by Alice White offscreen, in a shower
Reprised in a restaurant on a player piano
Reprised by an unidentifed male singer in the epilogue

User Reviews

Alice White as a Tenement Girl.

Alice White stars as Sheba Miller, a girl who wants more out of life than her soda-jerk boyfriend (William Bakewell) can give her. After winning a leg contest at a nightclub called The Pirate Den, she catches the eye of smooth talker Chester Morris, and she starts dating him. Bakewell hilariously comments that Morris dresses "like all his clothes fit him." Morris also flashes money and drives a snappy roadster. All these things are dear to White's heart. But then there is a neat plot twist that changes everything.

White is adorable and gets to sing "You Learn About Love Every Day." It's her only song but the nightclub acts sing a few more, including "You're My Captain Kidd" and "That's the Lowdown on the Lowdown." By 1930 audiences were tired of backstage musicals so filmmakers moved the numbers out front, which made them more realistic.

Morris and Bakewell are good, and then there's Marion Byron as the jazzy phone operator in the office where White works. White and Byron had also starred together in Broadway BABIES. Maurice Black is good as Joe the Bartender who gets suckered by Morris. Richard Carlyle plays White's father. And in a humorous tenement bit, Nellie Nichols and Ann Brody play a pair of immigrant gossipers who hang out their windows and exchange news in fractured English.

PLAYING AROUND was one of five films White starred in in 1930. In 1931, she had her final starring role in THE NAUGHTY FLIRT.

Worth a look for Alice White and some snappy pre-Code dialog.