Wake Up and Live (1937)

Satire on radio, built around the supposed feud between bandleader Ben Bernie and journalist Walter Winchell.

Director:

Sidney Lanfield

Writers:

Dorothea Brande (novel), Curtis Kenyon (story),

Stars:

Walter Winchell, Ben Bernie, Alice Faye

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Walter Winchell	...	Walter Winchell
Ben Bernie	...	Himself - Ben Bernie (as Ben Bernie and His Orchestra)
Alice Faye	...	Alice Huntley
Patsy Kelly	...	Patsy Kane
Ned Sparks	...	Steve Cluskey
Jack Haley	...	Eddie Kane
Walter Catlett	...	Gus Avery
Grace Bradley	...	Jean Roberts
Joan Davis	...	Spanish Dancer
Leah Ray	...	Cafe Singer
Miles Mander	...	James Stratton
Douglas Fowley	...	Herman
Etienne Girardot	...	Waldo Peebles
Barnett Parker	...	Foster
Paul Hurst	...	McCabe

Storyline

Satire on radio, built around the supposed feud between bandleader Ben Bernie and journalist Walter Winchell.

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Plot Keywords:

based on novel

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Genres:

Musical

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 August 1937 (USA)

Also Known As:

Il fantasma cantante

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jack Haley's singing was dubbed by Buddy Clark.

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Connections

Referenced in Lost and Foundling (1944)

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Soundtracks

"It's Swell of You"
Music by Harry Revel
Lyrics by Mack Gordon
Performed by Ben Bernie's Orchestra
Danced by the Condos Brothers
also sung by Jack Haley (dubbed by Buddy Clark)

User Reviews

Wake Up And Live (1937) is the best "feel good" musical movie ever made...see it!

Wake Up And Live (1937) is the best "feel good" musical movie ever made, and one of the top 10 musical movies of any kind ever made.

Somehow, it disappeared, isn't ranked with famous musical movies....but deserves to be.

Everything is right with this movie, and about it. The songs, the acting, the singing, the comedy, the machine gun musical numbers fired at the audience one after the other...all winners. Talent, talent, talent to a breathtaking level which ends in such a rousing way, one has no alternative but to cheer.

"Old movies used to make people feel good"......no movie proves the truth of this oft stated bromide than Wake Up And Live (1937).

Walter Winchell got top billing for the movie...higher billing than the actual main characters played by Jack Hailey and Alice Faye.

Winchell was wonderful beyond words, and is true proof that movie stars are never made, trained, or created....they were already there when some smart movie producer put a camera in front of them and "let them do their thing."

When the movie camera can and does photograph charisma (with or without the help of microphones and sound recording), a movie star is born, and revealed.

That's what movie stardom really is....photographed charisma. Very few people really have it, and ticket buyers flock to see the phenomenon of movie stardom when it happens.....and money movie stars make for movie makers generates incredible wealth (whether movie stars themselves share in this and are rewarded for the riches they supply is another question....smart movie stars like Greta Garbo who didn't trust movie owner employers quit early and lived long lives.....other movie stars who foolishly trusted the big money Hollywood movie people paid the price, and some died young and tragically....sadly, many are not rewarded, and some are used brutally and mercilessly by no-conscience men of greed who traditionally run the movie business, still do.)

Walter Winchell was a natural movie star. He acted in vaudeville before he became a journalist celebrity, and was aware from actual experience as a paid performing artist of the problems and dilemmas actors faced. He didn't have to face those problems in the newspaper business. He moved from acting to writing, but always had the natural movie star actor ability we see shine brilliantly in Wake Up And Live (1937).

Winchell has such charisma and is such a natural before the camera (he plays himself.....I don't think he ever did another movie, or at least not one like this where he was center stage so often, and wonderful every second of the time), there's no way to say how good he was. You gotta see him in Wake Up And Live (1937).

Alice Faye (1915 - 1998), the female lead star of the movie proves color film isn't needed to show of the most incredible and hypnotizing blue eyes ever to appear in cinema at any time. She is so beautiful, and her eyes especially in the movie's abundant close-ups of her wonderful face, the viewer can't help being enchanted.

Wake Up And Live (1937) is wonderful for many reasons....the set decoration is packed with art deco night club scenes better than most big Fred Astaire movies.

Supporting actors and character actors of fame abound in Wake Up And Live (1937). Walter Catlett, Ned Sparks, William Demarest, Patsy Kelly, and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson....and on and on and on.......

The movie (and every main character in it) has style and élan and charm and pizazz to a level seldom, maybe never reached before nor since......it showed the 1930's classy night club scene and brassy characters part of it all at its very best and most compelling.

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Written by Tex Allen, SAG Actor. Visit WWW.IMDb.Com and choose "Tex Allen" "resume" for contact information, movie credits, and biographical information about Tex Allen.

Tex Allen has reviewed more than 35 movies posted on the website WWW.IMDb.Com (the world's largest movie information database, owned by Amazon.Com) as of January 2011.

These include: 1. Alfie (1966) 29 July 2009 2. Alien (1979) 24 July 2009 3. All the President's Men (1976) 16 November 2010 4. American Graffiti (1973) 22 November 2010 5. Animal House (1978) 16 August 2009 6. Bullitt (1968) 23 July 2009 7. Captain Kidd (1945) 28 July 2009 8. Child Bride (1938) 24 September 2009 9. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) 22 September 2010 10. Detour (1945) 19 November 2010 11. Die Hard 2 (1990) 23 December 2010 12. The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (1993) 19 November 2010 13. Jack and the Beanstalk (1952) 26 July 2009 14. King Solomon's Mines (1950) 1 December 2010 15. Knute Rockne All American (1940) 2 November 2010 16. Claire's Knee (1970) 15 August 2009 17. Melody Ranch (1940) 10 November 2010 18. Morning Glory (1933) 19 November 2010

A full list of Tex Allen's movie reviews appearing on WWW.IMDb.Com with links to full texts of reviews is accessible via: http://imdb.com/user/ur15279309/comments

Written by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA movie actor. Visit WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen for more information about Tex Allen.

Tex Allen's email address is [e-mail].

See Tex Allen Movie Credits, Biography, and 2012 photos at WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen. See other Tex Allen written movie reviews....almost 100 titles.... at: "http://imdb.com/user/ur15279309/comments" (paste this address into your URL Browser)