Little Miss Broadway (1938)

An orphan is provisionally adopted by the manager of a hotel populated by show business people. The hotel's owner doesn't like the entertainers and wants the girl returned to the orphanage.

Director:

Irving Cummings

Writers:

Harry Tugend (original screen play), Jack Yellen (original screen play)

Stars:

Shirley Temple, George Murphy, Jimmy Durante

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shirley Temple	...	Betsy Brown
George Murphy	...	Roger Wendling
Jimmy Durante	...	Jimmy Clayton
Phyllis Brooks	...	Barbara Shea
Edna May Oliver	...	Sarah Wendling (as Edna Mae Oliver)
George Barbier	...	Fiske
Edward Ellis	...	Pop Shea
Jane Darwell	...	Miss Hutchins
El Brendel	...	Ole
Donald Meek	...	Willoughby Wendling
Patricia Wilder	...	Flossie
Claude Gillingwater	...	Judge (as Claude Gillingwater Sr.)
George Brasno	...	Himself (as George)
Olive Brasno	...	Herself
Charles Williams	...	Mike Brody

Storyline

An orphan is provisionally adopted by the manager of a hotel populated by show business people. The hotel's owner doesn't like the entertainers and wants the girl returned to the orphanage.

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Plot Keywords:

hotel | orphan | orphanage | twins | uncle | 

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Genres:

Drama | Musical

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 July 1938 (USA)

Also Known As:

Miss Broadway

Filming Locations:

Stage 3, 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:

72 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA High Fidelity Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ben Welden (Taxi Driver) and Clarence Wilson (Scully) are in Studio Records for their roles, but they were not seen in the movie. They may have been filmed, but cut before release.

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Goofs

Betsy is sent back to the orphanage, and the girls are trying to cheer her up. When the girl with the glasses says, "And when you're sad as all that," her lips are not moving.

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Quotes

Sarah Wendling: Young lady, give your father a message from me that he's being disposessed.
Barbara Shea: Oh, you can't!
Sarah Wendling: I'm tearing the hotel down.
Barbara Shea: But he paid his rent!
Sarah Wendling: He's violated his lease by having all sorts of animals on the premises. He'll save himself a lot of trouble by getting right out.
Roger Wendling: I'll have something to say about this.
Sarah Wendling: I'm afraid you will not, as our attorney will inform you. Furthermore, Roger, if you continue your association with this woman...
Roger Wendling: Continue it? I was just trying to get her to make it ...

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Connections

Featured in Biography: Shirley Temple: The Biggest Little Star (1996)

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Soundtracks

"The Stars and Stripes Forever"
(1896) (uncredited)
Music by John Philip Sousa

User Reviews

It's All Here In One Package

This might be the best of all the Shirley Temple movies of the 1930s because its so interesting start-to-finish.

The only annoying person is Edna May Oliver, who plays the standard mean old lady who is out to ruin things for the ""good guys" Fortunately, she's not in a lot of scenes and eventually even changes her thoughts for the better.

The rest of the film is nothing but nice people who are a lot of fun to watch. George Murphy and Phyllis Brooks are the typical (for Temple movies) super nice, handsome young couple which gets together in the end.

Edward Ellis plays a nice old man and Donald Meek nearly steals the show with some funny lines and funny faces. I thought James Durante would be funny, but he had more of a straight than comedic role.

Other features which make this movie stand out from normal Temple fare were unique characters (midgets, twins, penguins and more) and a tremendous amount of songs and dances (much more than normally heard).

All the elements that made Shirley Temple's films so successful are rolled up into this movie. Great stuff!