Hollywood Cavalcade (1939)

Director:

Irving Cummings
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Writers:

Ernest Pascal (screenplay)
Hilary Lynn (story) ...
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Release Date:

13 October 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | History

Plot:

Starting in 1913 movie director Connors discovers singer Molly Adair. As she becomes a star she marries an actor, so Connors fires them. She asks for him as director of her next film. Many silent stars shown making the transition to sound.

Plot Keywords:

Actor | Contract | Motion Picture | Car Accident | Broadway Manhattan New York City

Cast

Alice Faye	...	Molly Adair
Don Ameche	...	Michael Linnett Connors
J. Edward Bromberg	...	Dave Spingold
Alan Curtis	...	Nicky Hayden
Stuart Erwin	...	Pete Tinney
Jed Prouty	...	Chief of Police
Buster Keaton	...	Buster Keaton
Donald Meek	...	Lyle P. Stout
George Givot	...	Englishman
Al Jolson	...	Al Jolson-Recreation of Jazz Singer Scene (as Mr. Al Jolson)
Eddie Collins	...	Keystone Cop
Hank Mann	...	Keystone Cop
Heinie Conklin	...	Keystone Cop
James Finlayson	...	Keystone Cop
Chick Chandler	...	Assistant Director
Robert Lowery	...	Henry Potter
Russell Hicks	...	Roberts
Ben Welden	...	Agent
Willie Fung	...	Willie
Paul Stanton	...	Filson
Mary Forbes	...	Mrs. Gaynes
Joseph Crehan	...	Attorney
Irving Bacon	...	Clerk
Ben Turpin	...	Bartender
Chester Conklin	...	Sheriff
Marjorie Beebe	...	Telephone Operator
Frederick Burton	...	Thomas
Lee Duncan	...	Lee Duncan - Dog Trainr
Rin Tin Tin Jr.	...	Rin-Tin-Tin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sam Ash	...	Actor in 'Common Clay' (uncredited)
Herbert Ashley	...	Gus, Diner Proprietor (uncredited)
Bonnie Bannon	...	Pretty Girl (uncredited)
Lynn Bari	...	Actress in 'The Man Who Came Back' (uncredited)
John Butler	...	Telegraph Operator (uncredited)
Georgia Caine	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Ray Cooke	...	First Cab Driver (uncredited)
Jack Cooper	...	Burglar (uncredited)
Dorothy Dearing	...	Girl with Michael at Anniversary Party (uncredited)
Edward Earle	...	Actor (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum	...	Well-Wisher (uncredited)
Arno Frey	...	Maitre d'Hotel (uncredited)
Harold Goodwin	...	Prop Boy (uncredited)
Fay Helm	...	Nurse (uncredited)
J. Anthony Hughes	...	Motorcycle Policeman (uncredited)
John Ince	...	Actor as Court Officer (uncredited)
Mark Jones	...	Keystone Kop (uncredited)
Paul McVey	...	Stage Manager Announcing Understudy Will Perform (uncredited)
Dave Morris	...	Stooge (uncredited)
Forbes Murray	...	Criterion Theater Manager (uncredited)
'Snub' Pollard	...	Keystone Cop (uncredited)
Alexander Pollard	...	Nicky's Butler (uncredited)
Victor Potel	...	Slim, a Counterman (uncredited)
Arthur Rankin	...	Assistant Cameraman (uncredited)
Cyril Ring	...	First Row Extra in Theater Audience (uncredited)
Marshall Ruth	...	Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (uncredited)
Francis Sayles	...	Second Cab Driver (uncredited)
Mack Sennett	...	Mack Sennett - Speech in Honor of Molly Adair (uncredited)
Iva Stewart	...	Girl with Michael at Anniversary Party (uncredited)
Fred 'Snowflake' Toones	...	Train Porter (uncredited)
Harry Tyler	...	Studio Guide (uncredited)
Billy Wayne	...	Assistant Stage Manager (uncredited)

Directed by
Irving Cummings
Buster Keaton		(uncredited)
Malcolm St. Clair		(silent film sequences) (uncredited)

Writing credits
Ernest Pascal		(screenplay)
Hilary Lynn		(story) &
Brown Holmes		(story)
Lou Breslow		(based upon an original idea by)
James Edward Grant		dialogue contibutor (uncredited)
Malcolm St. Clair		silent film sequences (uncredited)

Produced by
Harry Joe Brown	....	associate producer
Darryl F. Zanuck	....	producer

Original Music by
David Buttolph		(uncredited)
Cyril J. Mockridge		(uncredited)
David Raksin		(uncredited)
Rudy Schrager		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Allen M. Davey
Ernest Palmer

Film Editing by
Walter Thompson

Art Direction by
Richard Day
Wiard Ihnen		(as Wiard B. Ihnen)

Set Decoration by
Thomas Little

Costume Design by
Herschel McCoy		(as Herschel)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ad Schaumer	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Eugene Grossman	....	sound
Roger Heman Sr.	....	sound (as Roger Heman)
Roger Heman Sr.	....	sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)

Stunts
Gordon Carveth	....	stunts (uncredited)
Duke Green	....	stunts (uncredited)
Teddy Mangean	....	stunts (uncredited)
Frank McGrath	....	stunts (uncredited)
Harvey Parry	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bob Rose	....	stunts (uncredited)
John Sinclair	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack Stoney	....	stunts (uncredited)
Marcus Turk	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
Louis Silvers	....	musical director

Other crew
Henri Jaffa	....	associate technicolor director
Natalie Kalmus	....	technicolor director
Mack Sennett	....	supervisor: silent film sequences (as Mr. Mack Sennett)

Thanks
Chester Conklin	....	thanks
Al Jolson	....	appreciation for his appearance (as Mr. Al Jolson)
Buster Keaton	....	thanks
Hank Mann	....	thanks
'Snub' Pollard	....	thanks (as Snub Pollard)
Jed Prouty	....	thanks
Ben Turpin	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1939) (USA) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Television (2007) (USA) (TV)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #5436) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Although a Twentieth Century-Fox picture, this is one of the few Hollywood-made films in which one studio (Fox) acknowledges and names the existence of another (Warner Bros.) and credits them with the introduction of talking pictures. Don Ameche is actually shown watching a scene from Warner's The Jazz Singer (1927) , probably the only instance in Holywood history where one studio shows another studio's work within a film. Another rarity is that the head of the studio (J. Edward Bromberg) is openly portrayed as being Jewish. In later years Bromberg was blacklisted and sadly died from a heart attack while performing in a stage play in London, where he sought to restart his career. Fans of W.C. Fields will recognize Russell Hicks, who plays the stone-hearted money-man Roberts in "Hollywood Calvacade," as fast-talking con man J. Frothingham Waterbury, who sold Fields shares in the Beefstake Mine in the classic comedy The Bank Dick (1940).

Movie Connections:

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

Soundtrack:

Whispering

Tribute to silent film comedies is hindered by a tiresome plot...

ALICE FAYE is very lovingly photographed in her first Technicolor film, even though it does require her to get a few pies thrown in her face. DON AMECHE puts so much energy into his role as a wanna be director that he often sounds like Jackie Gleason on "The Honeymooners" when he goes into one of his tirades. Both perform well within the limits of a tiresome boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl kind of story set against the early days of motion pictures.

The premise is a good one--using B&W whenever depicting scenes from the films that Molly Adair (Alice Faye) is doing with the Keystone Cops, Buster Keaton, Eddie Collins, Ben Turpin and Chester Conklin, real stars from the silent era. But what starts out as a promising romantic comedy soon delves into trite romantic situations with Faye pining for Ameche, whose mind is never on romance but only on hard work as he dreams up new ideas for her future films. ALAN CURTIS is the leading man Ameche chooses for her and she falls in love with him. But never fear, the script makes sure that she winds up with a reformed Ameche at the end.

Most of it is good fun but the middle part sags a bit and the script loses all originality once it starts to feel sorry for its heroine. It's a shame nobody gets a chance to sing or dance--which may have livened things up a little after the midway point.

Interesting mainly as a glimpse at how silent films were made from the period 1913 through 1928. There's even a peek at Al Jolson's breakthrough talkie "The Jazz Singer," although it's a recreation and not a clip from the original.