The Great American Broadcast (1941)

Director:

Archie Mayo

Writers:

Don Ettlinger (original screenplay) &
Edwin Blum (original screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

9 May 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

THE "Greatness" OF THE SCREEN...THE "Magic" OF RADIO - Combined in the Gayest Musical Show of them ALL! (original print ad)

Plot:

After WWI two men go into radio. Failure leads the wife of one to borrow money from another; she goes on...

Plot Keywords:

Radio | Money | Dictating A Letter | Photographer | Drinking

Cast

Alice Faye	...	Vicki Adams
Jack Oakie	...	Chuck Hadley
John Payne	...	Rix Martin
Cesar Romero	...	Bruce Chadwick
James Newill	...	Singer
Charles Fuqua	...	Song Specialty
The Ink Spots	...	The Four Ink Spots (as The Four Ink Spots)
Hoppy Jones	...	Song Specialty
Bill Kenny	...	Ink Spots Member
Deek Watson	...	Song Specialty
The Nicholas Brothers	...	Dancers (as Nicholas Brothers)
Fayard Nicholas	...	Railroad Station Dance Specialty (as The Nicholas Brothers)
Harold Nicholas	...	Railroad Station Dance Specialty (as The Nicholas Brothers)
The Wiere Brothers	...	Dancers (as Wiere Brothers)
Mary Beth Hughes	...	Secretary
Harry Wiere	...	Chapman's Cheerful Chappies / The Stradivarians (as The Wiere Brothers)
Eula Morgan	...	Madame Rinaldi
Herbert Wiere	...	Chapman's Cheerful Chappies / The Stradivarians (as The Wiere Brothers)
William Pawley	...	Foreman
Sylvester Wiere	...	Chapman's Cheerful Chappies / The Stradivarians (as The Wiere Brothers)
Lucien Littlefield	...	Justice of the Peace
Eddie Conrad	...	Conductor (as Edward Conrad)
Gary Breckner	...	Announcer
M.J. Frankovich	...	Announcer (as Mike Frankovich)
Frank Orth	...	Counter Man
Eddie Acuff	...	Jimmy
Mildred Gover	...	Jennie
Syd Saylor	...	Brakeman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Milton Berle	...	Radio Announcer (scenes deleted)
Kenneth Alexander	...	Radio Ham (uncredited)
Fred Allen	...	Fred Allen (archive footage) (uncredited)
Bettye Avery	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Jack Benny	...	Himself - Opening Montage (uncredited) (archive footage)
Tex Brodus	...	Musician (uncredited)
Bob Brossard	...	Musician (uncredited)
Eddie Cantor	...	Himself - Opening Montage (uncredited) (archive footage)
Dick Cherney	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Les Clark	...	Musician (uncredited)
Bud Cokes	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
John Collins	...	Telephone Lineman (uncredited)
Henry Cordy	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Robert Cornell	...	Radio Announcer (uncredited)
Andre Cuyas	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Dorothy Dearing	...	Bruce's Girlfriend (uncredited)
Jack Dempsey	...	Himself - Prizefighter (uncredited) (archive footage)
George Dobbs	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Bruce Edwards	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Lillian Eggers	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Frank Erickson	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Arno Frey	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Nora Gale	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Jimmy Grant	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Jesse Graves	...	Porter (uncredited)
Herbert Gunn	...	Radio Ham (uncredited)
Otto Han	...	Meadows (uncredited)
Bunny Hartley	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Herbert Heywood	...	Doorman (uncredited)
Eddie Kane	...	Headwaiter (uncredited)
Lee Kass	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Patsy Mace	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Sam McDaniel	...	Railroad Station Porter (uncredited)
Roseanne Murray	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
William H. O'Brien	...	Speakeasy Waiter (uncredited)
Frank O'Connor	...	Stagehand (uncredited)
Roland Rego	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Marion Rosamond	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
John Sinclair	...	Telephone Lineman (uncredited)
Kate Smith	...	Kate Smith - Opening Montage (archive footage) (uncredited)
Charles Tannen	...	Usher (uncredited)
Fred 'Snowflake' Toones	...	Railroad Porter (uncredited)
Rudy Vallee	...	Himself - Opening Montage (uncredited) (archive footage)
Dorothy Vernon	...	Mrs. Willoughby (uncredited)
Fred Walburn	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Basil Walker	...	Radio Broadcast Attendant (uncredited)
Joyce Walsh	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Cecil Weston	...	Wife (uncredited)
Paul Whiteman	...	Himself - Opening Montage (uncredited) (archive footage)
Poppy Wilde	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Bill Wilkus	...	Telephone Lineman (uncredited)
Jess Willard	...	Himself - Prizefighter (uncredited) (archive footage)
Walter Winchell	...	Himself - Opening Montage (uncredited) (archive footage)
Al Winters	...	Waiter (uncredited)

Directed by
Archie Mayo

Writing credits
Don Ettlinger		(original screenplay) &
Edwin Blum		(original screenplay) and
Robert Ellis		(original screenplay) &
Helen Logan		(original screenplay)

Produced by
Kenneth Macgowan	....	associate producer
Darryl F. Zanuck	....	producer

Original Music by
Cyril J. Mockridge		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
J. Peverell Marley
Leon Shamroy

Film Editing by
Robert L. Simpson

Art Direction by
Richard Day
Albert Hogsett

Set Decoration by
Thomas Little

Costume Design by
Travis Banton

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
James Curtis Havens	....	second unit director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Joseph E. Aiken	....	sound
Roger Heman Sr.	....	sound (as Roger Heman)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe

Music Department
Alfred Newman	....	musical director
Alfred Newman	....	composer: theme music (uncredited)
Conrad Salinger	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Nick Castle	....	dance director

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1941) (USA) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Original 1919 Jess Willard-Jack Dempsey fight film footage used.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Although the story takes place in 1919, and the years immediately following, all of Alice Faye's clothes and hairstyles are strictly in the 1941 mode, as are also those of Mary Beth Hughes and the other female members of the cast; the musical arrangements of Faye's featured songs are also in the contemporary 1941 style.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Take It or Leave It (1944)

Soundtrack:

Long Ago Last Night

Among the best of its type

Archie Mayo and the writers took a stock project (a show biz musical) and made it special. The plot line about the beginnings of radio doesn't get lost in the welter of specialty numbers nor does the love story intrude too much in the fun. We even get a sense of what it was like when radio was expanding from a hobbyist's pursuit to a a mass market entertainment industry. The cast is nearly top notch all around but the Wiere Brothers are a marvel, providing the best turn in the film despite competition from the Nicholas Brothers, the Ink Spots and the always professional and often underrated John Payne, Alice Faye and Jack Oakie. Payne was usually justified in sleepwalking through the roles Fox saddled him with, but in this outing he shows what he can do with a congenial plot, director and co-stars. The primary reason for watching this film is to see the Wiere Brothers at their antic best. They were a deft and whimsical European comedy trio--comedians, instrumentalists, dancers and jugglers--with a long lineage in Continental circus, ballet and opera, and their style may be baffling to tastes weened on hit-them-over-the-head roughhouse comedy. Nothing wrong with roughhouse, but the Wieres offer something gently different.