Hollywood Hobbies (1939)

Two starstruck movie fans hire a tour guide and see a plethora of Hollywood stars.

Director:

George Sidney

Writer:

Morey Amsterdam

Stars:

Joyce Compton, Sally Payne, William 'Billy' Benedict

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Joyce Compton	...	Tourist
Sally Payne	...	Tourist
William 'Billy' Benedict	...	Tour Guide (as William Benedict)

Storyline

Two female tourists in Hollywood take a personally guided tour. They are hoping to see many movie stars and they aren't disappointed. Their first spotting is of Reginald Denny testing out his model airplanes. Then on the girls' direction, the tour guide follows a car driven by Clark Gable, who, at his final destination, they spy whitewashing his barn. They then stop by the Bel-Air Stables owned by Robert Young and Allan Jones, who are both there with Jones' wife, Irene Hervey, discussing what to name their new foal. Their final stop is to the baseball diamond where a cavalcade of movies stars are playing in a charity game, with the comedians playing against the leading men. The girls end up sitting closer to their two celebrity crushes, James Stewart and George Murphy, than they realize.

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Plot Keywords:

hollywood | stable | tour guide | model airplane | baseball | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Short | Comedy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 May 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pasatiempos de Hollywood

Filming Locations:

Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Louis Lewyn Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

10 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

'Dick Powell' has jersey #16 on his back. When he hits a home run, the man swinging has #19.

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Quotes

Tourist: I still wish we could get Jimmy Stewart's autograph.
James Stewart: [wearing sunglasses and turning around] Um, girls, I beg your pardon, but I think we can arrange to get those autographs for you.
George Murphy: [also wearing dark glasses] Sure, we'd be happy to sign those books.
Tourist: [not recognizing them] Fresh guys!

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Crazy Credits

Except for the tourists and tour guide, all cast credits are given orally during the movie.

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Connections

References Jesse James (1939)

User Reviews

Rather poorly made promotional film that should be of some interest to film historians and lovers of Hollywood's Golden Age

The quality of this short is pretty poor. The plot involves two ladies from come to town and go on a tour of the stars' homes and personal lives. The homes part I understand, though when these ladies begin sneaking into celebrities' back yards, the film seems to be promoting stalking!! To make the film, some big-name actors (such as George Murphy and Jimmy Stewart) were recruited to do some scenes with the ladies. However, most of the "meetings" with celebrities are obviously nothing but stock film and publicity films poorly spliced into the movie. It just made the whole thing look cheap and like a big lie. However, for fans of Hollywood's Golden Age, it does provide some nice footage of stars in their spare time doing hobbies and pastimes for the camera that they probably never really did for real!! In other words, it's all a very staged series of photo ops all strung together with a plot that isn't very convincing.