George Houston is in Italy, waiting for his break as an opera singer. He's about to get it, but his wife, tired of living on hope, takes their baby and sails back to America. Some time later, we encounter Bobby Breen (in his first movie). He's an orphan. He runs away to the circus, where Henry Armetta takes care of him. Armetta had once been a great opera singer, and had trained the now-famous soprano Vivienne Osborne. But his voice died suddenly, and now he sings in the circus, while the audience pelts him with vegetables. He trains Breen. When the show dies on the road, Armetta and Bobby head to New York. Meanwhile, fellow circus performers Grant Withers and Inez Courtney have arranged to adopt him. Armetta and Bobby are pursued, even as Miss Osborne is introducing Houston to American audiences.
Bobby gets several songs, and Houston gets a couple, showing off his fine singing voice. Breen had been born in Montreal as Isadore Borsuk, to poor Jewish emigrants. His sister decided he had a great voice and managed his career into radio appearances with Gloria Swanson and Milton Berle. RKO came a-calling, and this was the first of nine movies before his voice broke in 1939. He struggled for a decade to re-establish himself in show business, and eventually wound up in Florida, managing the condominium circuit of aging stars. He died in 2016 at the age of 90.
This movie has few surprises in its story, but it does have the advantages of Breen's singing and a typically sympathetic role for Armetta. Lucien Littlefield, Richard Carle, and Ann Doran also appear.
