Radio City Revels (1938)

A songwriter uses the songs one of his pupils writes while sleeping for his own contract.

Director:

Benjamin Stoloff (as Ben Stoloff)

Writers:

Eddie Davis (screen play), Matt Brooks (screen play)

Stars:

Bob Burns, Jack Oakie, Kenny Baker

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bob Burns	...	Lester Robin
Jack Oakie	...	Harry Miller
Kenny Baker	...	Kenny Baker
Ann Miller	...	Billie Shaw
Victor Moore	...	Paul Plummer
Milton Berle	...	Teddy Jordan
Helen Broderick	...	Gertie Shaw
Jane Froman	...	Jane Froman
Buster West	...	Squenchy
Melissa Mason	...	Lisa
Richard Lane	...	Crane
Marilyn Vernon	...	Delia Robin
Charles Coleman	...	The Butler (as Charles C. Coleman)
Don Wilson	...	Don Wilson - Radio Station Announcer
Hal Kemp	...	Hal Kemp - Orchestra Leader

Storyline

Washed-up songwriter Harry Miller and his neighbor, dancer Billie Shaw, are insolvent despite efforts to find work in radio. But Harry is visited by his "student," hillbilly Lester Robin, who can only write songs in his dreams. And lo! Lester's first nap yields a song hit for which Harry takes credit. But to fulfill his new contract, he needs to keep Lester sleeping, amidst romantic complications.

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Plot Keywords:

tap dancing | song | arkansas | radio | songwriter | 

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Taglines:

SEVEN STARS! SEVEN SONGS! SEVEN HUNDRED LAUGHS AND A MILLION THRILLS! (original ad-all caps)

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Genres:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 February 1938 (USA)

Also Known As:

Andam Canções no Ar

Box Office

Budget:

$810,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$510,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In March 1938, this film was being shown on a double bill with The Jury's Secret (1938) at Loew's Richmond Theatre in North Adams, Massachusetts.

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Quotes

Lester Robin: Honestly, you're as purty as the picture of a seed catalogue tomato.

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Connections

Referenced in The Lucy Show: Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere (1966)

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Soundtracks

WHY MUST I LOVE YOU
(1938) (uncredited)
Music by Allie Wrubel
Lyrics Herb Magidson
Sung by Bob Burns

User Reviews

The NY press missed the elopement of Kenny Baker and Ann Miller.

This is a fictional film based on a fictional story about a real place in a real city , with real people playing the roles of some of the fictional characters and using their own name as the character name.

What transpires here has a character named Lester Robin (Bob Burns), a songwriter, and another character named Billie Shaw (Ann Miller), an aspiring dancer, striving to make good at Radio City (played by a sound stage in Hollywood), where a character named Kenny Baker (played by Kenny Baker)is already a star network singer. Also hanging around the premises are Harry Miller (Jack Oakie) and Teddy Jordan (Milton Berle), a Tin Pan Alley song-writing team who write songs for Radio City bosses Paul Plummer (Victor Moore) and Crane (Richard Lane.) Lester, an Arkansas show-boat performer, in his sleep composes songs which are excellent, but he is unconscious of the fact. He heads for New York City to take lessons from Miller and Jordan. Alas, Miller has gone stale but he learns the secret of Lester's sleep-time gift, and proceeds to copy the songs and market them as his own; his object being to finance the career of Miss Shaw, although she is in love with a fictional radio singer, the afore-mentioned Kenny Baker.

But through the success of Lester's songs that have been appropriated by Miller, she gets a dancing engagement, and her sister, Gertie Shaw (Helen Broderick), becomes romantically attached to Lester.

BUT...at a critical moment (a very relative term), Lester develops insomnia, and can't compose anymore since he isn't sleeping. HOWEVER...back in Arkansas, copies of his songs he produced in his sleep are discovered, with no mention of who was writing them down for him in Arkansas. Dancers Squenchy (Buster West) and Lisa (Melissa Mason)carry them to New York where Miller capitalizes upon them in a big way.

But Gertie, bless her, exposes the duplicity of Miller & Jordan, and Miller don't much care anyway as Billie has eloped with the fictional character named Kenny Baker, who just happens to be played by the real singer named Kenny Baker.