Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Virginia Weidler | ... | Patsy Eastman | |
Ray McDonald | ... | Steve | |
Leo Gorcey | ... | 'Snap' Collins | |
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Douglas McPhail | ... | Murray Saunders |
Rags Ragland | ... | 'Grunt' | |
Sheldon Leonard | ... | Pete Detroit | |
Henry O'Neill | ... | Frank Eastman | |
Larry Nunn | ... | Mike Conroy | |
Margaret Dumont | ... | Mrs. E. V. Lawson | |
Beverly Hudson | ... | Maggie Cooper | |
Richard Hall | ... | Mozart Cooper | |
Darla Hood | ... | 'Quiz Kid' | |
Joe Yule | ... | Ed Collera | |
Lester Matthews | ... | Arthur Cartwright | |
Ben Carter | ... | 'Eight-Ball' |
Show promoter Cartwright has stolen the songs that Frank wrote while he was in the big house. The boys go to Cartwright to get Frank credit for his work, and Cartwright has them arrested for extortion, of which they are innocent. Luckily, they are in the same paddy wagon as Pete and when his gang springs Pete, the boys are sprung. The only way that they can prove now that the songs are Frank's is to put on a show before Cartwright show 'Melody for You' opens. The boys and Patsy find a theater, paint the scenery and put all the kids in the neighborhood to work on the show. Pete Detroit makes sure that Cartwright's show does not open on the same night and that his cabs bring in an audience. Written by Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>
This is such an interesting film, if as the previous comments attest to, some details that even I never knew, IE: The finale that was originally part of the WPA (ask kids today what THAT was!) and the Federal Theater Project's contribution to the Depression. What I found interesting/sad/macabre, was how many of the young actors in that film met an early demise. On the IMDb site itself:
1)Virginia Weidler: Heart attack, age 41
2)Larry Nunn: Self inflicted gun shot wound, age 49
3)Ray McDonald: Death by choking on food in hotel room, age 34
4)Ben Carter, age 35
5)Leo Gorcey: Liver failure, age 53
6)Douglas McPhail: poison, after 1st failed suicide attempt,age 30
7)Rags Ragland: uremic poisoning, age 40
8)Darla Hood: died in North Hollywood following a relatively minor
operation of acute hepatitis under "mysterious
circumstances", age 47
9)Richard Haydel, age 22 Was this film cursed? Or did actors die quicker then?