People Are Funny

When I was a kid, I listened to a lot of Old-Time Radio shows that were syndicated on AM radio or FM public stations during the late '70s-early '80s of which one of the shows was "People Are Funny", the Art Linkletter show. He played practical jokes on various audience members that sounded quite funny whenever he described what was going on. So this movie has him doing what he does and you actually get to see some of the stunts being performed as they are happening and they're quite amusing, if not hilarious. There's also some music that are quite entertaining performed by the likes of Jack Haley, Rudy Vallee, and Ozzie Nelson plus a novelty singing group called The Vagabonds though one pauses when they do a blackface number. The plot is mostly miss in the humor department and drags the proceedings to the lumbering 90 min.-time slot. I'm also disappointed that the Frances Langford number was cut from the version I watched. Still, People Are Funny was an interesting curio so I say give a watch. P.S. Haley-who was the Tin Woodman in the classic The Wizard of Oz-is reunited with his co-star from that movie, Clara Blandick, who was Auntie Em in that. And that "PAF" creator John Guedel was also responsible for picking Groucho Marx to host "You Bet Your Life". He's, by the way, fictionalized as a sneaky producer in this picture. And later Stooge Joe DeRita appears near the end.

If you like old time radio as I do than People Are Funny, a fictionalized account of how the program came to be than you'll enjoy the film. Maybe you won't have too critical an eye for flaws.

It's quite an eclectic group of stars that Pine-Thomas put together for this film from the Paramount B picture unit. The threadbare plot has Rudy Vallee the sponsor looking for a new radio show and having both rival agents Phillip Reed and Ozzie Nelson locating it in some cow county in Nevada. There's also Helen Walker who plays on both Ozzie and Phil for all its worth.

The program was created by Jack Haley who's playing the hick of hicks from said cow county. He gets taken on a magic carpet ride by Helen Walker in Hollywood. Much along the same lines that Jean Arthur took Gary Cooper in Mr. Deeds Goes To Town. Haley is far more a rube though.

We also had a vocal group, the Vagabonds doing all kinds of numbers. One was most distastefully done in blackface, probably the reason that the movie People Are Funny is not seen too often except on YouTube where I caught it. The version I caught regretfully cut out Frances Langford's number.

No one also had the presence of mind to have a duet number with Rudy Vallee and Ozzie Nelson, both popular radio crooners of the Thirties. No one thought of posterity in Hollywood, especially not when you were making B films.

The film is a mildly amusing one and is a historical curiosity.

Sit back and enjoy this one. A story of two producers that have been feuding for years. Both end up with half the rights to a radio program "People Are Funny." Along the way to getting the program on the radio you get to hear some very good musical numbers by a variety of performers. The longer you watch the more you realize that you really like what you are seeing and hearing.

This film is supposedly about the radio show "People Are Funny". It's sort of the REAL "People Are Funny" radio show (with Art Linkletter) and sort of not...as the program was originally hosted (in this film) by Jack Haley (of "The Wizard of Oz" fame). Later, you actually see Linkletter hosting the show that Haley's character supposedly created.

The show is a local hit and some folks decide to steal the idea and sell it. Whatever. What follows are tons of musical numbers...one after another. Most aren't very good and one might cause a few coronaries. Why? Because the quartet are all in black-face! Uggh! Overall, this seems like a talent show featueing second and third-rate acts. Not particularly good.

By the way, if you do watch this, note all the acts on the radio who dressed up or performed stunts. How could the folks at home see ANY of this??

Two radio producers compete to go national with the popular rural radio show People Are Funny. In the process personal loyalties clash between musical numbers and comedy spots.

Unfortunately the 40's flick is neither very funny nor even tuneful. Mostly the 93-minutes lumbers along in plot-heavy fashion for a musical-comedy. But please, the so-called Vagabonds and their knock-about numbers are more obnoxious than either funny or musical. So why are they given so much screen time-- it's almost like padding the runtime. Fortunately the Spanish production number stands out as quality. But the version I saw appears in noirish half-light that I could barely see. So what was going on there. Worse, where oh where is Frances Langford, a big reason I tuned in. Her expert level of 40's song-birding is badly, badly needed. Then too, why is her lovely presence featured on the poster when she's absent from the movie-- seems like false advertising.

Speaking of noir, catch the star-crossed Helen Walker as Corey the double-dealing go-between. Her promising career as a sinister vixen was tragically cut short by an auto accident from which her career never really recovered, (IMDB). Here, her presence is almost too strong to furnish much needed lighter mood. At the same time, Vallee and Nelson walk through their roles like they're on one cylinder. No wonder Vallee is almost unrecognizable behind big eye glasses.

Anyway, I take no comfort in flogging the movie. I guess I was expecting more since I followed the radio and TV show over many years of rich entertainment. My parents even took me as a kid to the studio for a live broadcast, so I guess the film was an especial letdown for me. I just hope that younger folks won't confuse this lame film version with the real thing.