Blessed Event | |
---|---|
Directed by | Roy Del Ruth |
Written by | Howard J. Green |
Based on | Blessed Event 1932 play by Manuel Seff and Forrest Wilson |
Starring | Lee Tracy Mary Brian |
Cinematography | Sol Polito |
Edited by | James Gibbon |
Music by | Frank Marsales |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. |
Release date |
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Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Blessed Event is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy-drama film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Lee Tracy as a newspaper gossip columnist who becomes entangled with a gangster. The Tracy character (Alvin Roberts) was reportedly patterned after Walter Winchell, famous gossip columnist of the era. The film marked Dick Powell's film debut.
Alvin Roberts feuds with singer Bunny Harmon. Roberts reports on society people who are expecting a "blessed event", i.e. going to have a child. One such report antagonizes a gangster in a delicate situation, who sends over a henchman to threaten him. Roberts manages to turn the tables on the gangster.
The character of Bunny Harmon is a parody of Rudy Vallee,[ citation needed ] as both of them sing and play saxophone, and Vallee's band was called the Connecticut Yankees, while Harmon's is the Green Mountain Boys, a reference to another New England state, Vermont. The feud between Roberts and Harmon is a parody of the real-life (contrived) feud between Walter Winchell and bandleader Ben Bernie.
Dick Tracy is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror, and was distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. Gould wrote and drew the strip until 1977, and various artists and writers have continued it.
The Front Page is a Broadway comedy about newspaper reporters on the police beat. Written by former Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, it was first produced in 1928 and has been adapted for the cinema several times. The play entered the public domain in the United States in 2024.
Broadway Melody of 1936 is a musical film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1935. In New York, the film opened at the Capitol Theatre, the site of many prestigious MGM premieres. It was a follow-up of sorts to the successful The Broadway Melody, which had been released in 1929, although, there is no story connection with the earlier film beyond the title and some music.
Footlight Parade is a 1933 American musical film directed by Lloyd Bacon, with songs written by Harry Warren (music), Al Dubin (lyrics), Sammy Fain (music) and Irving Kahal (lyrics). The film's numbers were staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. It starred James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell, with featured appearances by Frank McHugh, Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert, and Ruth Donnelly.
A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially in a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are written in a light, informal style, and relate opinions about the personal lives or conduct of celebrities from show business, politicians, professional sports stars, and other wealthy people or public figures. Some gossip columnists broadcast segments on radio and television.
Walter Winchell was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and columnist for New York tabloids. He rose to national celebrity in the 1930s with Hearst newspaper chain syndication and a popular radio program. He was known for an innovative style of gossipy staccato news briefs, jokes, and Jazz Age slang. Biographer Neal Gabler claimed that his popularity and influence "turned journalism into a form of entertainment".
John Richard Moore Jr. was an American actor known professionally as Dickie Moore, he was one of the last surviving actors to have appeared in silent film. A busy and popular actor during his childhood and youth, he appeared in over 100 films until the early 1950s. Among his most notable appearances were the Our Gang series and films such as Oliver Twist, Blonde Venus, Sergeant York, Out of the Past, and Eight Iron Men.
William Lee Tracy was an American stage, film, and television actor. He is known foremost for his portrayals between the late 1920s and 1940s of fast-talking, wisecracking news reporters, press agents, lawyers, and salesmen. From 1949 to 1954, he was also featured in the weekly radio and television versions of the series Martin Kane: Private Eye, as well as starring as the newspaper columnist Lee Cochran in the 1958–1959 British-American crime drama New York Confidential. Later, in 1964, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe for his supporting role in the film The Best Man.
"The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze", originally published under the title "The Flying Trapeze" and also known as "The Man on the Flying Trapeze", is a 19th-century popular song about a flying trapeze circus performer, Jules Léotard. The refrain states:
Ralph Byrd was an American actor. He was most famous for playing the comic strip character Dick Tracy on screen, in serials, films and television.
The Lone Ranger is a 1938 American Republic Pictures movie serial based on The Lone Ranger radio program. It was the ninth of the sixty-six serials produced by Republic, the fourth Western and the first Republic serial release of 1938. The following year a sequel serial The Lone Ranger Rides Again was released. The fifteen chapters of the serial were condensed into the film Hi-Yo Silver, which was released in 1940.
Mr. Moto's Gamble is the third film in the Mr. Moto series starring Peter Lorre as the title character. It is best remembered for originating as a movie in the Charlie Chan series and being changed to a Mr. Moto entry at the last minute.
Night World is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film featuring Lew Ayres, Mae Clarke, and Boris Karloff. The supporting cast includes George Raft and Hedda Hopper.
Love Is a Racket is a 1932 American pre-Code romantic comedy-drama film, starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Ann Dvorak. The movie was written by Courtney Terrett from the novel by Rian James, and directed by William A. Wellman.
My Dream Is Yours is a 1949 American Technicolor musical romantic comedy film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Jack Carson, Doris Day, and Lee Bowman. This was a loose remake of the 1934 Twenty Million Sweethearts, starring Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers.
Thank You is a lost 1925 American comedy film directed by John Ford. This film is based on a 1921 Broadway play, Thank You, by Winchell Smith and Tom Cushing.
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a 1967 American romantic musical comedy-drama film based on the 1961 stage musical of the same name, which in turn was based on Shepherd Mead's 1952 book. The film was produced by United Artists and directed by David Swift, with original staging by Bob Fosse.
The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos is a 1937 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin. The short was released on December 4, 1937.
Okay, America! is a 1932 American Pre-Code film, about a gossip columnist's rise to fame, based closely on the real life of Walter Winchell. Directed by Tay Garnett, the film stars Lew Ayres and Maureen O'Sullivan.
Love and Hisses is a 1937 American musical comedy film directed by Sidney Lanfield and starring Walter Winchell, Ben Bernie and Simone Simon. It is the sequel to the film Wake Up and Live. Twentieth Century Fox's Darryl F. Zanuck wanted to continue the series with further films, but Winchell chose to return to New York to concentrate on his newspaper and radio work.