Love Is on the Air | |
---|---|
![]() Film poster | |
Directed by | Nick Grinde |
Written by | Roy Chanslor |
Screenplay by | Morton Grant George Bricker Pat C. Flick |
Based on | Love Is on the Air (short story) |
Produced by | Bryan Foy Hal B. Wallis Jack L. Warner |
Starring | Ronald Reagan June Travis Eddie Acuff Ben Welden |
Cinematography | James Van Trees |
Edited by | Doug Gould |
Music by | Howard Jackson |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release dates | |
Running time | 59 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Love is on the Air is a 1937 American mystery film directed by Nick Grinde and starring Ronald Reagan (in his film debut), June Travis, Eddie Acuff, Robert Barrat, Raymond Hatton and Willard Parker. It was the first of three remakes of the 1933 Paul Muni picture Hi, Nellie! , to be followed by You Can't Escape Forever (1942) and The House Across the Street (1949). [4]
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2013) |
Reckless radio commentator Andy McCaine finds trouble when he attacks a corrupt city government, so his boss forces him to host an innocuous children's program.
Love Is on the Air was first previewed in Des Moines, Iowa on September 16, 1937, where Ronald Reagan, known as "Dutch", had recently worked as a sports announcer for radio station WHO. Reagan's parents, en route to visit him in California, attended the preview screening, which brought Reagan's mother to tears. [5]
The film was afforded a Hollywood-style premiere on September 30 in Des Moines. Before the film began, the audience heard a live telephone conversation between Reagan and Des Moines civic leaders and other supporters, including Reagan's brother Neil Reagan, who attended in person. [1]
In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther called Love Is on the Air "a modest little comedy-melodrama which makes no pretentions to class and even less to credibility". [3]