Weekend Onesie: When Art Imitates Itself

Weekend Onesie: 

When Art Imitates Itself

Life is so circular.

So, in 1977, I'm reading this rave review in Rolling Stone magazine about the debut album of a new artist, Bruce Roberts. I can tell by what is said in the review that this is very much an album I would love. The review mentions that one of the songs (Starmaker) would be perfect for Streisand. Well, Starmaker did become a hit of sorts, but not for Streisand. No, instead she chose I Don't Break Easily (it's on her Songbird album). Anyway, I find a copy of Bruce Robert's debut album about six months later and it remains on my turntable for the next six. That is to say, I studied that damn thing like it was the bible of songwriting.

By the time his debut album came out, Bruce was an industry pro. He had released a few singles early on, on Bell Records, but they went nowhere. He was also the voice of Danny Bonoduce (of The Partridge Family) on Bonoduce's sole solo album. And, of course, before and after his two-album fling at Elektra, he was (and remains) a bona fide songwriter. He would work with Donna Summer (All Through The Night, Enough Is Enough (No More Tears), etc.). He even duets with her on the theme song for the Stallone film Daylight (Whenever There Is Love). He also wrote a bunch of hits for other artists: Laura Brannigan, The Pointer Sisters, Barbara Streisand, Gladys Knight, Rita Coolidge... it's a long list. And co-wrote with a lot of industry heavyweights, including Carole Bayer Sager. 

If interested, you should check out his superb 1995 album, Intimacy. The man has a voice that is amazingly flexible with the loveliest of tones. 

Okay, back to the subject of today's post...

That debut album... the album cover? 

I was puzzled. I was several years from graduating from high school and had no idea what to make of that big grey triangle in the background. Yes, as I was infatuated with the album's music, so I became fascinated by its cover. 

Fast forward to November of 2024 and I came upon this image... a vintage ad for socks or sock garters? I dunno. But... ping! 

And so, I wonder; was this the inspiration behind Bruce Roberts album cover? Did he happen to see it and want to replicate it or was this the work of his art direction team: Tony Lane, Todd Smith and Howard Carriker?

Indeed, it was. On the album sleeve's credits it states that it is in the style of E. Cole Phillips, the illustrator of the original ad. 

And so, a question that began in 1977, is finally answered in 2024. 

As for that big grey triangle? Well, I eventually stumbled on what that as all about... certainly nothing ever taught at my high school. 

I still have that album.

I play it at least once a year in its entirety and mourn the loss of the child who bought and studied it. 

Yes... life is so circular.

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I'd Rather Be Alone - Bruce Roberts

Wonderland Burlesque's Pick Of The Week: Nice To Each Other - Olivia Dean

Wonderland Burlesque's

Pick Of The Week: 

Nice To Each Other - Olivia Dean

This week? I had a hard time finding something to sink my teeth into; there seemed to be something wrong with every song/video I hit upon. Ava Max? Madonna and Lady Gaga have a bone to pick with you, girl. And Martin Garrix and Lauv? You best check your fossil fuel imprint - private jets? Uh-huh, sorry, I can't. Yungblud? I've not seen a poser so obvious since the days of Johnny Cougar. And I simply cannot get behind any of this broody boy-next-door whining being passed off as pop ballads - sorry shoe-gazers... you are not that deep.

But then... in blows Olivia Dean sporting a very mid-70's singer/songwriter vibe with a sunny strummy bit of pop in the form of Nice To Each Other. I checked - and yes - she wrote it (with Max Hale), so the category fits. Something about the song makes me think of Maria Muldaur, Carole King, and early Carly Simon. I want to get lost in her sunshine bliss.

Her voice has such a lovely, easy tone, with just a bit of ache to it. And that C section brings to mind RES at her best. All in all, I find it refreshing and adore its laissez faire attitude. Any way the wind blows... And the theatre nerd vibe of the video seems the icing on this very sweet cake.

Bravo and well done... destined to become a classic. 

I've done all the classic stuff, indeed!

Midweek hump?

Feeling in the dumps?

Here's some music to make your heart jump!

 - uptonking from Wonderland Burlesque

Nice To Each Other - Olivia Dean

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Wonderland Burlesque's Down The Rabbit Hole: Wa Wa Nee

Wonderland Burlesque's 

Down The Rabbit Hole: 

Wa Wa Nee

Down The Rabbit Hole merely places a spotlight on something slightly unusual that's caught my interest. With the help of Wikipedia, YouTube, and other sites, I gather information and learn something new.

Today, we take a look at New Zealand's Wa Wa Nee and their Prince-inspired pop!

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Formed in 1982, Wa Wa Nee consisted of singer/songwriter Paul Gray, guitarist Steve Williams, bassist Geoff Lundren, keyboardist/singer Elizabeth Lord and drummer Chris Sweeney. They signed with CBS Records in 1985 and Mark Gray (Paul's brother) and Phil Witchett were brought on board. Their debut single, Stimulation, was released in April of 1986 and peaked at #2 in Australia. It also managed to reach #11 in New Zealand. This was followed by I Could Make You Love Me in August of 1986 and it peaked at #5 in Australia. 

The group released their self-titled debut album in November of 1986. It managed to reach the #9 slot in Australia. An additional two singles were spun off the album: the top-Ten Sugar Free (#10, December 1986)) and  One and One (Ain't I Good Enough), which peaked inside the Top 20 in Australia in April of 1987. Sugar Free was also released in the United States in July of 1987 and peaked at #35 on the Billboard Hot 100. Sugar Free was also featured in the Australian horror film Cassandra. Stimulation was then released as the follow-up single in the US, where it peaked at #86. It was featured in the Justin Bateman, Liam Neeson, Julia Roberts film Satisfaction.

To fill the gap while awaiting their follow-up album, a remix album, titled Ulta Mixes was released in 1987.

Tragedy struck during the recording of the second studio album in 1988, with the unexpected death of keyboardist Phil Witchett. The group soldiered on, releasing the album's lead single, Can't Control Myself in November 1988. The song peaked at #31. Their second studio album, Blush was released in May of 1989. It included two more singles, So Good (#36) and I Want You (#52), however, the album's commercial performance was disappointing, and the group disbanded later in 1989.

And that's all she wrote.

The individual group members would go on to join other groups, but they never truly came back together (though one member is currently touring as Wa Wa Nee). 

But that's the way of pop... one day you're coming into focus, the next... you're fading away.

Stimulation - Wa Wa Nee

I Could Make You Love Me - Wa Wa Nee

Sugar Free - Wa Wa Nee

One And One (Ain't I Good Enough) - Wa Wa Nee

Can't Control Myself - Wa Wa Nee

So Good - Wa Wa Nee

I Want You - Wa Wa Nee 

 

Wonderland Burlesque's The Twelve Days Before Xmas - Day Two: Red Silk Stockings and Green Perfume - Don Cornell

Wonderland Burlesque's 

The Twelve Days Before Xmas

Day Two: 

Red Silk Stockings and Green Perfume - Don Cornell 

Day two of The Twelve Days Before Xmas finds us listening to Don Cornell as accompanied by Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye.

Don Cornell hit the charts in 1942 and enjoyed a string of 35 (!) Top 40 hits until 1958. This song, Red Silk Stockings and Green Perfume, is a pop song written in 1946 by Bob Hilliard, Sammy Mysels, and Dick Sanford, hit #8 in 1947. It was originally issued as RCA Records 2-2251-B.

While not exactly an Xmas song, it does hint at the season's festive colors of choice, red and green.
 

Red Silk Stockings and Green Perfume - 

Don Cornell with Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye

Don Cornell

Ho, ho, ho... ten to go!

Wonderland Burlesque's The Twelve Days Before Xmas - Day One: Suzy Snowflake - Rosemary Clooney

Wonderland Burlesque's 

The Twelve Days Before Xmas

Day One:

Suzy Snowflake - Rosemary Clooney

It's time once more to for Wonderland Burlesque's The Twelve Days Before Xmas. This year's theme? Vintage songs that never quite became holiday favorites, but are deserving of a little airplay... or at least another listen!

Rosemary Clooney

We kick it off with this Rosemary Clooney classic, Suzy Snowflake. So popular, it inspired a little stop-motion video! Originally issued on Columbia as single 39612 in 1951, Suzy Snowflake was written by Sid Tepper and Roy Brodsky and sung by Rosemary Clooney with a full orchestra as conducted by Tony Mottola.

The song doesn't mention Xmas, but it does celebrate winter in the most magical of ways.

Suzy Snowflake - Rosemary Clooney

And here's the little stop-motion short, which debuted in 1953. Created by Centaur Productions, featuring the stop-motion animation of Wah Ming Chang, it is annually shown during the Christmas season on WGN-TV in Chicago and WJAC-TV in Johnstown, Pennsylvania,

Suzy Snowflake - 1953

And the countdown begins!

Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: Olly Alexander

Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip:

Olly Alexander

In my big gay church there is a wing dedicated to The Divas Who Represent. They're not all flashy or cocks of the walk - in fact, some never officially came out of the closet during their lifetime - but they are all extraordinarily gifted, sharing their songs, music, and insights, allowing the world at large to learn, in the most subtle of ways, what it's like 'being green'. Thanks to their gifts and their bravery, they help make the world a little more gay every time their voices are heard. And that's been their true super power all along... their voice; they were heard. They mattered. And, whether they liked it or not, they represented!

Well, I suppose once you've sung a song at Eurovision in a floating cube-shaped gym shower room surrounded by four dancing, beefy, musclebound boxers - it's all downhill from there.

Don't count on it.

This diva has barely hit his stride. 

A product of social media and the run-of-the-mill media, this actor, dancer, singer, writer, is constantly on point and as far out as one could possibly be.

He's Frank Sinatra for the coming generation. All he's accomplished - television, video, music, concerts, film... it's like superstardom on steroids. 

Not heard of him? Well, come up for air once and awhile, my dears... this lad is in it for the long haul. 

It's not all been a night at he prom. He's experienced and is experiencing all the usual showbiz clichés: sudden success is always accompanied by some type of whiplash. But this gay icon has dealt with it all with head on - as in, head on straight. Never blindsided for more than a moment, for one so young, he's managed it all quite well. 

It all bodes well for the future. And this diva has a wonderful one ahead of him... 

So grab on and take this one to the stars... he shines so bright.

The gospel according to him?

Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from his lips.

The topic? When Sexuality Meets Music

"I used to be scared of people thinking I was gay but now I'd be shocked if they didn't."

"As young as 10 I started fancying boys. It's a common experience but I just wished I wasn't gay up until the age of 18 or 19."

"We are traumatized by growing up in a world that doesn't really accept us. Obviously, we've made great leaps and bounds, but I think there's a tendency to force a narrative onto queer people that once you come out... you have to be really happy and really successful and proud all the time."

"So many queer people come out constantly for the rest of their lives, ya know? To the people they work with, to people in taxi cabs. Whatever it is, it isn't the one day."

"Let's let our men be happy, be sad, be trans, be questioning, be bisexual, be non-conforming, be feminine, be masculine!"

"There's something endemic about the gay community where we praise masculinity more than anything else."

"We can't police the way people express their sexuality."

"We have to listen and learn from each other to lift each other up, so we can all live the life we deserve."

"I would love it if less bands were hetero."

"Everyone has a different definition of what they find sexy, so why do we so often get given one version of what sexy is time and time again?"

"Most of the pop videos I've seen that have any male/female interaction are usually centered around a romance - and that's great, I am all for romance. But let's face it, there are a lot of other sexualities and identities that are well-deserving of some shiny pop video love."

"When I meet gay kids and they know who we are, I remember that's amazing because literally every gay person in every gay story I knew growing up was doomed to die. There weren't any positive gay stories and it's incredible that has changed."

"My sexuality is part of my music, part of my identity."

"There's entrenched homophobia behind the scenes at all levels of the music industry."

"If you look at pop stars through the ages, we've had camp, glam popstars from the 80s - your George Michaels and what have you - but then people went back to the closet a bit, and became more homogenized and generic."

"Pop music has a pretty good track record of embracing queer culture."

"I get a real thrill for being 'overtly queer' in my aesthetic."

"What's great about being gay is that you can celebrate all types of sexualities, because we understand that being queer means you might also be gender nonconforming or bi or whatever."

"I identify as a gay man all the time, but I also like to identify as queer."

"The word queer first started being used in the late 1980s by members of the community who wanted to reclaim something negative and turn it into a positive. It's still a painful word for some, and lots of people don't identify with it. But for me it's a helpful and empowering term that unifies an ever-growing community."

King - Years & Years

Starstruck - Olly Alexander

Dizzy - Olly Alexander

And one last parting shot...

"I feel sorry for straight people."

"I'm not saying that being straight is easy, but when you're gay, you don't really have a familial network or support system. You have to find that."

"I'm the person I am because of all the support we have but inside there is still a scared, gay kid, worried he's going to get bullied and people aren't going to like what I do."

"I think the reason I've been so committed to advocacy is because I see so many people in pain."

"I genuinely do want the world to change in a positive way, but I wouldn't call myself an activist, you know? I'm an entertainer who engages with activism because it feels really meaningful for me."

 

Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: Aimee Mann

Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip:

Aimee Mann

In my own, personal, big gay church, there is a wing dedicated to Those of the Heart. These are the singers, songwriters and muses who have spent a lifetime capturing various aspects of the human condition. Frequently, due to the whims of the music industry, their lives were not always their own... but they persevered... ultimately remaining true to their roles as seers of the heart. One such soul?

The crystalline Amiee Mann.

She burst onto the screens of MTV and startled a nation. Was this... a feminist anthem masquerading as a delicious pop song? The amount of sly intelligence and heartfelt sensitivity on display was rare in those days. Could pop be... smart?

Under the moniker of 'Til Tuesday, this diva carved out a unique place, as original as the songs she wrote, offering them up with shiny sharp beats and a voice which communicated more than mere melody and words. The glass half full, half empty, she carried on until contracts were fulfilled and then emerged as a solo artist.

Then the songwriting took on darker hues, exploring even more intimate niches of the common psyche. In doing so, she overturned stone after stone, examining, describing, and demonstrating what she had found there, revealing that which formerly lived in silence, giving voice to parts of ourselves we need to be aware of.

While her fanbase became more focused, it also became more rabid, hungry for each new morsel this talented icon recorded. For, even at the beginning, quality always mattered more than quantity. In this musical icon's world? Musical integrity matters. One thing you can be sure of: if this diva releases a song? It has met her own high standards and is more than worthy of a listen.

So? Do. Listen.

The gospel according to her?

Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from her lips.

The topic? The Road To Musical Integrity

"I became friendly with a bass player. He told me about this place called the Berklee College of Music, and said that you didn’t have to audition. They had a summer session you could attend; that was 'Come one, come all.' So I went there and it opened a lot of doors for me. First of all, the ear training - to work on your ear and learn to hear things you’d heretofore not been able to ascertain, individual instruments, chords and where they went, and remember melodies better. I’d just thought, either you could do it or you couldn’t. That plus learning about chord progressions and music theory, and which chords sound good going into other chords - that was really a revelation."

"So I started applying that to writing songs. Which were all terrible. But you do it enough, and you get better at it."

"When you're younger, a lot of your art or music or whatever is more about just trying to look like you're an artist  - trying to look like you're a certain thing or trying to just fit in."

"When I first started writing songs, all I wanted to do was a write a song that sounded like another song so that it sounded like a legitimate thing. Not necessarily a song that expresses anything I'm actually thinking or feeling."

"Here's what I'm mostly thinking or feeling in my early 20s: 'I hope I fit in.' And that's not that interesting. 'I hope people don't think I'm a fraud, I want to be liked.' That seems kind of anti-art, really."

"Older artists kind of don't care about that as much. That's liberating and feels more like what true art should be about."

"One of the things I've really gotten past in the last couple of years is the idea of being made uncomfortable by the way things appear, rather than how things are. Clearly in this business you have to contend with a lot of that."

"There's a lot of music that sounds like it's literally computer-generated, totally divorced from a guy sitting down at an instrument."

"I certainly understand that we're all trying to make a living, but I'm not thinking about that when I'm making it. And if that's your sole motivation, it's going to reflect that narcissistic greed, and you're going to hear it in the music."

"It's more important for me to have a good record with good music and be part of a movie that's good and where the music is used in a really great way. That's the important thing. The other stuff you want to say about it, I don't care."

Voices Carry - 'Til Tuesday

Save Me - Aimee Mann

from the 1999 motion picture Magnolia

Goose Snow Cone - Aimee Mann

“I think, to be happy is to be interested and engaged.”

"Anybody who cares less about wanting to be cool, I think, is more interesting."

"I suppose I should be happy to be misread; better be that than some of the other things I have become."

"I didn't want to play these people any more songs and have them say that they weren't good enough. So my response was to just not be able to write anymore. I know that's not the healthiest of responses."

"It really doesn't matter to me what people say about me anymore."

"Listen, I'm out of this system, man, I'm out... I'm doing better than ever. I couldn't be more happy."

Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies: All The World Is A Stage, Part 11 of 12

Wonderland Burlesque's

Let's All Go To The Movies:

All The World Is A Stage

Part 11 of 12

This is the eleventh in a twelve-part series of posts dealing with show business, be it the stage or soundstage.

Yes, show people, their tawdry little lives - in the theatre or movie studio - in all their glory, projected up there on the big screen, bigger than life; and they wouldn't have it any other way. For you see, they live for the stuff; the imitation glamor, the insufferable players, the exhausting rehearsals, and the oh-so important reviews - but above all else - they do it for the applause.

So hit the lights, for today, all the world is, indeed, a stage!

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Footlight Parade

(1933)

Chester Kent used to produce musical comedies for the stage. However, with the beginning of the talkies era he switches focus and starts producing short musical prologues for movies. This becomes very stressful because he always needs new product and his rival keeps stealing his ideas. In order to secure a contract with a bigtime producer, Chester must stage three new prologues in three days. Will he meet his deadline? 

 

Based on a story by Robert Lord and Peter Milne, this American pre-Code musical was directed by Lloyd Bacon, with songs written by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, and Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal. The film's musical numbers were staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. It stars James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell, with featured appearances by Frank McHugh, Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert, and Ruth Donnelly.

Looking for a role different from the gangster films which had catapulted him to fame, Cagney actively campaigned for the lead role of Chester Kent, based on well-known impresario Chester Hale of the prologue production company Fanchon and Marco. Cagney had gotten his start in vaudeville and Broadway before going into film work, but this is the first film where he got an opportunity to dance - showing off his experience as a song-and-dance man.

Dick Powell had become ill with pneumonia and had to be hospitalized and then rest for several weeks as production on the film began. The studio initially replaced him with Stanley Smith and all scenes were completed using Smith. However, it was ultimately decided that audiences wouldn't want to see an actor orther than Powell paired with Ruby Keeler, so the Smith footage was scrapped and the production delayed until Powell was back on his feet.

Future star Dorothy Lamour can be seen near the end of the By a Waterfall number, in a medium close-up shot of the tiers of chorus girls, in the lower right. Future star Ann Sothern can also be seen sitting at the first table at the beginning of the Shanghai Lil number, and then two minutes later at the bar.

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Dames

(1934)

Multi-millionaire Ezra Ounce wants to start a campaign against 'filthy' forms of entertainment, like Broadway Shows. He visits relatives and forces them to enlist in his moral-boosting campaign. But Jimmy, another relative, is producing a show starring Ezra's niece Barbara. When he runs into trouble with his financial backer, who has given Jimmy an bad check, show-girl Mabel comes up with the idea to blackmail Barbara's father, Horace, whom she once trapped in a slightly compromising situation, in order to secure the necessary money.

This Warner Bros. musical comedy was directed by Ray Enright with dance numbers created by Busby Berkeley. The film stars Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, Guy Kibbee, ZaSu Pitts, and Hugh Herbert.

Joan Blondell was pregnant at the time of the 'ironing board' number. Her husband, and the child's father, George Barnes was this film's cinematographer and used camera angles and props to hide her condition.

The director originally slated to do the film was Archie Mayo, then a second director was brought in, but, a week before filming was to begin,  Ray Enright got the job. Some early casting considerations included Ruth Donnelly playing Mathilda instead of ZaSu Pitts, and Hobart Cavanaugh playing Ellsworthy Todd. In addition, the studio wanted Broadway dancer Eleanor Powell to perform a special dance number, but she refused. 

During the routine for I Only Have Eyes For You, in a shot worthy of Salvador Dalí, Ruby Keeler appears to emerge from her own eyeball.

The musical sequences in Dames were designed, staged and directed by Busby Berkeley. The Warner Bros. publicity office invented the phrase 'cinematerpsichorean' to describe Berkeley's creations. By this time, after the success of 42nd Street, Footlight Parade and Gold Diggers of 1933, Berkeley had his own unit at Warners under his total control, supervised by producer Hal Wallis.

The revolving stage in this picture was also used in Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935). Warner Bros. had the stage design patented hoping other studios could be prevented from using one in a similar fashion as Berkeley did in this film.

One of the effects of the Production Code on this film is that an entire musical number never made it to the screen. Berkeley had planned one featuring Joan Blondell about a fight between a cat and a mouse that ended with Blondell inviting everyone to "come up and see my pussy sometime". Producer Hal Wallis removed the number from the script before it got to the censors of the Hays Office.

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Gold Diggers Of 1937

(1936)

.

Stage-producer J.J. Hobart, a hopeless hypochondriac, is going to put on a new show, unaware that his two partners lost all the backing money in the stock market. Insurance salesman Rosmer Peek falls in love with ex-chorus girl Joan Blondell, who's friend Genevieve makes a play for one of J.J Hobart's partners. Together, they come up with the idea to insure J.J. - who is always falling ill with this or that - for $1 million, which will be awarded them when he dies. Rosmer sells him the policy. However, once they find out that he's only a hypochondriac, an attempt to kill him 'accidentally' fails. Things are further complicated when Genevieve falls in love with J.J. But when J.J. is informed that he is putting on a show with no money, he has a nervous breakdown and it turns out the only possible way to restore J.J.'s health is to put on the show, in spite of the lack of money.

Based on the play Sweet Mystery of Life by Richard Maibaum, Michael Wallach and George Haight, this Warner Bros. movie musical was directed by Lloyd Bacon with musical numbers created and directed by Busby Berkeley, and stars Dick Powell and Joan Blondell, who were married at the time, with Glenda Farrell and Victor Moore.

The film features songs by the teams of Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, and Harry Warren and Al Dubin. Originally, all the songs for the film were to have been written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, but Berkeley was dissatisfied and brought in Harry Warren and Al Dubin, who had contributed songs to his previous Warner Bros. films. Their song With Plenty of Money and You (The Gold Diggers' Lullaby) became a hit.

Although Busby Berkeley had directed Gold Diggers of 1935, for this film the director's chair was occupied by Warner Bros. comedy veteran Lloyd Bacon, who had collaborated with Berkeley on 42nd Street. This film marked Victor Moore's return to the screen after a two-year absence following Gift of Gab, during which he starred in Anything Goes on Broadway.

This is the fifth movie in Warner Bros.' series of 'Gold Digger' films.

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Little Miss Broadway

(1938)

An orphan is provisionally adopted by the manager of a hotel populated by show-business people. The hotel's owner doesn't like the entertainers who live at the hotel, nor their influence on the orphan girl. To put an end to thoughts of show biz, demands that the manager return the girl to the orphanage.

This American musical drama was directed by Irving Cummings and stars Shirley Temple, George Murphy, Jimmy Durante, Phyllis Brooks and Edna Mae Oliver. 

Murphy, who was not satisfied with the dance routine in We Should Be Together, insisted that movie's closing dance number be reworked. Despite her mother's concerns, Temple was keen to do it. The dance number proved so popular with the cast and crew that Murphy and Temple gave an encore performance once the cameras stopped rolling.

The New York Times wrote, "The devastating Mistress Temple is slightly less devastating than usual (it can't be old age, but it does look like weariness) although she performs with her customary gaiety and dimpled charm, there is no mistaking the effort every dimple cost her."

It's original title was Little Lady of Broadway.

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The Battle Of Broadway

(1938)

For two of its attendees, the New York convention of the American Legion means more than merely a reunion of wartime buddies. Big Ben Wheeler (Victor McLaglen) and Chesty Webb (Brian Donlevy) bring instructions from their steel-town boss, Homer C. Bundy (Raymond Walburn), to undertake the break-up of a romance between his son Jack (Robert Kellard) and Linda Lee (Gypsy Rose Lee), a gold-digging nightclub singer. Complications arise as they break up most of New York City trying to carry out their assignment!

This American comedy was directed by George Marshall and stars Victor McLaglen, Brian Donlevy, Gypsy Rose Lee, Raymond Walburn, Lynn Bari and Jane Darwell.  

In a 1938 review for the film The New York Times stated "Though it will not be hailed as one of the year's finer historical films and might even be said, despite the riot scenes, to suffer from a kind of timid civilian understatement, the extent of which can only be measured by those who have lived through 'the terror' – as we of the Times Square area tend to think of it – Battle of Broadway seems to provoke enough of those tolerant, unanalytical audience guffaws to justify its modestly budgeted existence.

Gypsy Rose Lee 

(Louise Havok)

Mary Martin dubbed the singing voice for Gypsy Rose Lee.

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And that's all for now.

Tune in next time...

Same place, same channel.

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I Only Have Eyes For You - Ruby Keeler

from the 1934 motion picture Dames