This is Lee Tracy in a definitive role for him in a definitive Warner's precode. Tracy had been a hit in quite a few films over at Warner's but if I was going to recommend just one film that he did that best displayed his fast talking talent, it would probably be this one.
Tracy plays Alvin Roberts, a guy who worked in the ad department at a newspaper until someone with a regular column goes on vacation (Ned Sparks as George Moxley). Roberts is given a chance to do the column for a couple of weeks and turns it into a mud slinging piece. He is constantly writing bits about how Mr and Mrs. X are anticipating a "blessed event", even if the event is in October and the wedding was in July. Believe it or not, just the discussion of pregnancy in the 1930's was taboo, even though, as Alvin says, the Blessed Events eventually turn into babies, and who doesn't like babies? Circulation soars, and when Moxley returns he finds that he is now the "pet editor" and Alvin keeps the column.
Ruth Donnely plays Alvin's fast talking secretary who answers phones ringing off the hook threatening lawsuits. As she says, "the line forms on the left". Alvin gets in trouble with a local gangster he is always writing about, and when one of his muscle men (Allen Jenkins as Frankie Wells) comes up to threaten him, Alvin turns the tables and scares him by getting Frankie to threaten him with the Dictaphone turned on, then Alvin describes the electric chair to Wells in hilarious detail - who else but Lee Tracy could make the electric chair funny? - and even charms Wells when he shows up at Alvin's apartment and meets his mom. At any rate, Wells ends up becoming a source of information for Alvin.
Soon Alvin has radio spots and with his column and appearances is pulling down 90K a year in 1932!. Still in spite of this hardened front Alvin lives at home with mom and drinks milk. Now all through this Alvin has a running feud going in his column with crooner Bunny Harmon (Dick Powell). This is Powell's first credited role, and apparently Harmon got Alvin fired from another paper years ago, so now Alvin goes around talking about what a bad singer Harmon is and showing up in "Alvin free zones" that Harmon has set up. But here's the thing - Dick Powell has no dialogue until the very end, and then it is very generic. Perhaps WB was just trying out Powell as a songbird to see if he went over with audiences.
So we have several stories here that begin to collide - Alvin's love for a female reporter (Mary Brian) who does not like how he is making his living, the gangster who can't figure out how Alvin knows his every move, Alvin's feud with Bunny Harmon, and one piece of dirt that Alvin dished out that he wishes that he could take back because it ruined a girl's life. How will all of this work out? Watch and find out. Highly recommended.
Tracy plays Alvin Roberts, a guy who worked in the ad department at a newspaper until someone with a regular column goes on vacation (Ned Sparks as George Moxley). Roberts is given a chance to do the column for a couple of weeks and turns it into a mud slinging piece. He is constantly writing bits about how Mr and Mrs. X are anticipating a "blessed event", even if the event is in October and the wedding was in July. Believe it or not, just the discussion of pregnancy in the 1930's was taboo, even though, as Alvin says, the Blessed Events eventually turn into babies, and who doesn't like babies? Circulation soars, and when Moxley returns he finds that he is now the "pet editor" and Alvin keeps the column.
Ruth Donnely plays Alvin's fast talking secretary who answers phones ringing off the hook threatening lawsuits. As she says, "the line forms on the left". Alvin gets in trouble with a local gangster he is always writing about, and when one of his muscle men (Allen Jenkins as Frankie Wells) comes up to threaten him, Alvin turns the tables and scares him by getting Frankie to threaten him with the Dictaphone turned on, then Alvin describes the electric chair to Wells in hilarious detail - who else but Lee Tracy could make the electric chair funny? - and even charms Wells when he shows up at Alvin's apartment and meets his mom. At any rate, Wells ends up becoming a source of information for Alvin.
Soon Alvin has radio spots and with his column and appearances is pulling down 90K a year in 1932!. Still in spite of this hardened front Alvin lives at home with mom and drinks milk. Now all through this Alvin has a running feud going in his column with crooner Bunny Harmon (Dick Powell). This is Powell's first credited role, and apparently Harmon got Alvin fired from another paper years ago, so now Alvin goes around talking about what a bad singer Harmon is and showing up in "Alvin free zones" that Harmon has set up. But here's the thing - Dick Powell has no dialogue until the very end, and then it is very generic. Perhaps WB was just trying out Powell as a songbird to see if he went over with audiences.
So we have several stories here that begin to collide - Alvin's love for a female reporter (Mary Brian) who does not like how he is making his living, the gangster who can't figure out how Alvin knows his every move, Alvin's feud with Bunny Harmon, and one piece of dirt that Alvin dished out that he wishes that he could take back because it ruined a girl's life. How will all of this work out? Watch and find out. Highly recommended.