User Reviews

Reversing the usual form, for the 50-minute Grapevine condensation, the storyline has been cut to the bone rather than the musical numbers. They seem reasonably complete, but what a pity the sound is so bad! You get the impression that the track was recorded in stereo but that only one mike was working, causing the other to draw a blank that is undercutting rather than enhancing the sound. It almost certainly didn't happen that way, but somewhere along the line the track was obviously re-recorded. That's a shame, because I think Tommy Christian and His Collegians are so terrific that it's worth putting up with all the defects on this DVD's sound track to be able to listen to them. Admittedly Tommy is a bit of a me-me-me artist, but aren't they all? Lucy Ennis does manage to push Tommy aside to give us a song and Jack J. Clark is in there with a tap dance. Other names include Art Barnett, Ellalee Ruby and Lucy Ames. The director -- if such a movie can be said to have a director -- was Charles J. Hunt. The film editor is wisely keeping his name under wraps. "Howdy, Broadway" is undoubtedly the worst edited movie of all time. During the first two reels, I counted over fifty mismatched shots. I'll admit the Broadway sequences staged a remarkable improvement over the college scenes -- but maybe this occurred simply because director Charles J. Hunt wisely didn't shoot any covering angles for the Broadway material.

When movies were young, Fort Lee, New Jersey boasted a thriving movie colony. It was only a bus ride from Broadway where struggling stage actors could supplement their meager income by working in the flicks. By the late 1920s only a few minor companies still operated there and one of those was Rayart. "Howdy Broadway" was made to capitalize on the modest (very modest) success of Tommy Christian and his Collegians and the title says it all. Tommy, who plays himself, is a champion college rower who also happens to have a snappy little dance band and even though only the last few minutes take place on Broadway that is where he wants to be!!

Being the hero of the hour after the big race, his sweetheart, Betty (Lucy Ames) can't get near him due to the tentacles put out by the college widow, Lulu (Ellalee Ruby) who desperately wants Tommy and his band to accompany her at an audition at the Ramble Inn. Pious Tommy almost keels over - after all it is a - speakeasy!!! and he wouldn't be caught dead there but he is soon persuaded. As it stands Aunt Ella could have taken her knitting group there, as the only person in the place apart from the musicians seems to be the Broadway producer and he likes what he sees. Actually the best performer in the movie is listed as "unidentified singer" and sings "Atta Boy" then launches into a spirited Charleston and novelty dance along the lines of George Raft in "Side Street". I could have seen him perform again as he really pepped the movie up.

The place is raided and Tommy, who has bravely helped the others to escape is caught and even though it means instant expulsion, will not reveal who was with him. He decides to take his band to New York where it will be "Howdy Broadway". Left behind is Betty who is "Gonna Be Blue" (according to the song) but tells Tommy "I Want You to Know, I Love You" - maybe his expulsion was a relief!!! Yes Lucy Ames had a fruity soprano but I can remember when Margaret Breen started to sing "If I Knew You Better" from "Heads Up" I was surprised at her full tilt operatic voice especially as the other two singers were Charles "Buddy" Rodgers and Helen Kane!! I don't think producers really cared in those days - as long as you could carry a tune no-one was concerned about mixing various styles. As another reviewer says, at 48 minutes the scanty plot was there to prop up the many, many mediocre songs. At the audition Lulu performed "Gazoozalum Gazoo" a direct ripoff of Winnie Lightner's vastly superior "Pingo Pongo" - Lulu was even dressed in a similar hula costume (that looked as though it had been stolen from Columbia's "The Broadway Hoofer"). The ending was made up of a few variety acts - maybe "several well known stars from the legitimate stage" the ads boasted of and I agree with "calvinnme", I also didn't notice any dancer doing a split that she failed to extricate herself from. There was a young girl dancing with feathers, the films dance director Jack J. Clark demonstrated a military tap dance and the obligatory chorus line. But just in case you think they are the most inept ever, go and track down "A Night in a Dormitory" (1930) where the loud taps of some pretty beefy chorus girls drown out Ginger Rogers singing.

I have read somewhere that "Howdy Broadway"'s budget would not have covered Bessie Love's sequined top hat from "The Broadway Melody" and was all part of the musicals at any cost madness that, in 1929, the public craved.