Helen Kane Movies
American actress and singer Helen Kane may best be remembered as the original "Boop-boop-a-doop" girl. A native of the Bronx, born Helen Schroeder, Kane got her start in vaudeville working with the Marx Brothers at age 17. In 1927, she made her Broadway debut in A Night in Spain, a musical. In 1928, Kane appeared in the musical Good Boy the show that produced her signature song "I Wanna Be Loved by You" with its boop-boop-a-doop tagline that Kane sang in a little girl's voice. She eventually became a contract player with Paramount and appeared in a few films. While at the studio, she became the inspiration for the animated cartoon character Betty Boop and launched a whole new series for animator Max Fleischer. Boop was first drawn by Grim Natwick who used Kane's face and physical features and combined them with those of a French poodle. In 1950, Kane was played by Debbie Reynolds in the feature biography of songwriters Kalmar and Ruby. When Reynolds sang "I Wanna Be Loved by You," Kane dubbed in her famous line. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
MGM's Three Little Words is a "twin" musical biopic, covering the lives and careers of songwriters Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. Fred Astaire plays Kalmar, a frustrated magician, while Red Skelton is cast as Ruby, a wannabe baseball player. After "meeting cute" during a disastrous vaudeville show, the oil-and-water Bert and Harry become a popular songwriting team, dashing off such favorites as Who's Sorry Now?, Nevertheless, So Long Oo-Long, I Wanna be Loved by You, All Alone Monday and the title song (the film unfortunately skimps on Kalmar and Ruby's Gilbert-and-Sullivan style novelty ditties, with the exception of Hooray for Captain Spaulding, Groucho Marx' signature tune in Animal Crackers). Adhering more to MGM formula than the facts, the script contrives to have Kalmar and Ruby split up over a trivial misunderstanding, only to be reunited by their wives for an "all is forgiven" radio broadcast hosted by bandleader Phil Regan. Vera-Ellen co-stars as Kalmar's vaudevillian wife Jessie Brown, while Arlene Dahl portrays Ruby's movie-star spouse Eileen Percy. Gloria DeHaven is seen as her own mother, Mrs. Carter DeHaven; and Debbie Reynolds plays "boop-a-doop" girl Helen Kane, her singing voice dubbed in by Ms. Kane herself. Though not quite as humorous as the subject matter would seem to dictate (Red Skelton gets his biggest laughs in the scenes wherein he, as Harry Ruby, participates in spring training with his favorite baseball club) Three Little Words is an excellent example of MGM's musical unit at the height of its powers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Red Skelton, (more)
- 1930
Considered the best of the all-star "studio" musicals of 1929 and 1930, Paramount on Parade utilized the talents of practically everyone on the Paramount Pictures payroll. Under the supervision of British musical-comedy favorite Elsie Janis, 11 top directors contributed to the project: Dorothy Arzner, Otto Brower, Edmund Goulding, Victor Heerman, Edwin H. Knopf, Rowland V. Lee, Ernst Lubitsch, Lothar Mendes, Victor Schertzinger, Edward Sutherland and Frank Tuttle. Introduced by masters of ceremonies Jack Oakie, Skeets Gallegher and Leon Errol, the film is a vaudeville-like maelstrom of musical duets, comedy sketches, occasional dramatic interludes, and spectacular production numbers. To mention all the highlights would take a book in itself but among them are Nancy Carroll's rendition of "Dancing to Save Your Sole" (performed inside a giant shoe!); Maurice Chevalier (and chorus) soaring heavenward in "Sweeping the Clouds Away" ; child actress Mitzi Green's dead-on impersonations of Chevalier, George Arliss, Moran & Mack and Helen "Boop-a-doop" Kane; Ernst Lubitsch's witty staging of an Apache dance in the style of a polite boudoir farce, with Chevalier (again) and Evelyn Brent; Clara Bow's saucy "I'm True to the Navy Now" ; the wish-fulfillment sketch "Impulses," in which George Bancroft and Kay Francis delightedly upset a dinner party by saying what's really on their minds; and best of all, "Murder Will Out," a murder-mystery parody wherein Fu Manchu (Warner Oland) bumps off Sherlock Holmes (Clive Brook) and Philo Vance (William Powell) when they refuse to give him proper credit for his killing of Jack Oakie. Only the dramatic sketch with Frederic March and Ruth Chatterton truly creaks when seen today. Originally released at 102 minutes, Paramount on Parade is presently available only in an 80-minute version, with all its Technicolor sequences missing: casualties include the elaborate "Drink to the Girl of My Dreams" number, directed by Edmund Goulding and featuring Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur and Fay Wray, and Harry Green's dialect song "Isadore the Toreodor". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maurice Chevalier, Richard Arlen, (more)
- 1930
In this actioner, a Coast Guard ensign must investigate a yacht suspected of smuggling alcohol. While aboard, he falls for a lovely young woman. The woman disobeys her mother and begins seeing the ensign who soon discovers that the brains behind the operation is the man the woman's mother wanted her to marry. Songs include: "My Man Is On The Make," "A Ship Without A Sail," and "If I Knew You Better." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Kane, Victor Moore, (more)
- 1930
William Powell was still in his tux-and-top-hat period when he starred in Pointed Heels. The scene is Broadway, where millionaire Robert Courtland (Powell) promises to back a new musical production on the proviso that bit player Lora Nixon (Fay Wray) be given a major role. Lora is appreciative but drops out of the show upon falling in love with younger millionaire Donald Ogden (Phillips Holmes). When Donald's mother cuts him off without a cent, Lora shows that she's true-blue after all by returning to the stage to support him. Still quite fond of Lora, Courtland arranges for her latest show, which threatens to be a flop, to become a hit by getting the show's pretentious stars drunk so that their attempts at high drama will be misinterpreted as comedy. Ungrateful Donald mistakenly believes that Lora is having an affair with her benefactor and walks out on his "unfaithful" wife, but with Courtland's help the two sweethearts are reunited at film's end. Pointed Heels was supposed to have been a vehicle for "boop-boop-a-doop" girl Helen Kane, but by the time the film was released, Kane's role was reduced to a supporting part. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Powell, Fay Wray, (more)
- 1930
Having long enjoyed a near-legendary status because of its general unavailability, Dangerous Nan McGrew inevitably disappoints when seen today. In her only starring feature role, Helen Kane, the original "Boop-boop-a-doop" girl, stars as an entertainer in a travelling medicine show. While her boss Doc Foster (Victor Moore) peddles his snake oil and picks as many pockets as possible, Nan shows off her skills as a singer and sharpshooter. Through a series of improbable plot twists, Doc's little show becomes a rendezvous for bank robber Muldoon (Frank Morgan), RCMP officer Bob Dawes (James Hall), and all-around dufus Eustace Macy (Stu Erwin). The comedy sequences are strictly from hunger, and the songs aren't much better, but Helen Kane's sheer likability -- and the combined comic expertise of Victor Moore (in his first talkie) and Frank Morgan -- save the film from being a complete waste of time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Kane, Victor Moore, (more)
- 1929
In this college-campus musical, a Broadway star finds herself the proud owner of a North Carolina college. The star's boy friend attends the school where he is a big football hero. The trouble begins when the star begins trying to convince the young man to forget about school and elope with her and he refuses because he would let down his team. The determined young woman begins trying to force him to give up football, but she fails. Songs include: "My Sweeter Than Sweet," "The Prep Step," "I Think You'll Like It," "Alma Mammy" ( a parody of Jolson's minstrel classic, sung by Jack Oakie), "Bear Down Pelham" (Richard A. Whiting, George Marion, Jr.), "He's So Unusual" (Al Lewis, Abner Silver, Al Sherman), "Sweetie" (sung by Helen Kane). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nancy Carroll, Helen Kane, (more)
- 1929
This second of three film versions of the durable James Montgomery stage farce Nothing But the Truth was also the first "talkie" version. Richard Dix stars as Robert Bennett, a rising young stockbroker who bets $10,000 that he can go 24 hours without telling a fib. Bennett's prospective father-in-law E.M. Burke (Berton Churchill) stands to lose big-time if our hero wins, thus Burke does everything he can to throw Bennett into embarrassing situations where the truth is not necessarily the best weapon. The day is saved when Burke's scheme to trick Bennett into losing the wager backfires-- but Bennett still has to explain his boorish behavior during the past 24 hours to all the people he's offended. Nothing but the Truth was memorably remade in 1941 with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard, and in 1997 the basic premise was exhumed for the hilarious Jim Carrey vehicle Liar Liar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dix, Berton Churchill, (more)
