Pat Rooney, Jr. Movies
- 1948
Variety Time was the first of three "vaudeville-on-film" pastiches released by RKO Radio, each one comprised of highlights from earlier RKO productions. Hosted by Jack Paar (displaying only a fraction of the charisma he'd exhibit as late-night TV talk host), the film is a compendium of musical numbers, short subjects, and the occasional "new" comedy routine involving Paar and his perennial foil Hans Conried. Highlights include a Frankie Carle number from Riverboat Rhythm, a comedy adagio dance from Seven Days Leave, a hot Latin tune from Pan-America, and an excised dance sequence from Show Business. Two comedy short subjects were also included, in their entirety: Edgar Kennedy's I'll Build it Myself and Leon Errol's Hired Husband. Since it cost practically nothing to make, Variety Time couldn't help but post a tidy profit, encouraging future minings of the RKO Radio film vaults. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edgar Kennedy, Leon Errol, (more)
- 1944
After a year's absence, entertainer Eddie Cantor returned to the screen in the self-produced Show Business. The plot is loosely based on Cantor's own rise to fame, from vaudeville to Broadway. Covering the years 1914 to 1929, the film reflects the changing tastes in entertainment, though Cantor (as in real life) steadfastly remains the same. Co-stars George Murphy and Joan Davis likewise borrow from their own showbiz experience in playing their characters, while Constance Moore, who was still in her playpen when Cantor was at the height of his Ziegfeld Follies fame, provides the standard love interest. Highlights include such Cantor standards as "Curse of an Aching Heart," "Whoopee," and "Dinah," the latter performed in blackface. The best ensemble number is a devastating satire of Grand Opera, with Joan Davis particularly amusing as a Wagnerian soprano. A few excerpts from Show Business were reused as "flashbacks" in the subsequent Cantor-Davis starrer If You Knew Susie (1948). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Eddie Cantor, George Murphy, (more)
- 1938
Julius Sizzler, Dumb Dicks and Love and Onions are included in this collection of vintage comedy shorts. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi
Rating Systems
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