Ben Blue Movies
A lanky, rubber-limbed comedian with a sad face, Ben Blue achieved his effects as much with mime as with dialogue. From age 15 he was on the New York stage and in vaudeville, then beginning in 1926 he appeared in a series of silent short subjects for Warner Brothers, Hal Roach, and other studios. Often appearing in baggy pants, with an eccentric straw hat and cane, he went on during the sound era to work for Paramount, where he was the long-limbed, wistful-eyed funny man in dozens of pictures, tending to put in cameo appearances that stole the show from those with top billing. (One story has it that comedian Red Skelton, after being upstaged by Blue, had a clause put in his contract stating that he would never appear with him again). Blue went on to perform regularly in nightclubs and on TV but dropped out of films in 1948 and spent fifteen years managing the nightclubs he owned. He returned and continued making comedic cameos in films during the '60s (notably in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming). ~ All Movie Guide- 1937
Jack Benny had one of his first starring film roles in this breezy comedy with plenty of music. Benny plays Mac Brewster, an advertising man trying to hold on to his biggest client, a silver company run by Alan Townshend (Richard Arlen). Elsewhere in the office, Paula Sewell (Ida Lupino) longs to compete in the Artists and Models Ball and win the title of Queen. However, professional models are frowned upon at the Ball, and all entrants must be debutantes, which is two strikes against Paula; besides, snooty Cynthia Wentworth (Gail Patrick) looks to be a shoo-in to win. But Paula has a plan, and if it works she'll have won more than a crown at the end of the night. Comedy stars Ben Blue and Judy Canova highlight the supporting cast; the great Louis Armstrong performs a tune with Martha Raye. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Benny, Ida Lupino, (more)
- 1936
Casting an envious eye towards the huge box-office take of Columbia's Grace Moore vehicles, Republic hoped to strike gold in a similar fashion by fashioning a screen property for Kansas-born Metropolitan Opera diva Marion Talley. As it turned out, Follow Your Heart was Talley's first and last film, but Republic at least deserved a gold star for effort. The star is cast as Marian Forrester, the daughter of onetime opera star Madame Bovard (Henrietta Crossman). Recalling the many heartbreaks and disappointments attending her own stardom, Mme. Bovard refuses to allow Marian to pursue a singing career. But with the surreptitious help of handsome Michael Williams (Michael Bartlett, another real-life singer) and bumbling but lovable voice teacher Henri Forrester (Nigel Bruce), Marian makes her Met debut, and her mother gracefully bows to the inevitable. Though there's plenty of "straight" singing throughout Follow Your Heart, the film's highlight is a burlesque of the "Sextet" from Lucia di Lammermoor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marion Talley, Michael Bartlett, (more)
- 1936
The quaint genetic theories of the 1930s are satirized in College Holiday. Dotty matron Mary Boland runs a ramshackle summer resort, opening her doors to college students of both sexes--but only those collegiates with extra-special physical and mental skills. She hopes to encourage these select co-eds to meet and mate, then produce a breed of "perfect" children. What Boland doesn't count on is the supremacy of the Heart over Science. Engagingly silly, College Holiday devotes generous screen space to some of the biggest comic talents of the 1930s: Jack Benny, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Martha Raye and Ben Blue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Benny, Gracie Allen, (more)
- 1927
This silent British comedy features at least seven vaudeville acts and was adapted from a popular stage musical that tells the tale of a shady nightclub proprietor who heads for Arcadia because he believes the jig's up and the cops are out to get him for running an illegal operation after closing time. Eventually he returns to re-create his club and win his wife back from a dishonest jockey. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Blue, Jeanne de Casalis, (more)
