Bobby Breen Movies
Breen began appearing as a nightclub and stage singer at age seven, becoming nationally famous in 1936 when he became a regular on Eddie Cantor's weekly radio show. That same year he was hired by RKO and shortly was the studio's leading child star. Before his voice changed he appeared in several films as a singing actor, beginning with Let's Sing Again (1936). His last film was Johnny Doughboy (1942). After his film career he continued working as a singer in nightclubs and a musical performer in stock. He graduated from UCLA and was a guest pianist for the NBC Symphony Orchestra on radio. Breen served in the infantry in World War Two, then studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. For a while he had a local TV show in New York. ~ All Movie Guide
Way Down South ranks as among the better Bobby Breen musicals, if only because of its impressive production credits. The film is set in antebellum Louisiana, where young Tim Reid's (Breen) inheritance is highly coveted by crooked attorney Martin Dill (Edwin Maxwell). With the help of kindly Cajun innkeeper Jacques Bouton (Alan Mowbray), Tim is able to foil the villain, with time left over for a number of Southern-fried tunes. The film's attitudes towards slavery-to a man, the "darkies" are blissfully content with their lot in life-is astonishing, inasmuch as the film was cowritten by Clarence Muse (one of the more militant black performers in Hollywood) and African American poet Langston Hughes! The screenwriters were also responsible for the songs, including "Louisiana" and "Good Ground." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bobby Breen, Alan Mowbray, (more)
In this musical drama, a child is abandoned upon the San Francisco docks. He is found and raised by a fisherman. His life is happy until the fisherman's sister-in-law moves in after her husband dies. She brings her bratty son with her. This upsets the orphan so much that he runs away. The fisherman launches a huge city-wide search, finds the sad lad, and finally brings him back home. Songs include: "Fisherman's Chantey," "Sell Your Cares for a Song," and "Blue Italian Waters." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bobby Breen, Henry Armetta, (more)
- 1939
In this musical adventure, a Latin American motorcycle-taxi driver shows an American tourist around his city. He next fixes the tourista up with a pretty Senorita. Then he causes trouble by illegally purchasing tea leaves in the tourist's name. Fortunately, the tourist ends up making a bundle by exporting the leaves. He also wins the senorita's heart. Songs include: "Tra-LaLa", "Rhythm of the Rio", and "Ay, Ay, Ay". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bobby Breen, Kent Taylor, (more)
- 1938
Boy soprano Bobby Breen dons a pair of skates in the oddball musical Breaking the Ice. Escaping his super-strict Mennonite relatives, our hero gets a job singing at a Philadelphia ice-skating rink. Here he tries to earn enough money to help his beloved widowed mother (Dolores Costello) wrest herself free of those selfsame relatives. The plot requires canary-voiced Breen to share the spotlight with six-year-old skating sensation Irene Dare. Within a year, Breaking the Ice producer Sol Lesser attempted to launch another series of family musicals built around the talents of little Ms. Dare, but the first entry in this project--Everything's on Ice--was also the last. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bobby Breen, Charlie Ruggles, (more)
- 1938
Though it may be difficult for modern audiences to understand or appreciate the appeal of canary-voiced boy soprano Bobby Breen, the fact remains that he was one of the most popular box-office attractions of the 1930s. Adapted from Don Blandings' novel Stowaways in Paradise, Hawaii Calls stars Breen as shoe-shine boy Billy Coulter, who in the company of his young newsboy pal Pua (Pua Lani) stows away on a Honolulu-bound ocean liner. Here he finds an unexpected ally in the form of persimmon-faced musician Strings (Ned Sparks), who conspires to hide Billy and Pua from irascible Captain O'Hare (Irvin S. Cobb). Once the ship arrives in Hawaii, Billy eludes the authorities by hiding with Pua's native family. The plot goes off on a new tangent when foreign spy Blake (William Harrigan) steals valuable Navy secrets from young Commander Milburn (Warren Hull). Billy and Pua save the day by locating the thieves' hideout and alerting Milburn. Before this happens, Bobby Breen sings ever so many Hawaiian tunes, this best of which include "Down Where the Trade Winds Blow" and the title song. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bobby Breen, Ned Sparks, (more)
- 1937
Canary-voiced boy wonder Bobby Breen once more croons his way into our hearts in Make a Wish. While vacationing at a boys' camp, the rambunctious Breen befriends famed composer Basil Rathbone. Stuck for an inspiration for his latest operetta, Rathbone at last finds it when he meets Breen's gorgeous mother Marion Claire, a popular singer. Alas, her stiff-necked fiance Ralph Forbes refuses to allow her to return to the stage, whereupon Rathbone spirals into a depression -- and even worse, a profound case of writers' block. But Little-Mister-Fixit Breen manages to patch up everything just in time for Claire to debut in Rathbone's latest masterpiece. Offering much-needed comedy relief are Henry Armetta, Leon Errol and Donald Meek as a trio of parasitic would-be songwriters. Make a Wish was based on a story by Gertrude Berg, of "Molly Goldberg" fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bobby Breen, Basil Rathbone, (more)
- 1936
In this musical, a talented young boy escapes from his orphanage and joins a traveling show where he is adopted by a has-been opera star who teaches helps him develop his marvellous singing voice. When his mentor finds himself terminally ill, he takes the lad to New York to see a real opera. There the boy meets his real father. Songs include: "Let's Sing Again", "Lullaby", "Farmer in the Dell", "La Donna e Mobile", from Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Rigoletto", ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Armetta, George Houston, (more)
- 1930
In this heart-tugging musical, a Southern boy loses his parents during the Civil War and is forcibly wrenched away from his beloved mammy and sent to New York to live with his Yankee grandma. At first the family resents the rebel upstart, but soon he charms them into loving him with his singing ability. The story is also called Rainbow on the River. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bobby Breen, May Robson, (more)
