NEW FACES OF 1937


US, 1937, 100 minutes, Black and white.
Joe Penner, Milton Berle, Harry Parke (as Parkyakarkus) Harriet Hillyard, Jerome Cowan.
Directed by Leigh Jason.

This is a pleasant, if sometimes rather antique, comedy from RKO in 1937. It was a star vehicle for Joe Penner, who assumed a bumbling kind of character on-screen. It is also a star vehicle for Harry Parke, who went under the stage name of Parkyakarkus; his specialty was comedy, but especially routines playing on words. These two stars can be seen in typical roles in the 1939 Life of the Party.

Also in Life of the Party was comedian Milton Berle, years before he became a television personality and one of the most famous TV icons as Uncle Milty. One of his specialisations was playing the conman type, full of smart talk, shrewd, twisting situations to his an advantage.

Also in the cast of Life of the Party was Harriet Hillyard, the singer, who later married Ozzie Nelson and as part of televisions Harriet and Ozzie and their sons, Rick and David.

The main point. This film has a significant similarity to Mel Brooks’ The Produces, 30 years before that film came out. The basic idea is for a producer to put on a play, make it run at a loss rather than at a profit – which does not always pan out. This time the producer is crooked but gets out, and the other stars decide that the show must go on.

However, for historical reasons, the film is of interest in the careers of the stars – but, especially, with the overtones of The Producers.