Manhattan Parade

A great example of the liberated woman is found in Manhattan Parade with Winnie Lightner who is the real brains behind the John Roberts Costume Company. Husband Walter Miller just takes advantages of the perks of the business, one of them being to run away for a little romp with a chorus girl while Lightner is both mother and breadwinner for their kid Dickie Moore. In the end Miller with his dalliances should have been more discreet, he had it made and didn't appreciate it.

But the real strength of Manhattan Parade is in the outrageous and zany overacting of Luis Alberni as an eccentric Russian producer and the great vaudeville team of Smith and Dale as a pair cheese manufacturers who want to become theatrical angels. What a merry chase Alberni leads Smith and Dale on.

Also in the cast are Charles Butterworth who works for Lightner in his droll kind of slapstick and Bobby Watson who later played Adolph Hitler in a dozen or so films. He plays an outrageous gay stereotype also working for Lightner.

I'm torn as far as Watson's character is concerned. It's offensive yes, but under the Code gays became practically invisible. You can see why Stonewall was needed watching him.

Manhattan Parade is a nice pre-Code comedy, very outrageous in many spots.