Ring Up the Curtain

I originally watched this film years ago when it was played on TCM. It was a nice little obscure film and I enjoyed it a lot. Just recently I was able to get myself a DVD copy of the film for my classic film collection, though it was not easy.

Alice Brady and Frank Morgan play Ted and Lulu Hackett, vaudeville performers who want their name to be known for generations, which it indeed does, but not in the way they expected as their son, Ted Jr., travels to broadway and later Ted Jr.'s son, Ted III goes to make pictures in Hollywood. Alice Brady and Frank Morgan do a good job as the stars with the most screen time but their husband/wife bickering can get boring after a while.

Many of the stars who received top billing in the film, (Jackie Cooper, Mickey Rooney, Jimmy Durante, etc.) only appear in the film for a couple minutes so you would have to be a huge fan to sit through the whole film just to see them. Another interesting cameo is in the middle of the film when two freaky-looking Dutch clowns appear with Ted Hackett Jr. (played by Russell Hardie). I didn't realize this the first time I watched it, but the two clowns are actually played by brothers Moe and Curly Howard of the Three Stooges. As a longtime fan of the trio, this alone was a reason to buy the film and give it another watch.

Besides the ending of it being a little out of place, I enjoyed most of the film throughout. It isn't the most entertaining flick ever made, but I definitely suggest seeing it when you get the chance.

The idea of showing the history of Broadway through a fictional family dynasty that lasts three generations is a very good one. And, in the process, they could have done a nice job of showing the changing styles and tastes of theater. However, the writing really, really, really disappointed in "Broadway to Hollywood"--it should have been a lot better. The problem is that the main characters are too flawed--so much so that you don't like them. The men are womanizers and sometimes alcoholics--full of promises to change but down deep they are simply jerks. The women are long-suffering idiots who tolerate their husbands' infidelities and selfishness--at least most of the time. So, you hate the men and are irritated with the women--not a great recipe for an enjoyable film. In many ways it came off like an amoral and self-centered (and sometimes heavy-handed) version of "Yankee Doodle Dandy"--a film about Broadway that DID work! As a result, "Broadway to Hollywood" was mildly interesting but nothing more.

I have a few final comments that I hope provoke your interest and might make the film, despite its limitations, worth watching. It's interesting that Jackie Cooper received third billing in this film--although he's in the film only about five minutes or so! This is undoubtedly because, at the time, he was a HUGE star at MGM, but I am sure his fans were disappointed in seeing so little of him in the movie. Also, right after Junior's wife dies, watch for a scene with two bizarre clowns. It's practically impossible to tell because of all the makeup, but these are Curly and Moe Howard of the Three Stooges! This is because the Stooges originally signed with MGM but the studio had no idea what to do with them--and stuck them in some very strange films (including some very odd roles in "Dancing Lady"). Finally, watch the very young Mickey Rooney tap dancing (in the scene right after the Stooges). He is simply amazing to watch--especially because this performing dynamo was so young! Wow--what talent.

It's the 80's at Tony Pastor's Theatre. Ted (Frank Morgan) and Lulu Hackett (Alice Brady) are The Hacketts, a semi-successful married couple vaudevillian song and dance team. They have their baby in their dressing room. They bring up their child Ted Jr. (Jackie Cooper) in the business. As an adult, Junior (Russell Hardie) exceeds his parents and follows his girl Anne Ainsley (Madge Evans) to another show. Ted quits the new show and the spotlight on his son out of pride. He finds that their old standards are out of date. Junior suffers from the drink after Anne's tragic death. It's the grandson Ted Hackett III (Mickey Rooney)'s turn to join The Three Hacketts. As an adult, he moves away to Hollywood by himself and gets into the movies but history seems to be repeating itself.

I like the premise of a multi-generational performing family. It promises to follow the family thru the entertainment business during some great changes. This has some interesting actors including a couple of famous child stars like pre-teen Mickey Rooney. The execution leaves something to be desired. It's a bit disjointed as the story keeps jumping forward in time. The idea is there, but it's not really fulfilled. I want Ted to stay with his younger generations and become their manager. There is plenty of potential conflicts as an overbearing stage father. Separating the family and the disjointedness of time jumping leave me a bit cold.

There are basically two tales of interest behind this unremarkable maudlin melodrama about three generations of vaudevillians, the second of which succumbs to drink and the third of which succumbs to sloth as well.

The first tale is why this film was made in the first place. In late 1930 MGM producer Harry Rapf was making a sequel to the Hollywood Revue of 1929. Unfortunately, musicals went out of fashion before the movie was finished and MGM had to shelve the project. Thus MGM was saddled with some very expensive musical footage and no movie. This film was an attempt to try to fit a story around some of that footage and recoup some of the losses. That is why you'll find long and often elaborate production numbers that don't really fit the plot placed awkwardly at points along the movie.

The second tale of interest is how this movie was considered by Buster Keaton to be "the final insult" hurled at him by MGM after they unceremoniously fired him this same year - 1933. He thought that the story of the third generation of Hacketts - Ted Hackett III - looked just a little too autobiographical to be a coincidence. Ted the 3rd is the member of a famed vaudeville family who gets recruited to go into motion pictures. Once he gets to Hollywood he begins to drink heavily - a vice that his father also had - and his drinking causes him to be late to the movie set if he even bothers to show up at all. Buster was furious about this movie, and nobody could convince him his own problems with MGM were not at the foundation of the plot and that it was simply an attempt to salvage "The March of Time" alias The Hollywood Revue of 1930.

Take these points of interest away from the film and there really is not much to see here other than Morgan and Brady's excellent performance as the senior generation of Hacketts who see "the march of time" from the height of vaudeville's popularity through the arrival of talking pictures which renders their profession obsolete.

This film is a wonderful example of a through-the-years show business family with all the sentiment and comforting clichés of the genre. The relationship of the main characters played by Frank Morgan and Alice Brady is just complicated enough to ring true. The movie also offers the added treats of Jackie Cooper and the very young and spectacular Mickey Rooney who may have had as much raw talent as anyone who ever grew up in front of a camera. Madge Evans supplies erotic appeal as a doomed dancer and there is a very strange scene with Moe and Curly Howard as two rather frightening clowns in bizarre white make-up. Eddie Quillan plays Rooney grown-up and suggests in one scene that his character might just be gay. This is a pre-coder. Jimmy Durante plays himself and Nelson Eddy sings a forgettable tune. And isn't that Una Merkel winking at Morgan from the audience? If you like movies about show business, this one's for you.