Hot Rhythm
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
William Beaudine
Dona Drake
Robert Lowery
Tim Ryan
Irene Ryan
Sidney Miller
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Jimmy O'Brien and Sammy Rubin work for the Beacon Recording Company writing radio commercial jingles, but would like to graduate to songwriting. When Jimmy meets Mary Adams, who is singing in a commercial, he poses as a songwriter and introduces her to Herman Strohbach, manager of the Tommy Taylor band, who is looking for a girl singer, and he arranges to audition her. However, Strohbach and company boss J. P. O'Hara have a dispute over Taylor's new contract and O'Hara fires them. Jimmy decides to make demo record of Mary singing so that O'Hara can hear it the next day. After he records Taylor's band from a live broadcast and has Mary sing along with it, Sammy leaves the recording for pressing. When a girl singer in a quartette falls sick, Polly Kane, O'Hara's new scatterbrained secretary, pleads with office manager Whiffle for the chance to replace her in the jingle. O'Hara hears the recording Mary made with Jimmy but discovers to his horror that, through a misunderstanding, his company has pressed and shipped ten thousand copies of the recording, making him liable to be sued by Strohbach and Taylor. While Jimmy, Mary and Sammy wait for O'Hara's reaction to the recording, he and Polly dash all over the city buying, then smashing, copies of the record. Eventually, their strange behavior lands them in jail, and Jimmy and his friends have to bail them out. O'Hara intends to find those responsible for the record, while Mary discovers that Jimmy is not really a songwriter and falls out with him because she cannot stand phonies. When Strohbach and Taylor hear Mary's recording, Taylor, who previously had not wanted to use a girl singer, decides to hire her, but by mistake, Strohbach attempts to sign Polly, who has a voice more suited to comedy numbers. Mary, meanwhile, returns to her job performing at a café, and when Jimmy and Sammy go to see her, she ends up being fired. The next day, Mary tells Jimmy that he should confess everything to O'Hara but he refuses. Strohbach then sues O'Hara for $250,000 for distributing the illegal record. When Polly tells O'Hara that she is quitting in order to sing with Taylor's band, he thinks that she is the girl on Mary's recording and, as she has not yet signed with Strohbach, signs her. O'Hara then tells Jimmy and Sammy to make a recording of Polly with a house band, and they have her perform one of their songs. O'Hara is dismayed when he hears that Polly's voice is nothing like Mary's and he realizes he has signed the wrong person but manages to convince Polly to sign with Strohbach. However, Polly's record is suddenly in demand, so O'Hara and Sammy go on another record smashing spree, which lands them in jail. After Jimmy and Mary bail them out, Jimmy and Sammy finally confess to O'Hara that they are responsible for all the trouble and are fired. Sammy then takes Mary to see Taylor and proves that she is the singer for whom he is looking. While they are there, Strohbach calls Taylor to announce triumphantly that he has "the girl" under contract. At the nightclub at which Taylor is appearing, Mary and Polly are both scheduled to perform and all the interested parties are in the audience. When Taylor introduces his new singer, both Mary and Polly take bows, but Taylor escorts Mary to the microphone. Strohbach discovers he has the wrong singer under contract and passes out. Mary, who has made up with Jimmy, is a hit, and O'Hara tells Jimmy and Sammy that he will double their salaries. When Strohbach comes to, O'Hara offers to take Polly off his hands if he will drop his lawsuit. Strohbach agrees and, after receiving the contract from him, O'Hara shows him a newspaper clipping about Polly's hit record, and Strohbach passes out again.
Director
William Beaudine
Cast
Dona Drake
Robert Lowery
Tim Ryan
Irene Ryan
Sidney Miller
Jerry Cooper
Harry Langdon
Robert Kent
Paul Porcasi
Lloyd Ingraham
Cyril Ring
Joann Curtis
Crew
Gus Arnheim
Harry Barris
George R. Brown
Nacio Porter Brown
Eddie Cherkose
Gordon Clifford
Richard Currier
Edward Davis
Edward Eliscu
Al Greenwood
Lou Herscher
Ruth Herscher
E. R. Hickson
Edward Kay
Edward Kay
Tom Lambert
Charles R. Marion
Dave Milton
Ira Morgan
Lindsley Parsons
William Raskin
Tim Ryan
William Strohbach
Virginia Wicks
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
In onscreen credits, Tim and Irene Ryan are listed only as "Tim and Irene." Although a Hollywood Reporter production chart places Fred Skinner and Fred Cook in the cast, their appearance in the released film has not been confirmed. News items in Hollywood Reporter add Frank Pharr, Esther Zeitlin, Hugh Massagli and Horace Carpenter to the cast, but their appearance in the released film has not been confirmed.
