Strictly Dynamite
Brief Synopsis
A radio comic runs out of jokes, triggering a desperate search.
Cast & Crew
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Elliott Nugent
Director
Jimmy Durante
Moxie [Slaight]
Lupe Velez
Vera [Mendez]
Norman Foster
Nick [Montgomery]
William Gargan
Georgie [Ross]
Marion Nixon
Sylvia [Montgomery]
Film Details
Genre
Comedy
Musical
Release Date
May
11,
1934
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 11m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
8 reels
Synopsis
When timid aspiring poet Nick Montgomery loses his book reviewing job, his wife Sylvia convinces him to write gags for radio comedian Moxie Slaight. With the help of agent Georgie Ross and a copy of Joe Miller's joke book, Nick lands a $500-per-week position as Moxie's gagman and soon becomes a top New York radio writer. Money, success and Vera Mendez, Moxie's fickle partner and girl friend, turn Nick's head, however, and Sylvia grows despondent with neglect. Nick's indulgence in Vera also causes his writing to suffer, and after an especially miserable show, Moxie fires him. Out of favor as well as work, Nick is then dumped by Sylvia, who takes a job reading material for Georgie, a longtime admirer. Nick and Vera's three-week absence from New York leads to scandalous rumors, but Nick, who had actually gone away to "exercise" at a health spa, tracks down Sylvia, determined to reconcile with her. At the same time, Moxie accidentally receives from Sylvia one of Nick's poems and, after reading it, declares Nick a genius. After forgetting his jealous anger, Moxie finds Nick and offers to buy all of his poems, while Sylvia announces that she and Nick are leaving for the country to write novels.
Director
Elliott Nugent
Director
Cast
Jimmy Durante
Moxie [Slaight]
Lupe Velez
Vera [Mendez]
Norman Foster
Nick [Montgomery]
William Gargan
Georgie [Ross]
Marion Nixon
Sylvia [Montgomery]
The Mills Brothers
Eugene Pallette
Sourwood [Sam]
Sterling Holloway
[Elmer] Fleming
Minna Gombell
Miss LaSeur
Leila Bennett
Miss Hoffman
Franklin Pangborn
Mr. Bailey
Berton Churchill
Mr. Rivers
Irene Franklin
Mrs. Figg
Jackie Searle
Robin [Figg]
Stanley Fields
Pussy
Tom Kennedy
Junior
Mary Kornman
Priscilla
Crew
Harold Adamson
Composer
Pandro S. Berman
Executive Producer
Robert T. Colwell
Story
George Crone
Editing
Edward Cronjager
Photography
Jimmy Durante
Composer
George D. Ellis
Recording
Sammy Fain
Composer
Jack Harvey
Screenwriter
Jack Harvey
Additional Dialogue
Irving Kahal
Composer
Charles Kirk
Art Director
Burton Lane
Composer
Walter Plunkett
Costumes
Van Nest Polglase
Art Director
Milton Raison
Additional Dialogue
Robert A. Simon
Story
Ralph Spence
Screenwriter
Max Steiner
Music Director
H. N. Swanson
Associate Producer
Maurine Watkins
Screenwriter
Film Details
Genre
Comedy
Musical
Release Date
May
11,
1934
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 11m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
8 reels
Articles
Strictly Dynamite
Jimmy Durante and Lupe Velez were two of the flashiest personalities on screen in the early thirties, but each in a different way. Durante was comically brutish where Velez was flawlessly fiery, a tuba and a flamenco guitar making as much noise together as a whole orchestra. It was an odd pairing, but it worked -- the duo had previously starred together in the boxing comedy Palooka (1934), and here they return again in a comedy about radio buffoon Moxie Slaight (Durante) and his muy caliente partner Vera Mendez (Velez), and how a poet turned radio gag writer Nick Montgomery (Norman Foster) turns their world topsy turvy. At the time, Velez was generating more attention off-screen than on, via colorful spats with husband Johnny Weismuller, as well as unfounded accusations of funding the Communist party. This is one of the last movies the tempestuous star made before being dropped by RKO, but at least she gets to show off her very pretty singing voice with the song "Oh, Me! Oh, My!"
Strictly Dynamite
Jimmy Durante and Lupe Velez were two of the flashiest personalities on screen in the early thirties, but each in a different way. Durante was comically brutish where Velez was flawlessly fiery, a tuba and a flamenco guitar making as much noise together as a whole orchestra. It was an odd pairing, but it worked -- the duo had previously starred together in the boxing comedy Palooka (1934), and here they return again in a comedy about radio buffoon Moxie Slaight (Durante) and his muy caliente partner Vera Mendez (Velez), and how a poet turned radio gag writer Nick Montgomery (Norman Foster) turns their world topsy turvy. At the time, Velez was generating more attention off-screen than on, via colorful spats with husband Johnny Weismuller, as well as unfounded accusations of funding the Communist party. This is one of the last movies the tempestuous star made before being dropped by RKO, but at least she gets to show off her very pretty singing voice with the song "Oh, Me! Oh, My!"
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Writers Robert T. Colwell and Robert A. Simon were on the staff of the J. Walter Thompson agency and created the characters and situations of this comedy first for radio and later for the stage. The stage play had only a "summer tryout," according to Variety. How similar the radio and stage plays were to the film script is unknown. Onscreen writing credits conflict with reviews and other contemporary sources, which list Ralph Spence, not Jack Harvey, as co-screenwriter, and credit Harvey as a co-dialogue writer with Milton Raison. Norman Foster was borrowed from Fox for the production, and Jimmy Durante and Lupe Velez, from M-G-M. According to Hollywood Reporter news items and production charts, Luis Alberni, Noel Francis and Ruth Etting were in the cast, but their participation in the final film has not been confirmed. Joe Miller, whose "joke book" Joe Miller's Jest-book, is mentioned in the film, was an English comedian and actor of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century.
