Footlight Fever
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Irving Reis
Alan Mowbray
Donald Mcbride
Elisabeth Risdon
Lee Bonnell
Elyse Knox
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Unable to secure financial backers for their new Broadway play, producers Don Avery and Geoffrey Crandall are about to abandon their endeavors when they are visited by wealthy Eileen Drake, the fiancée of their leading man, John Carter. Eileen pleads with Avery and Crandall to continue their search for a backer because John refuses to marry her until he has a job. The producers try to convince Eileen to invest in their play, but she tells them that her fortune is held in trust by her reclusive aunt Hattie, who is dominated by her imperious business manager, Harvey Parker. Learning that Hattie has sequestered herself in the house for thirty years while waiting for the return of her long-lost love, Charlie Farley, the first mate on a whaling ship, Avery and Crandall decide to pose as Charlie's mates and visit Hattie. After informing Hattie of her beloved Charlie's demise, Avery and Crandall present her with Charlie's most cherished possession: a play that he wrote for her. In memorium, Hattie asks the two to take her to a riverfront bar that she and Charlie used to frequent. There Hattie learns that Charlie's shipmates are impostors when the bartender shows her a photograph of a very alive Charlie with his arms around two women. To teach Avery and Crandall a lesson, Hattie incites a night of barroom brawling, after which the beaten producers confess their true identity and ask her for money. Hattie sends Harvey to meet with the producers, and he agrees to recommend that she finance their play if Avery and Crandall will pay him twenty percent of the proceeds. After Hattie advances the producers the first half of her payment, rehearsals begin. The production proceeds smoothly until Harvey, who is in love with Eileen, learns that she and John are engaged and demands a new leading man before delivering the final check. To placate Harvey, Crandall proposes that Avery play the lead in dress rehearsal until they receive Hattie's check, and then John will step into the role on opening night. When Avery becomes enamored by his own performance, however, he decides to continue the role. On opening night, Crandall arranges for a sandbag to drop on Avery's head, but the bag misses Avery and hits Harvey instead. Retiring to his dressing room to adjust his makeup, Avery is confronted by two robbers, who knock him unconscious. When Harvey's meek assistant Holly tells Hattie that the business manager has been swindling her, Hattie gives Eileen and John her blessing. John steps into the leading role, and as the play is about to begin, Crandall is hit by a sandbag. When the two producers finally awaken in the hospital, they rush to the theater,where they are greeted by a sign announcing that their play is in its second successful month.
Director
Irving Reis
Cast
Alan Mowbray
Donald Mcbride
Elisabeth Risdon
Lee Bonnell
Elyse Knox
Charles Quigley
Bradley Page
Chester Clute
Jane Patten
Georgia Backus
Mantan Moreland
Dick Elliott
Kitty O'neil
Jay Belasco
Chester Tallman
Harold Hoff
James Conlin
Paul Burns
Gene Collins
Charles Lane
Charles Halton
Dagmar Oakland
Buck Mack
Frank O'connor
Eddie Borden
Donald Kerr
Tom Hanlon
Shimen Ruskin
Joey Ray
Art Yeoman
Peter Duray
Solly Ward
Paul Lepere
Sammy Stein
Tom Kennedy
Jack Norton
Bernard Gorcey
Frank Moran
Carl Freemanson
Al Rosen
Alee Luke
Keye Luke
Lew Kelly
Frank Bruno
Eddie Conrad
Crew
Howard Benedict
Carroll Clark
Edward Donahue
James Fawcett
Bud Geary
Bert Granet
Bert Granet
Robert De Grasse
Ian Mclellan Hunter
Bert Lebaron
Hugh Mcdowell Jr.
Eddie Parker
Gil Perkins
Van Nest Polglase
Renie
Loren Riebe
Bobby Rose
Paul Gerard Smith
Ken Terrell
Theron Warth
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Show Business and Show People. An early Hollywood Reporter production chart credits William Ullman, Jr. with original story and adds Carol Hughes to the cast, but her participation in the final film has not been confirmed. A news item in Hollywood Reporter notes that Irving Reis replaced Frank Woodruff as director. According to another news item in Hollywood Reporter, Elyse Knox's performance in this film won her a term contract at RKO. For this production, stars Alan Mowbray and Donald McBride reprised their characters from the 1940 RKO film Curtain Call which was directed by Frank Woodruff (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.0904).
