Nobody's Baby (1937) - Turner Classic Movies

Brief Synopsis

Nursing school students have to care for an abandoned baby.

Cast & Crew

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Gus Meins

Patsy Kelly

Lyda Roberti

Lena [Marchetti]

Lynne Overman

Detective [Emory] Littleworth

Robert Armstrong

Rosina Lawrence

Photos & Videos

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Nobody's Baby (1937) -- (Movie Clip) She's A Foreigner

Nobody's Baby (1937) -- (Movie Clip) You Put Me On The Radio?

Film Details

Also Known As

Change the Baby

Genre

Comedy

Release Date

Apr 23, 1937

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.

Distribution Company

Loew's Inc.

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 7m

Sound

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Film Length

7 reels

Synopsis

Kitty Reilly and Lena Marchetti meet at an audition and get off to a bad start when Kitty's dance interferes with Lena's singing and she is asked to leave. Later, Kitty is dismayed to find that the roommate her kindly landlady has found for her is none other than the accident prone Lena. When Kitty is accepted into nursing school some time later, she discovers to her horror that Lena also has been accepted and will be her roommate for the next three years. Finally resigned to her fate, Kitty agrees to be Lena's best friend as well as "guardian." Stranded outside of New York one afternoon, they are given a ride back to town by Detective Emory Littleworth, who becomes Lena's boyfriend, and his pal, reporter Scoops Hanford, who becomes Kitty's boyfriend. One evening, while attending a night club, they watch the famous night club dancing team of Tony Cortez and Yvonne, who are secretly married. After Tony and Yvonne fight, Yvonne rushes out and Scoops and Emory follow her to get a story, leaving the girls, who wind up washing dishes to pay for their check because Lena doesn't understand that Scoops was supposed to receive a complimentary dinner. Several months later, Yvonne, shows up in the maternity ward of Lena and Kitty's hospital. Though she denies her identity at first, the girls recognize her but agree to keep her secret. When they finally convince her to tell Tony about the baby, they offer to babysit while she goes to see him. They want to hide the infant in the nursery, but have difficulty getting away from the head nurse. Meanwhile, Scoops and Emory go to see the girls and, when Emory sees Kitty in a hospital bed holding the baby, he thinks that she is the mother. A few minutes later, Scoops sees Lena in bed with the baby and thinks she's the mother. In the confusion, the boys are caught in the maternity ward by the staff who think they're crazy. At the night club, Yvonne tries to tell Tony, but he won't listen to her. When Kitty and Lena arrive with the baby, Kitty finally manages to enlighten him and he rushes to Yvonne. On stage, he tells the audience about Yvonne and the baby and invites the girls to be his guests for dinner. The boys, who think that Tony is the father of either Kitty or Lena's baby, stop the show and announce a wedding, but when they learn who the real mother is, they try to smooth things with the irate manager by proposing to the girls. While the audience showers them with flowers, Kitty and Lena are not at all happy about this new turn of events.

Director

Gus Meins

Cast

Patsy Kelly

Lyda Roberti

Lena [Marchetti]

Lynne Overman

Detective [Emory] Littleworth

Robert Armstrong

Rosina Lawrence

Don Alvarado

Tom Dugan

Orrin Burke

Dora Clemant

Miss [Margaret] McKenzie

Laura Treadwell

Tola Nesmith

Florence Roberts

Si Wills

Master of ceremonies

Herbert Rawlinson

Radio executive

Jimmie Grier's Orchestra

The Rhythm Rascals

The Avalon Boys

Bud Flanagan

Man in night club

Chick Chandler

Joan Woodbury

Substitute dancer

Bess Flowers

Nurse at information desk

John Picorri

Concert pianist

Dick Kipling

Judge at radio station

Walter Clinton

Judge at radio station

Pat Lane

Judge at radio station

Field Norton

Judge at radio station

Stanley Price

Assistant to radio executive

William Henry Phen

Joe Forte

Otto Malde

Charles Marsh

Colonel Robinson

William Jeffrey

Dave Pepper

Lois Wilde

Telephone operator

Rafael Storm

June Nishi

Daisy Bufford

Crew

Norbert Brodine

Walter Bullock

W. B. Delaplain

Pat C. Flick

Jimmie Grier

Music Arrangement

Marvin Hatley

Harold Law

Meinhart

Roy Randolph

Dances staged by

Hal Roach

Arthur I. Royce

Roy Seawright

Photography Effects

Ray Snyder

W. L. Stevens

Hal Yates

Videos

Nobody's Baby (1937) -- (Movie Clip) She's A Foreigner Kooky Lena (Lyda Roberti) bungles her fare on the New York tour bus, rescued from the conductor (Tom Dugan) by her reluctant but kind nursing school roommate Kitty (Patsy Kelly), getting to know each other in their first and only comedy-team feature from Hal Roach, Nobody's Baby, 1937.

Nobody's Baby (1937) -- (Movie Clip) You Put Me On The Radio? Chill Wills sings bass and also seems to lead the Hal Roach group the "Avalon Boys," on air at the radio station where principals Patsy Kelly and Lyda Roberti make noisy entrances and butt heads for the first time, opening the girl-buddy comedy Nobody's Baby, 1937.

Film Details

Also Known As

Change the Baby

Genre

Comedy

Release Date

Apr 23, 1937

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.

Distribution Company

Loew's Inc.

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 7m

Sound

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Film Length

7 reels

Articles

Nobody's Baby

October 19, 2010

In the Hal Roach produced comedy Nobody's Baby (1937) Patsy Kelly plays Kitty, a wisecracking no-nonsense working girl who reluctantly befriends the glamorous and ditzy Lena (Lyda Roberti). As the two enter nursing school together, they are soon involved in a series of comic misunderstandings when a maternity patient (Rosina Lawrence) asks Kitty and Lena to look after her baby.

Nobody's Baby marked the first and only time that Patsy Kelly and Lyda Roberti were paired as a team in a feature film. Kelly had previously appeared with actress Thelma Todd in several popular comedy shorts for Hal Roach. However, when Todd died unexpectedly in 1935, Roach and Kelly needed to find a replacement, eventually settling on quirky Polish-born Lyda Roberti. The talented comediennes played well off each other and made two successful shorts together for Roach in 1936, At Sea Ashore and Hill-Tillies, before starring in the feature length Nobody's Baby.

Any long-term potential that Patsy Kelly and Lyda Roberti exhibited as a comedy team was sadly cut short when Roberti died suddenly of a heart attack shortly after the release of Nobody's Baby. The film stands as an enjoyable testament to the unique talents of two comediennes with very different styles that complimented one another quite nicely.

Producer: Hal Roach (uncredited)
Director: Gus Meins
Screenplay: Pat C. Flick, Harold Law, Hal Yates (writers)
Cinematography: Norbert Brodine
Art Direction: Arthur I. Royce
Music: Marvin Hatley
Film Editing: Ray Snyder
Cast: Patsy Kelly (Kitty Reilly), Lyda Roberti (Lena Marchetti), Lynne Overman (Det. Lt. Emory Littleworth), Robert Armstrong (Scoops Hanford), Rosina Lawrence (Yvonne Cortez), Don Alvarado (Tony Cortez), Jimmie Grier (Himself), Tom Dugan (Bus Conductor), Orrin Burke (Maurice, Nightclub Owner), Dora Clement (Miss Margaret McKenzie).
BW-68m.

by Andrea Passafiume

Nobody's Baby

Nobody's Baby

In the Hal Roach produced comedy Nobody's Baby (1937) Patsy Kelly plays Kitty, a wisecracking no-nonsense working girl who reluctantly befriends the glamorous and ditzy Lena (Lyda Roberti). As the two enter nursing school together, they are soon involved in a series of comic misunderstandings when a maternity patient (Rosina Lawrence) asks Kitty and Lena to look after her baby. Nobody's Baby marked the first and only time that Patsy Kelly and Lyda Roberti were paired as a team in a feature film. Kelly had previously appeared with actress Thelma Todd in several popular comedy shorts for Hal Roach. However, when Todd died unexpectedly in 1935, Roach and Kelly needed to find a replacement, eventually settling on quirky Polish-born Lyda Roberti. The talented comediennes played well off each other and made two successful shorts together for Roach in 1936, At Sea Ashore and Hill-Tillies, before starring in the feature length Nobody's Baby. Any long-term potential that Patsy Kelly and Lyda Roberti exhibited as a comedy team was sadly cut short when Roberti died suddenly of a heart attack shortly after the release of Nobody's Baby. The film stands as an enjoyable testament to the unique talents of two comediennes with very different styles that complimented one another quite nicely. Producer: Hal Roach (uncredited) Director: Gus Meins Screenplay: Pat C. Flick, Harold Law, Hal Yates (writers) Cinematography: Norbert Brodine Art Direction: Arthur I. Royce Music: Marvin Hatley Film Editing: Ray Snyder Cast: Patsy Kelly (Kitty Reilly), Lyda Roberti (Lena Marchetti), Lynne Overman (Det. Lt. Emory Littleworth), Robert Armstrong (Scoops Hanford), Rosina Lawrence (Yvonne Cortez), Don Alvarado (Tony Cortez), Jimmie Grier (Himself), Tom Dugan (Bus Conductor), Orrin Burke (Maurice, Nightclub Owner), Dora Clement (Miss Margaret McKenzie). BW-68m. by Andrea Passafiume

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

Although the film began production as Nobody's Baby, its working title was Change the Baby for a brief period. After concerns were raised by the Hays Office about the propriety of the new title, the original title was re-instated. Actor Chill Wills appeared in the film as a member of The Avalon Boys quartet. According to a Hollywood Reporter news item, Lynne Overman was borrowed from Paramount for his role.

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