The Big Show-Off
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Howard Bretherton
Arthur Lake
Dale Evans
Lionel Stander
George Meeker
Paul Hurst
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Nightclub owner Joe Bagley watches with exasperation as his friend, pianist Sandy Elliott, pines for the club's singer, June Mayfield. Sandy is too shy to reveal his feelings to June, who is dating the club's conceited master of ceremonies, Wally Porter. Joe arranges for June to go to Sandy's apartment for a rehearsal, but interfering neighbors prevent Sandy from expressing himself. Unknown to Sandy, June reciprocates his feelings but fears that the gentle musician would be unable to defend himself if Wally attacked him out of jealousy. Soon after, Joe sees June and Wally on a date at a wrestling match and is surprised at June's enthusiasm for the action. Telling Sandy that June is "muscle nuts," Joe urges him to become more physically aggressive, and then arranges for a large friend to heckle June at the nightclub. The bruiser hits Wally when he attempts to defend June, but pretends to be intimidated by Sandy's flailing punches and leaves. June is impressed by Sandy's "courage," and Joe seals Sandy's fate as a tough guy by confiding in June that Sandy secretly supports his eleven siblings by wrestling as "The Devil." The Devil, who always performs in a mask, is June's favorite wrestler, and she is thrilled to learn that he is Sandy. Sandy is furious with Joe, but his ire is assuaged when June makes clear her romantic interest in him. Later, Joe and Sandy hide in the arena balcony while June eagerly watches a match between The Devil and his arch-rival, Boris the Bulgar. All three are horrified when The Devil suffers a broken leg, and Joe rushes Sandy home and has Dr. Dinwiddie put a cast on his leg. June begs Sandy to give up wrestling, but Joe informs her that he cannot break his contracts. June then confides in her roommate Mitzi that she wants to accept Sandy's proposal of marriage but fears that his brutal tendencies in the ring will carry over into their home life. A week later, Sandy decides to ask the real Devil to give up wrestling, or at least change his name, so that June will agree to marry him. When Sandy arrives at The Devil's home, he is surprised to learn that the wrestler, whose real name is Herbert Trafagen, is a cultured artist, and that his cousin, a chef, is Boris the Bulgar. Herbert refuses Sandy's request to quit or change his name to "The King," and the situation worsens for Sandy when, at The Devil's next match, he announces his engagement to his girl friend. June, who is in the audience with Wally, is heartbroken and later tells Wally that Sandy is The Devil. Soon after, The Devil, who has left the city, is being sought by the police for attacking a man who was too attentive to his fiancée. Wally, hoping to regain June's affections, turns Sandy in to the police, and the wrestler's manager, who has never seen his client unmasked, identifies Sandy as The Devil. The manager's lawyer advises Sandy not to confess because his career will be ruined, even though all he will receive from the police is a fine. Seeing an opportunity to extricate himself, Sandy confesses to the crime, pays his fine and promises June that he has retired from the ring. Later, the newlyweds attend a wrestling match between "The King" and Boris the Bulgar, and June tells the crowd that Sandy, the retired Devil, is going to be a father.
Director
Howard Bretherton
Cast
Arthur Lake
Dale Evans
Lionel Stander
George Meeker
Paul Hurst
Marjorie Manners
Anson Weeks And His Orchestra
Sammy Stein
Louis Adlon
Dan Tobey
Emmett Lynn
Douglas Wood
Crew
David Chudnow
Mel Delay
Frank Dexter
Dale Evans
Honey Freedley
Dave Gould
Jack Greenhalgh
Houda
Roy Ingraham
Ted Larson
Dave Oppenheim
E. H. Reif
Claude S. Spence
Percy Townsend
Leslie Vadnay
Richard Weil
Sydney M. Williams
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Next Comes Love. Although the viewed print listed Williams-Spence Productions as the film's copyright claimant, the Catalog of Copyright Entries lists Republic as the copyright holder for the production. According to an April 1944 Hollywood Reporter news item, Edward Kovacs was originally set as the film's associate producer.
