Breakfast in Hollywood
Cast & Crew
Harold Schuster
Tom Breneman
Bonita Granville
Beulah Bondi
Edward Ryan
Ray Walburn
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
As day breaks in Hollywood, California, many women make their way to Tom Breneman's popular radio show "Breakfast in Hollywood." Among them are Elvira Spriggens, who hopes Breneman will notice her crazy hat; Dorothy Larsen, who is trying to find her fiancé, a sailor; Annie Reed, an elderly woman who lives alone with her old dog, Tippy; and Frances Cartwright, a dowdy, middle-aged woman with a philandering husband. On his way to the show, Breneman stops to pick up Ken Smith, a hitchhiking sailor from Minneapolis, and offers him a ticket to the program. After saying goodbye to Tippy, Annie, meanwhile, is hit by a car driven by Frances' husband, who is hurrying to meet a young woman. Although the police summon an ambulance, Annie is determined not to miss Breneman's show, and insists that she is unharmed. Nonetheless, the police detain Cartwright for questioning. During the program, Breneman interviews people in the audience. Learning that Ken and Dorothy are both from Minneapolis, he introduces them. When Dorothy tells Ken her fiancé's name, Ken at first says he knows him, but quickly retracts his statement, confusing Dorothy. Next Breneman chooses the silliest hat in the audience to try on. He is about to fulfill Elvira's dream and choose hers, when he spots Hedda Hopper seated nearby and picks hers instead. Then Dorothy is declared the winner of the "wishing ring." When Breneman awards an orchid to the oldest guest, Annie is thrilled to accept it. Finally, Frances wins a beauty kit. After the program ends, Annie faints. When Breneman learns that she was hit by a car, he insists that she go to the hospital. Annie is reluctant to leave Tippy alone, so Ken offers to walk the dog and invites Dorothy to go with him. Later, when Dorothy gets angry after he kisses her, Ken reveals that her fiancé has married another woman. Brokenhearted, Dorothy runs away. Because Annie is seriously injured, the police arrest Cartwright, and Frances, unaware of her husband's predicament, impulsively slips into a beauty salon for a makeover. Distraught over losing Dorothy, Ken begs Breneman to help him get her back. Then, worried about Annie's condition, her nurse asks Breneman to look in on her. Annie tells Breneman that she is ready to die, but when he tells her about Ken and Dorothy, her interest is piqued. By the time Breneman reaches the bus station, Dorothy's bus has left and Ken has disappeared. He asks the police to bring Dorothy back to town and has his secretary try to locate Ken. As Frances leaves the salon looking beautiful, a just-released Cartwright is getting a shave and haircut next door. She overhears his plans to go to the races with a young woman, and furiously berates him. Meanwhile, Ken brings a bone to Tippy, and Annie tells him that Breneman is having Dorothy arrested. Feeling protective, Ken hurries off to Breneman's club. Cartwright also comes to the club, searching for Frances. After a few misunderstandings, Ken and Dorothy are reconciled, as are Frances and her husband. Breneman then telephones Annie to let her know that Ken and Dorothy will be married. Outside the club, Elvira stops Breneman as he leaves and shows him a hat given to her by Hedda Hopper. Breneman admits that the hat is very silly, tries it on, and kisses the happy Elvira goodnight.
Director
Harold Schuster
Cast
Tom Breneman
Bonita Granville
Beulah Bondi
Edward Ryan
Ray Walburn
Billie Burke
Zasu Pitts
Hedda Hopper
Andy Russell
Spike Jones
King Cole Trio
Alice Cooper
Anna Le Seur
Ida Breneman
Crew
Louis Alter
Earl Baldwin
Mel Berns
Bernard W. Burton
Nat King Cole
Jack Elliott
Nat W. Finston
William Flannery
Harold Godsoe
Robert S. Golden
Maria Grever
Carla Hadley
Max Hutchinson
Spike Jones
Howard Leeds
Bob Levinson
Harold Lewis
Paul Lincke
Ricardo Lopez Mendez
Dixie Mccoy
Russell Metty
Charles Pasquale
Gabriel Ruiz
Marla Shelton
Sunny Skylar
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film's working title was Tom Breneman's Breakfast in Hollywood. The film was inspired by the popular thirty-minute radio program "Breakfast in Hollywood," hosted by Tom Breneman. When the program began in the early 1940s it was known as "Breakfast at Sardi's." From its beginnings as an ad for Sardi's (a popular New York restaurant frequented by celebrities), the program went national in August 1941. In 1945, Breneman bought his own restaurant at Sunset and Vine in Hollywood and the show became known as "Tom Breneman's Hollywood" and then "Breakfast in Hollywood." It was still a popular program when Breneman died suddenly on April 28, 1948. With new host Garry Moore, the program ran until 1949. Alice Cooper, Gary Cooper's mother; Anna Le Seur, Joan Crawford's mother; and Ida Breneman, Tom Breneman's mother, appear in the film as themselves.
