Hi' Ya, Chum
Cast & Crew
Harold Young
Al Ritz
Jimmy Ritz
Harry Ritz
Jane Frazee
Robert Paige
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
When their vaudeville show "Fancies of 1943" closes in Joplin, brother act "The Merry Madcaps," along with the singing act of Sunny Lee and Madge Tracy, decide to drive across the country to California in order to seek their fame and fortune. They are forced to stop in the boom town of Mercury, formerly a ghost town named Rustler's Gulch, when their car breaks down. The three brothers go to the Brewster Club restaurant, where their complaints about the food cause the only cook in town, Jerry Macintosh, to quit. The brothers are then forced by chemist Tommy Craig and his hungry workers from the local Brewster Chemical Works to assume the cook's place. Unable to cook a simple steak, the Madcaps are saved from the angry mob by Sunny and Madge, who agree to prepare a meal for the workers. The girls' cooking is so good that Tommy offers to give Sunny and Madge the restaurant if they agree to stay. They do, and the Madcaps become their reluctant dishwashers. Later, Sunny agrees to go out on a date with Tommy, and the two quickly fall in love. Meanwhile, the Madcaps dress up as cowboys in order to get their car back from garage owner Archie Billings. Later, gambler Terry Barton, acting on the urgings of his assistant, Eddie Gibbs, tries to buy the restaurant from Sunny and Madge in order to turn it into a casino. While Madge is agreeable, Sunny refuses, as she realizes what Terry plans are for the locals. Madge then insists that Sunny buy out her interest in the restaurant, and becomes the manager of Terry's new casino. Terry still has his sights set on Sunny's restaurant, as his new place is ten miles outside of Mercury, so he allows the Madcaps to win enough money in his crooked dice game to desert Sunny and leave town. Instead, they lend the money to Sunny so that she can hire some Hollywood show girls and turn her restaurant into a nightclub. Terry and his gang then plot to ruin Sunny's grand opening, but Madge warns Tommy about the crooked gambler's plans and later reconciles with Sunny. The nightclub opening is a great success, as Tommy drugs Barton and his thugs with laughing gas. The Merry Madcaps are not as fortunate, however, as the laughing Terry keeps his promise, and the three giggling brothers find themselves laughing at the bottom of the river with balls and chains around their necks.
Director
Harold Young
Cast
Al Ritz
Jimmy Ritz
Harry Ritz
Jane Frazee
Robert Paige
June Clyde
Paul Hurst
Edmund Macdonald
Lou Lubin
Andrew Tombes
Ray Walker
Phil Warren
Charles Gordon
Ray Miller
Michael Vallon
Jack C. Smith
Earle Hodgins
Dorothy Granger
Janet Shaw
Lane Chandler
Bud Wolfe
Jack Roper
Brooks Benedict
Crew
Howard Benedict
Bernard B. Brown
Ted Cain
Eddie Cherkose
Ralph M. Delacy
R. A. Gausman
A. J. Gilmore
Edmund L. Hartmann
Jess Moulin
Jack Otterson
Gene De Paul
Jacques Press
Edward Prinz
Don Raye
H. J. Salter
Charles Van Enger
Vera West
Mack Wright
Maurice Wright
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Passing the Buck. The opening credits list songwriters Edward Cherkose and Jacques Press as contributing "Special Material for Ritz Brothers' Songs." A Hollywood Reporter news item states that actor Richard Davies was cast in the production, but he did not appear in the released film.
