Jail House Blues
Cast & Crew
Albert S. Rogell
Nat Pendleton
Anne Gwynne
Robert Paige
Horace Macmahon
Elisabeth Risdon
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Mrs. Alyosius McGonigle McGann is caught once again trying to break her convict son, Sonny McGann, out of prison. She is shocked to learn, however, that Sonny does not want to leave, as he is producing the annual prison show Stick 'Em Up , "the fulfillment of his life's ambition," and has gone so far as to steal his own parole papers. Sonny's show is ruined, however, when Charlie the Chopper, his "leading lady," breaks out. Sonny goes to Warden Boswell and offers to find Charlie if the warden will allow him back into the prison after he returns the escapee. Upon his release, Sonny meets schoolteacher Doris Daniels, who gives him a ride into town. She introduces him to singer Cliff Bailey, the prize pupil of Doris' father Thomas. Learning that Cliff is unemployed, Sonny offers to find the singer work. The ex-gangster then breaks into Charlie's old hideout, and is told by the escapee's gang that Charlie has already set sail for the South Seas. Sonny then goes looking for his mother, who is now living in the penthouse of the exclusive Gleaner's Club, where she is running a panhandling racket known as the A.A.P., the Amalgamated Association of Panhandlers. Mrs. McGann asks Sonny to help her eliminate her chief competitor, Rusty Danny, whose beggars are known as the C.B.H.G., the Charity Begins at Home Guild. Sonny hires Cliff to masquerade as a beggar in order to infiltrate Danny's gang. Disguised as an old man, Cliff is taken to Danny's hideout, where Sonny and his men break up the rival gang. With his mother's business problem solved, Sonny convinces Cliff to take Charlie's place in the prison show. Sonny then breaks back into prison, while his men kidnap all of the top New York drama critics. Just before the show, however, Cliff refuses to dress up as a woman, and underlines his objections by punching Sonny. Singing instead in a clown costume, Cliff is a big hit with the critics and talent scouts, and is offered a singing contract even before the show has finished. The show itself is also a great success, and Cliff and Doris are romantically united. Mrs. McGann then admits to Sonny that she is proud of him, noting that before she married his father, she was in show business herself.
Director
Albert S. Rogell
Cast
Nat Pendleton
Anne Gwynne
Robert Paige
Horace Macmahon
Elisabeth Risdon
Warren Hymer
Samuel S. Hinds
Cliff Clark
John Kelly
Reed Hadley
Paul Fix
Dewey Robinson
Frank Mitchell
Michael Cirillo
Charles Cirillo
Tony Cirillo
Charles Coleman
Ralf Harolde
Hal K. Dawson
Ralph Dunn
Billy Wayne
Nora Cecil
Emmett Vogan
John Sheehan
Peter Lynn
John Berkes
Lorin Raker
William Ruhl
Walter Sande
Bud Jamison
Nestor Paiva
Kernan Cripps
Ed Peil Sr.
Charles Sullivan
David Gorcey
Jack Raymond
Clarence Straight
Jimmy Fox
Blackie Whiteford
Dave Wengren
Jack Herrick
Al Seymour
Kit Guard
Jack Roper
Ethel Sykes
Jack Kenney
Robert Wilbur
Jack Lowe
Monte M. Singer
Pat Costello
Pete Sosso
James O'gatty
Duke York
Grace Lenard
Crew
Elwood Bredell
Bernard B. Brown
Larry Ceballos
Howard Christie
Alanson Edwards
Friedrich Von Flotow
R. A. Gausman
Ken Goldsmith
Frank Gross
William Hedgcock
Samuel Lerner
Jack Otterson
Charles Previn
Richard H. Riedel
Friedrich Wilhelm Riese
Frank Skinner
Frank Skinner
Paul Gerard Smith
Paul Gerard Smith
Paul Gerard Smith
Harold Tarshis
Vera West
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Rhapsody in Stripes and Big House Blues.
