Let's Sing Again
Cast & Crew
Kurt Neumann
Bobby Breen
Henry Armetta
George Houston
Vivienne Osborne
Grant Withers
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Tired of her life of poverty in Naples, Alice Alba leaves her aspiring opera singer husband Leon and returns to America with their baby son. Years later, the now orphaned boy, Billy Gordon, lives at the Mapleton Orphanage in Connecticut, unaware of his parentage. When Carter's Traveling Theatre rolls into town, Billy sneaks in to see the show and meets Joe Pasquale, a former opera star and teacher, now reduced to playing the singing buffoon. Taken with Joe, Billy hides in a basket in his trailer, where he is discovered by the singer the next morning, far away from the orphanage. Although he is at first reluctant to allow Billy to stay, Joe eventually makes him a member of the troupe and begins to develop the boy's superior young voice. At the same time, Jim "Diablo" Wilkins, the show's misanthropic trapeze artist, sees Billy as a way out of his penny ante life and wires the orphanage with an offer to adopt the boy. As Diablo and the orphanage authorities are about to grab Billy, Billy and Joe escape and head for New York, where Joe, sick with fever, arranges a meeting with his ex-pupil, Rosa Donelli, a successful soprano. Concerned for Joe's health, Rosa brings Joe and Billy to stay at her lavish home, unaware that her friend, Leon Alba, who has been searching vainly for his long-lost wife and son, is Billy's father. Diablo and the police soon track Billy to Rosa's, but before they can lay claim to him, Leon, who is giving a concert there, begins to sing the lullaby that he wrote for Billy as a baby. Recognizing the tune that his mother taught him, Billy joins in, and father and son are at last reunited.
Director
Kurt Neumann
Cast
Bobby Breen
Henry Armetta
George Houston
Vivienne Osborne
Grant Withers
Inez Courtney
Richard Carle
Lucien Littlefield
Ann Doran
Clay Clement
Crew
Hal Baumbaugh
Ben Carré
Harry Chandlee
Robert Crandall
Frank Good
Edward Gross
Selma Hautzik
Dan Jarrett
Gus Kahn
Sol Lesser
Charles O. Locke
Jimmy Mchugh
Abe Meyer
Harry Neumann
Samuel Pokrass
Hugo Riesenfeld
Hugo Riesenfeld
Don Swift
Don Swift
Fred Tyler
Richard E. Tyler
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was The Show Goes On. Bobby Breen, the "Wonder Boy," a popular eight-year-old radio performer and a protégé of Eddie Cantor's, made his screen debut in this film. After the success of Let's Sing Again, Principal Productions made seven other "Bobby Breen" movies for RKO, which touted Breen as its resident child star. Other songs performed in part by Breen were the aria "La donna e mobile" from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto, and the Italian folk song "Oy, Marie." According to a Hollywood Reporter news item, producer Sol Lesser tried to cast opera star Marion Talley in the "Rosa Donelli" role, but was "unable to get together" with her on a salary. Because of a delay in the start of production, Kurt Neumann had to replace Arthur Greville Collins as director, according to Hollywood Reporter. Hollywood Reporter also noted that during production, Breen had an emergency appendectomy, which delayed production for about two weeks. As indicated by Hollywood Reporter production charts, after filming resumed, Harry Neumann replaced Frank Good as photographer and Richard E. Tyler replaced Hal Baumbaugh as sound engineer. Hollywood Reporter production charts add Spencer Charters and Renee Whitney to the cast, but their participation in the final film has not been confirmed. Although the viewed print of the film included a copyright statement for Variety Film Distributors, no record of such a copyright has been found. It is presumed that Variety was a television distributor.
