Millions in the Air
Cast & Crew
Ray Mccarey
John Howard
Wendy Barrie
Robert Cummings
Eleanore Whitney
Willie Howard
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Amateur opera singer Tony Pagano repeatedly performs arias from Verdi's Rigoletto on vaudeville and is booed off the stage. When New York radio station WOX holds auditions for "Colonel Edwards' Amateur Hour," Pagano again makes a grandiose attempt at Rigoletto and "gets the gong." The Amateur Hour's sponsor is Kello Soap, owned by Calvin Keller. Against her father's wishes, Marion Keller gets in line to audition and pairs up with ice cream vendor Eddie Warren. Marion repeatedly breaks dates with her fiancé, Gordon Rogers III, to rehearse with Eddie, and they fall in love. When her father belittles her artistic aspirations, Marion insists on forestalling her marriage until she proves herself as a singer. When Eddie and Marion compete for a professional radio contract, Pagano again peforms his "Rigoletto," and gets the gong. When Eddie and Marion perform, Keller gives them the gong and the audience is outraged. Eddie then discovers Marion's engagement and true identity and calls her a phony. Eddie's friend Jimmy and his dance partner, "Bubbles" McNulty, win that week's contest. After Eddie is offered his own radio program on a rival station, he tells Keller that he is not interested in his soap, his amateur hour, or his daughter. When WOX is deluged with hate mail for ousting the couple, Colonel Edwards insists on reuniting them. Marion, meanwhile, breaks her engagement with Gordon. The next Sunday, Jimmy coaxes Eddie to the studio by saying that he and Bubbles are going to get married over the air. The Amateur Hour starts without Eddie and Marion. While the audience shouts for "Warren and Keller," Pagano, disguised with a fake mustache and eyebrows, performs in a bad operatic quartet. Eddie and Marion finally arrive, and Keller negotiates with the producer of the rival station, who agrees to use Eddie only in the summer. Keller forces Eddie and Marion on stage as they fight. In the middle of their song, Marion tells Eddie she's not engaged anymore, and they announce their romance over the air.
Director
Ray Mccarey
Cast
John Howard
Wendy Barrie
Robert Cummings
Eleanore Whitney
Willie Howard
George Barbier
Benny Baker
Dave Chasen
Catharine Doucet
Samuel S. Hinds
Alden Chase
Bennie Bartlett
Inez Courtney
Irving Bacon
Russell Hicks
Joan Davis
Billy Gilbert
Ralph Malone
Dolores Casey
Eleanor Woodford
Ludovico Tomarchio
Halliwell Hobbes
Ralph Spence
Maurice Cass
Harry C. Bradley
Marina Schubert
Harry Tenbrook
Elba Evans
Marion Ladd
Marie Wells
Barbara Ray
Lillianne Leighton
Bessie Wade
Harry Semels
Florence Dudley
Millie Feldman
Jack Hill
Al Burke
Sam Ash
Donald Kerr
Paul Fix
Eddie Borden
D'arcy Corrigan
Marion Hargrove
Lillian Drew
Jack Raymond
Paddy O'flynn
Ralph Mccullough
Ernest Cossart
Crew
Sam Coslow
Hans Dreier
Harry Fischbeck
A. E. Freudeman
Lewis E. Gensler
John Goodman
Sig Herzig
Ellsworth Hoagland
Frederick Hollander
Harold Hurley
Arthur Johnston
Harry Lindgren
Walter Oberst
Ralph Rainger
Leo Robin
Jane Storm
William Tummel
Adolph Zukor
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
This film marks stage comedian Willie Howard's film debut. Howard was also in the 1936 Paramount film Rose of the Rancho, which began shooting before Millions in the Air, but the latter was released first. The New York Times review for the film states: "When you realize that the movies killed vaudeville, there is irony in the spectacle of vaudevillians serving it so well." "Colonel Edwards' Amateur Hour" was no doubt inspired by the actual radio show, "Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour."
