The Star Maker
Cast & Crew
Roy Del Ruth
Bing Crosby
Louise Campbell
Linda Ware
Ned Sparks
Walter Damrosch
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Larry Earl, a penniless songwriter possessed of a flaming ambition but an impractical approach to success, convinces the very practical Mary to become his wife. A year and a half later, the couple are still in love but still broke. Larry, seeking yet another job, stops to watch a group of newsboys dancing and singing and decides to organize the boys into an act. When no manager will audition Larry and his boys, Mary approaches Mr. Proctor, a big theatrical manager, and persuades him to give the act a tryout. When the act becomes a success, Larry organizes more child acts and begins sending them across country. To publicize the acts, he hires "Speed" King, and the two conceive of a talent train to travel cross country auditioning youngsters. Soon after, back in New York, Carlotta Salvini, a snobbish, retired opera singer, brings her talented young daughter, Jane Gray, to audition for Larry. Larry is impressed, and after getting rid of Carlotta by sending her on tour, he decides to build Broadway's first "all kiddie" musical around the girl. On opening night, however, the Children's Welfare Society closes the show because of a new law forbidding children to work past ten at night. Because of the law, Larry must withdraw his acts everywhere, and although Jane is still under exclusive contract to him, Larry arranges for her to perform with Walter Damrosch and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Just when Larry's career appears to be at its end, he learns about a new gadget called the crystal radio and envisions a future with his child acts broadcasting over the air waves. Five years later, Larry is once again on top of the entertainment world and buys the International Broadcasting Company.
Director
Roy Del Ruth
Cast
Bing Crosby
Louise Campbell
Linda Ware
Ned Sparks
Walter Damrosch
Laura Hope Crews
Thurston Hall
Clara Blandick Gallaudet
Ben Weldon
Janet Waldo
Paul Stanton
Billy Gilbert
Oscar O'shea
Emory Parnell
Dorothy Vaughan
Bodil Rosing
Morgan Wallace
Richard Denning
Joseph Crehan
Ethel Griffies
Frank Faylen
Grace Hayle
Johnny Morris
Selmer Jackson
Siegfried Arno
Ralph Faulkner
Earle Dwire
Harry Bradley
Wally Maher
George Eldredge
Stanley Price
George Guhl
Jim Dundee
Max Wagner
Ralph Sanford
"a. S. ""pop"" Byron "
Daisy Bufford
Alex Fox
Fritzi Brunette
Frances Raymond
Kenneth Wilson
Billy Simms
Donald Brenon
Danny Daniels
Don Hulbert
Darryl Hickman
Dante Di Paolo
Patsy Mc Cartney
John Andrews
Gloria Atherton
Dorothy Babb
Tommy Batten
Mary Ellen Bergren
Gene Collins
Eugene Eberle
Dolores Diannie
Larry Foschee
Roland Dupree
Joe Geil
Richard Humphreys
Jackie Mcgee
Joyce Arleen
Marilyn Marlin
Patsy Lee Parsons
Jean Ruth
Leon Tyler
Howard Smiley
Marilyn Kay
Jacqueline Ossko
Ed Stanley
Ottola Nesmith
Jack Pennick
George Pearce
Doro Merande
Crew
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Johnny Burke
Frank Butler
Arthur Caesar
Arthur Caesar
Will D. Cobb
Walter Damrosch
Walter Deleon
Hans Dreier
Gus Edwards
A. E. Freudeman
Don Hartman
Edith Head
Charles Henderson
Charles Hisserich
William Lebaron
Alma Macrorie
James V. Monaco
Alfred Newman
Richard Olson
Leroy Prinz
Charles R. Rogers
Troy Sanders
Karl Struss
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Robert Usher
Hal Walker
Norman Winter
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
A news item in Hollywood Reporter notes that David Butler was slated to direct this film, but withdrew because of a previous commitment to direct East Side of Heaven. Another item in Hollywood Reporter adds that Arthur Caesar appealed to Screen Playwrights, Inc. for writing credit on the film because his original idea and some dialogue had been retained in the completed script. Caesar did receive onscreen credit for both screenwriting and story. Walter DeLeon, who also contributed to the script, waived his claim, however,. According to the Variety review, this film was inspired by the career of Gus Edwards, a vaudeville impressario who worked with children. Walter Damrosch was the conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and made his acting debut in this picture. The picture also marked Linda Ware's screen debut.
