Zis Boom Bah
Cast & Crew
William Nigh
Grace Hayes
Peter Lind Hayes
Mary Healy
Huntz Hall
Jan Wiley
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Widowed Broadway vaudeville star Grace Hayes supports her son Peter anonymously, sending money to his grandparents for his education. One day, Grace, exhausted from years of stage life and touring, cancels her South American vacation and tells her secretary, Mary Healy, to make plans to travel to the college town of Midwick, where Peter who does not know what his mother looks like, resides. Grace is disappointed to see that her son is the class clown, and when he boasts that his mother was a famous opera singer, she tells him he is mistaken. Later, Grace interrupts a discussion between Peter's grandfather, Kendricks, and college president Warren, during which they express their fears that the school has lost it's private funding. Grace, who hoped an education would make her son a gentleman, demands that Kendricks cut off Peter's allowance and take away his car because he is an "extravagant, egotistical show-off." Grace later accepts a ride from Warren, and while they become acquainted, Peter and Mary, who does not know that he is Grace's son, also become friends. Midwick's board of directors threatens to dismiss Warren when he opposes their plan to generate money by buying a successful football team. Grace, meanwhile, buys Nick's Café, which is popular with the college crowd, and transforms it into a nightclub. She and Mary then poses as waitresses, and Peter's former girl friend Annabella jealously makes fun of him for dating a "hash-slinger." Grace refuses to extend credit to Peter, and Kendricks reluctantly cuts off his stipend. When Grace accuses him of being a quitter because he plans to quit school, Peter angrily insults her, but later apologizes to Grace and pays his bill. Grace announces to her student patrons that their parents and guardians are refusing to support them because they are not worth the trouble. Having seen that they are talented singers and dancers, Grace then offers them an opportunity to work at the nightclub as performers. The students rally around the idea, and even Warren is convinced of its merit. When Kendricks gives Peter the remaining $1,000 from his trust fund, Peter offers it to Grace to help the new business, and she realizes that her son has integrity after all. After Midwick's football team wins a championship game, Grace has a victory celebration at the club, which includes a floor show featuring Mary, and Peter as an emcee and singer. At the conclusion of the show, Peter brings up the house lights and announces that the college's new success is all due to Grace, who has been their inspiration, and whom he now knows is his mother. Warren and Grace embrace, and Peter and Mary also proclaim their love.
Director
William Nigh
Cast
Grace Hayes
Peter Lind Hayes
Mary Healy
Huntz Hall
Jan Wiley
Frank Elliot
Skeets Gallagher
Benny Rubin
Ed Kane
Leonard Sues
Roland Dupree
Betty Compson
Lois Landon
Crew
Joan Baldwin
Charles R. Callender
Lee Ellon
Neville Fleeson
Harvey Gates
Harvey Gates
Glen Glenn
Robert Golden
Earl Hammand
Art Hammond
Jack Henley
Sam Katzman
George King
Johnny Lange
Marcel Le Picard
Connie Lee
Peter A. Mayer
Lew Porter
Fred Preble
Ed W. Rote
[johnny] Lange
[lew] Porter
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Hollywood Reporter production charts and news items list the film's title as Sis Boom Bah. Hollywood Reporter news item reported that students from Los Angeles Junior College, USC and UCLA appear in the film as performers. Grace Hayes, who operated the Hollywood Lodge nightclub, and Peter Lind Hayes, were a real-life mother-and-son performing team. Mary Healy was Peter Lind's wife and frequently appeared with him on television in the 1950s and 1960s.
