Hollywood Party (1934)

[moira finnie]

Tomorrow morning (11/24/08) at 8AM ET, TCM will be broadcasting a little number called Hollywood Party (1934) parodying tinseltown's favorite topic (itself) with guests Laurel & Hardy, Jimmy Durante, (singing Inka, Dinka, Doo), Charley Butterworth, Maureen O'Sullivan, Lupe Velez, The Three Stooges and even Mickey Mouse, introducing a Disney produced technicolor cartoon described as "The Hot Chocolate Soldiers", which features some allegedly disturbingly um, adult, moments contributed by some aggressive Gingerbread Men whose message isn't terribly subliminal. I guess this squeaked by just before the Production Code got some teeth in it.

I don't know if it's any good, but doesn't that lineup intrigue you? Here's a link to the trailer for what looks like some cheerful vulgarity

Mr. Durante (and friend, possibly Lupe?) getting acquainted during the filming. Why can't I ever get invited to parties like this?

[klondike]

Ahhh, Madam M, I'm sure the greater challenge is finding parties like the one this film seeks to immortalize, ones that are composed of equal parties merriment, sophistication & the rampant potential for quasi-naughty hi-jinks. That done, I believe you'd be hard pressed to get yourself off the guestlist at gunpoint!
Mind you, now, when I imagine you making your entrance, it calls to mind for me not so much Irene, nor Norma, nor Miriam, all bedecked in spangled chiffon & sculpted taffeta, but rather more the blustery jaunt of Catriona Brown, flinging herself to fore amidst her romp of deerhounds; sort of like an impish take on Hepburn's Tracy Lord, without all the acid & starch.

[moira finnie]

Gosh, Thanks, though I can only dream of being as self-sufficient as she is...

The real Pamela Brown, without her canine companions.

[MikeBSG]

Actually, I think I read that "Hollywood Party" was a legendary bomb. MGM filmed it and didn't know what to do with it, because all the different performers didn't fit well together.

I think Allan Dwan was hired to salvage the project. He watched the footage and was horrified by it. While he was watching, somebody came in and sat behind him. When the footage ended, all Dwan could say was "It's a nightmare."

"You're a genius!" the guy behind him said. It was Louis B. Mayer, and they concocted a frame story that presented the body of the film as a nightmare.