Sing Baby Sing stars Alice Faye as a good singer and dancer who can't seem to
get a break on the nightclub circuit. Plucky Alice is down, but not out and she's
got a madcap agent in Gregory Ratoff looking for every kind of a conceivable
break for her.
An encounter with aging ham matinee idol Adolphe Menjou gives Ratoff the idea
that she should get some notoriety with an association with Menjou. It works all
too well as Alice's known as a golddigger from coast to coast. Ratoff then has
to fix what he's started and even gossip reporter Michael Whalen also is anxious to write a retraction because he kind of likes Alice.
There's far more to Sing Baby Sing than those I've mentioned. Look at the
cast and you'll see Patsy Kelly, Ted Healy, Montagu Love, the Ritz Brothers
and Tony Martin there. Enough to make you want to see this film.
Montagu Love is Menjou's business manager and watchdog. Not that he doesn't
need one, but in this case Love is interfering with Faye's career as well. Healy
sets him up beautifully at the Kansas City railroad station with a fake wife and
kids in front of reporters. Aided and abetted by Patsy Kelly.
The Ritz Brothers made their feature film debut in Sing Baby Sing and they
contribute their usual monkeyshines. Sing Baby Sing got one Oscar nomination for Best Song and it's for When Did You Leave Heaven which got
Tony Martin his first Hollywood notices. He wound up marrying the leading
lady as we know.
Menjou's burlesquing of John Barrymore was one of many outrageous ham
handed parts that Menjou made a specialty of. As for Barrymore if his attitude
was anything like it was in regard to The Royal Family Of Broadway and the role of Tony Cavendish there, he probably enjoyed this film more than anyone
else.
80+ years later you'll enjoy it too.
