Broadway Thru a Keyhole

Ostensibly the story of Ruby Keeler and Al Jolson, this snappy musical about Broadway, gangsters, molls, and chorus girls directed by the wonderful actor, Lowell Sherman. While Sherman does not appear in this film, the Walter Winchell tale boasts a few stars and a few Broadway legends.

Constance Cummings stars as the ambitious Joan who allows gangster Rocci (Paul Kelly) to feature her in a show at a night club he buys from Tex Kaley (legendary Texas Guinan, the original Queen of the Nightclubs). She becomes a star but has to skip off to Miami when gangland wars threaten Rocci. She takes an old friend (legendary Blossom Seeley who doesn't get to sing) as a chaperone but falls in love with a local crooner (Russ Columbo).

Somce nice plot twists and snappy numbers keep this one interesting. There's also some interesting sexual innuendo going on with Rocci's devoted "pal" (Hugh O'Connell), Seeley in drag and being taken for a man by a porter, and Columbo playing a wimp who's afraid of the sun and practically panics when he gets a sliver in his finger. Lots of nice little twists.

The film is a rare showcase for Frances Williams, who was a big Broadway star. She gets to sing the best song: The Uptown Low Down. She dances too. Hobart Cavanaugh, Gregory Ratoff, Eddie Foy Jr., C. Henry Gordon, Helen Jerome Eddy, Fred Santley, and Wheeler Oakman co-star. Also look for the two bimbos accompanying Louis the Lug. They are Ann Sothern and Lucille Ball as bleached blondes. One of the wisecracking dames during the early rehearsal scene is Esther Muir, noted for several Marx Bros films. Guinan and Seeley steal all their scenes.

Lowell Sherman, Texas Guinan, and Russ Columbo would all be dead within a year of the film's completion. Sherman had a 20-year career as a star in films and turned out several excellent films as a director, most notably Morning Glory and She Done Him Wrong.

Worth a look.