Harmony Lane

Poverty Row Mascot Pictures probably because the songs of Stephen C. Foster were all in public domain decided to produce this cheaply done musical about Foster. It cost the studio not a dime to buy rights to his work.

Douglass Montgomery played the tragic composer who came from a middle class background and whose father disapproved of his interest in a musical career.

The tragedy of Foster as shown here is that the woman who truly loved him, Evelyn Venable refused to wait for him and he married society conscious Adrienne Ames. When she left him he takes to drink and eventually can't find his muse.

William Frawley played minstrel performer and impresario E.P. Christy. Frawley before he became best known as the irascible Fred Mertz was a vaudeville performer. He was also one of the great drunks in Hollywood as you see here.

The musical numbers are done on the cheap, but the acting is not too bad. Montgomery does well as the frail and tragic Foster.

Still you can see it all done better at 20th Century Fox with Don Ameche as Foster and Al Jolson as E.P. Christy in Swanee River.