Broadway Hostess

Broke hustler Lyle Talbot quickly promotes singer Wini Shaw into a major star. But as their fortunes rise, their goals diverge. Miss Shaw loves Talbot steadfastly s a torch song, while Talbot sets his gaze on rich Genevieve Tobin.

Frank MacDonald's first movie as director shows signs of having its script having once had a very different ending. The Production Code had been in full force for at least eighteen months before it was released, and so all the men get what they want, including Allen Jenkins landing a very rich Spring Byington. In the meantime, there are several numbers for Miss Shaw and Phil Regan to sing, and Marie Wilson gets four lines.

MacDonald gets in a few comic bits; he was never a distinguished director, but he had a bit of a dab hand at comedy. He would spend most of his movie career at Republic, where he directed some of the best Roy Rogers vehicles outside of Joseph Kane. When he made the seemingly inevitable switch to the small screen, it was mostly westerns, but he also helmed some episodes of Get Smart. He retired at the end of the 1960s and died in 1980 at the age of 80.