Hollywood Hotel (1937)

• Year: 1937
• Released: 15 Jan 1938
• Country: United States
• Adwords: 1 win
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029010/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hollywood_hotel
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: Passed
• Genre: Comedy, Musical, Romance
• Runtime: 109 min
• Writer: Jerry Wald, Maurice Leo, Richard Macaulay
• Director: Busby Berkeley
• Cast: Dick Powell, Rosemary Lane, Lola Lane
• Keywords: musical,

	6.4/10
	41% – Critics
	41% – Audience

Hollywood Hotel Storyline

The film opens with a telephone operator connecting a call to the Hollywood Hotel. As the opening credits scroll across the screen “Hooray for Hollywood” is played by an unseen orchestra. The song continues as the action begins. We see several signs: “Clark Gable Beware!,” then a trumpet player improvises; “Kay Francis Here He Comes!,” then a saxophone player plays; “Leslie Howard Watch Your Step!,” then a trombone player plays a lick; “Garbo I Tank You Like Him!,” then a string bass player slaps his bass; “Olivia de Havilland Your Midsummer Nights Dream Is On His Way!,” and then Benny Goodman (himself) improvises on his clarinet (all instrumentalists are members of Goodman’s band). The camera reveals that each of these instrumentalists and many other members of the band are in a motorcade, with each person in a different car with a different sign plastered on the front of each car. They are parading, under police escort, to the St. Louis Airport. Once they arrive, they continue the song with Georgia (Johnnie Scat Davis) and Alice (Frances Langford) singing the lyrics; then, the band members also sing. The band is seeing one of its saxophone players, Ronnie Bowers (Dick Powell), off to Hollywood; he has signed a ten-week movie contract with Miracle Pictures; the studio’s motto is: “Miracle Pictures Studio, If Its a Good Picture, Its a Miracle.” As his plane taxies away from the loading area, the band launches into “California, Here I Come.” The next sequence is a montage of various Hollywood sights as “Hooray for Hollywood” plays in the background. Ronnie is met at the airport by Bernie Walton (Allyn Joslyn) from the Miracle Pictures publicity department. The studio photographer takes a couple of shots of his arrival, after which he is escorted to the Hollywood Hotel, where he’ll be staying. The scene switches to the hotel suite of film star Mona Marshall (Lola Lane) where the famous gossip columnist, Louella Parsons (herself), is interviewing Miss Marshall while she is being fitted with a gown to wear to the premier of her newest film. Mona is ranting and raving and thoroughly overacting about everything. She is the prototypical spoiled, self-absorbed female movie star. When she learns that someone else has been cast in the lead role of a film she had coveted, she refuses to appear at the premier of her film that evening. Instead, she and her assistant leave town. The studio head is in a panic when he learns the star of his film will not appear at the premier. The studio publicity man, Bernie, comes up with a solution. Hell find a double to stand-in for Mona. After Bernie auditions several women, he chooses Virginia Stanton (Rosemary Lane) as Monas substitute (Rosemary and Lola Lane are sisters, so there is a definite resemblance). To escort her to the premier, he selects Ronnie Bowers, the new guy the studio has signed to a short term contract. Bernie and the studios make-up crew take Virginia to Monas Hollywood Hotel penthouse suite and transform her into a Mona look-a-like. Ronnie is thrilled that his first night in Hollywood he will be escorting the famous Mona Marshall to her film premier. When he gets to the penthouse, a call comes from the front desk that Alexander DuPrey (Alan Mowbray), Mona’s co-star in “Glamour Girl,” is coming up to escort her to the premier. Bernie has told the maid not allow anyone except Ronnie into Monas suite. When she hears that DuPrey is coming up, she panics. Ronnie, however, rescues the situation by socking DuPrey to keep him out of Monas suite. At the premier at Cathay Circle, the announcer interviewing the stars as they arrive is future President of the United States, a very young Ronald Reagan. After the premier, Ronnie and Mona/Virginia return to the Hollywood Hotel’s Orchid Room for a party. As they dance together, she tells him shes tired of all the photographs and autograph seekers, so they walk out into a garden area where they sit by a fountain pool. As she dunks her toes into the cool water, he sings “I’m Like a Fish Out of Water.” After he sings a chorus, she sings as they dance together in the fountain. During this number, Monas sister, Dot (Mabel Todd), chases Fuzzy (Ted Healy), who is trying to avoid her, into the garden where they sing a chorus of the song. Ronnie and Mona/Virginia hide when they see Dot and Fuzzy coming (Virginia is certain Dot will realize that she isnt Mona) and turn on the fountain which soaks both of them. As the song concludes, Ronnie and Mona/Virginia kiss. When Mona reads the morning paper and sees a photo of Virginia posing as her at the premier, she explodes. She rushes to the studio and demands they fire both Virginia and Ronnie. When Ronnie arrives for his appointment with the head of the studio, Mona storms out of the office and slaps him when he calls her darling. Bernie informs Ronnie that the studio head has fired him. Completely confused, Ronnie goes with Bernie to a coffee shop where Virginia is the waitress, which confuses Ronnie even more. Before anyone can explain, he stalks out of the coffee shop. When he encounters Mona as she is leaving the hotel, she slaps him again. Finally, Bernie explains to Ronnie that it was Virginia he escorted to the premier. Ronnie and Virginia are out on a sightseeing date when they climb over a hill to the Hollywood Bowl. To illustrate the Bowl’s exceptional acoustics, Virginia sings “Silhouetted in the Moonlight” from the stage while Ronnie remains on the hill. After being summarily fired, Ronnie acquires Fuzzy as his manager. Ronnie and Fuzzy see Benny Goodman, Alice and Georgia on a Hollywood street corner and learn that the band has been booked at the Hollywood Hotel. Ronnie and Fuzzy find work as waiters at Callaghan’s, a drive-in restaurant. Virginia comes by the drive-in and agrees to wait for Ronnie until he gets off. The scene switches to the Orchid Room where Benny Goodman introduces the song, “Let That Be a Lesson to You.” Georgia sings the lyrics, but suddenly the scene switches back to the drive-in where Ronnie sings a lyric about himself as he serves Virginia a milk shake. Later, Virginia and most of the drive-ins customers also join in the song. Dot, who also shows up at the drive-in, sings a chorus to Fuzzy. A director from Miracle Studio happens to be a customer at Callaghan’s and hears the performance. He tells Ronnie he wants to hire him. Virginia tries to talk Ronnie and Fuzzy out of quitting their waiting jobs, but they wont listen. When Ronnie and Fuzzy arrive at the film location the next day, they discover that the director wants Ronnie to dub the singing voice of Alexander DuPrey. In a rehearsal sequence, Benny Goodman and His Orchestra play “Sing, Sing, Sing,” which features Gene Krupa’s marvelous extended drum solo and solos by Harry James on trumpet and Benny Goodman on clarinet. Then, Goodman’s quartet (Lionel Hampton on vibes, Teddy Wilson on piano, Gene Krupa on drums and Goodman on clarinet) plays “I’ve Got a Heartful of Music.” At the preview screening of Mona Marshall and Alexander DuPrey’s film “Love & Glory,” Ronnie sings “I’ve Hitched My Wagon to a Star” as DuPrey mouths the lyrics on screen. Even though Ronnie’s voice doesn’t fit DuPrey, everyone is impressed with DuPrey’s vocal abilities. Louella Parsons asks him to sing on her radio show. He accepts, but later panics when Mona asks whose voice he will use. Ronnie has disappeared and the studio cant locate him. They call Virginia for help and she finds him working as a waiter at Callaghan’s drive-in again. Ronnie, however, doesn’t want to dub for DuPrey any more. If he sings, he says, he wants it to be his face on the screen. Virginia cooks up an idea. Again posing as Mona, Virginia picks up DuPrey to accompany him to Louella’s radio program. Fuzzy is the chauffeur and Mona’s father, Chester (Hugh Herbert), is also along to help. They drive until DuPrey demands he be let out of the car. They gladly let him out, but by then, it is too late for him to make the radio show. The CBS broadcast begins with Raymond Paige and His Orchestra (themselves) performing a reprise of “Silhouetted in the Moonlight.” Jerry Cooper, Paige’s male vocalist, and Alice are the vocal soloists. Next, Paige, his instrumentalists and a chorus perform “Dark Eyes” in their jazz symphonique style. Then, Louella Parsons introduces Ronnie and Mona to perform a scene from “Love & Glory.” During this sequence, Ronnie reprises “I’ve Hitched My Wagon to a Star.” Everybody (Ronnie, Virginia, Georgia, Alice, Mona, Jerry, Dot, Fuzzy, and the chorus) gets involved in the finale, “Sing, You Son of a Gun,” which evolves into a final reprise of “Hooray for Hollywood.”

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Hollywood Hotel Movie Reviews

“Hooray for Hollywood”

Hollywood HOTEL (Warner Brothers, 1937), directed by Busby Berkeley, capitalizes on the current trend of Hollywood stories made popular by David O. Selznick’s dramatization of A STAR IS BORN. Even though films about Hollywood and the behind the scenes in movie making were nothing new by the time Hollywood HOTEL went into release, Warner Brothers spoofs Hollywood the best way it knows how, spotlighted by Dick Powell’s singing, and the musical festivities by Benny Goodman and his Swing Band.

The plot revolves around Ronnie Bowers (Dick Powell), a saxophone player in Benny Goodman’s band, winning a talent contest and a ten-week trip to Hollywood, leaving behind band vocalist and teary-eyed girlfriend, Alice Crane (Frances Langford) at the St. Louis Airport. After arriving in Hollywood, Ronnie is escorted by Bertie Walton (Allyn Joslyn), a studio press agent for All-Star Pictures, and Joe (Eddie Acuff), a photographer, to the Hollywood Hotel. The story then shifts over to Mona Marshall (Lola Lane), a temperamental movie star sharing the room with her wacky kid sister (Mabel Todd), her even more bewildered father, Chester (Hugh Herbert), and personal secretary, Jonesy (Glenda Farrell). Because another glamor girl was offered a part she wanted, Mona leaves Hollywood. With Mona’s new film, GLAMOUR GIRL, opening that evening, Walton hires waitress, Virginia Stanton (Rosemary Lane), to impersonate her, having Ronnie accompany her to the premiere. When Mona finds she’s been misrepresented in public, she arranges for both Virginia and Ronnie to be fired. With Fuzzy (Ted Healy), as his new press agent, Ronnie obtains work at Callahan’s (Edgar Kennedy) drive-in eatery before being discovered by director Walter Kelton (William B. Davidson) of All-Star Pictures. Much to Ronnie’s surprise, rather than an acting job, he’s to have his singing voice dubbed in for Alexander DuPre (Alan Mowbray), Mona’s hammy co-star for an upcoming production, LOVE AND GLORY.

Fine tunes in the Hollywood Hotel musical program include: “Hooray for Hollywood” (performed by Benny Goodman’s Band, sung by Johnnie Davis, Frances Langford, cast); “I’m Like a Fish Out of Water” (sung by Dick Powell and Rosemary Lane); “Silhouetted in the Moonlight” (sung by Rosemary Lane at the Hollywood Bowl); “Let That Be a Lesson to You” (introduced by Johnnie Davis and played by Benny Goodman’s Band, sung by Dick Powell, Rosemary Lane, Ted Healy, Mabel Todd, and drive-in patrons at Callahan’s Eats, with occasional interruptions by the nervous Edgar Kennedy); Benny Goodman Band instrumental medley: “Sing, Sing, Sing” and “I’ve Got a Heartful of Music,” “I Hitched My Wagon to a Star” (sung by Alan Mowbray, voice dubbing by Powell); “Silhouetted in the Moonlight” (sung by Jerry Cooper and Frances Langford); “Dark Eyes” (O Tchonia) A Russian folk song performed instrumentally by Raymond Paige and his Orchestra, participated by chorus humming the score; “I Hitched My Wagon to a Star” (sung by Powell); “Sing You Son-of-a-Gun” (sung by Powell and Rosemary Lane) and “Hooray for Hollywood” (sung by Johnnie Davis and cast).

Of the handful of songs heard, especially during the Orchard Room sequence, its only low-point is Jerry Cooper’s rendition to “Silhouetted in the Moonlight,” opposite Frances Langford. A Langford solo or duet with Powell would have been sufficient. In the motion picture soundtrack to Hollywood HOTEL, compliments of Hollywood Soundstage (1981), the record not only includes the entire musical segments, but outtakes featuring the complete version to “Silhouetted in the Moonlight” which, after Rosemary Lane’s solo, existing in the final print, is joined in by the singing Powell with a duet conclusion. Another cut is Benny Goodman’s Band playing to “I Got a Heart Full of Music” and “House Hop,” portions that were used in the musical short, FOR AULD LANG SYNE (1938), a tribute to Will Rogers.

Hollywood HOTEL, under Busby Berkeley’s supervision as director, is a musical of lavish scale, with none of his trademarks of surrealistic choreography for which he is famous. There’s plenty of singing but no dancing, coming off like a 1940s musical, especially during the Benny Goodman’s Band interludes consisting of future legends as Lionel Hampton, Harry James (on the clarinet), and Gene Krupa (drummer) performing. Ronald Reagan, another soon-to-be lead actor and future U.S. President is seen briefly as a radio announcer during the premiere of LOVE AND GLORY.

Hollywood HOTEL is a far cry from being the best of the Warner Brothers musical cycle, but in many ways it’s a nostalgic look to its bygone golden age, giving a glimpse of makeup artist, Perc Westmore, appearing as himself, glamorizing the ordinary waitress Rosemary Lane into movie star quality. With the exception near the conclusion of the story, Rosemary hardly shares any scenes with her older but look-alike sister, Lola.

Interestingly, the one thing missing in Hollywood HOTEL which was common place in films about Hollywood on Hollywood is the use of major stars doing surprise guest bits. Imagine Dick Powell’s Ronnie Bowers entering the Hollywood Hotel and coming across briefly such big named actors as Bette Davis, Pat O’Brien, Humphrey Bogart, or even the use of some inside humor in having him meeting up with Joan Blondell (Powell’s off- screen wife). Instead, it uses radio announcers, Ken Niles and Duane Thompson, and newspaper columnist, Louella Parsons, appearing as themselves. Parsons, who was then a noted personality, is a far cry from being a natural performer.

As a spoof, Hollywood HOTEL purposely finds the temperamental Lola Lane overacting all over the place; Hugh Herbert “woo-wooing” in and out of scenes; and in a movie within a movie, the premiere of LOVE AND GLORY, a Civil War story, is noticeably a disguised version to Margaret Mitchell’s then best selling novel “Gone With the Wind,” with the central character called Captain Cutler (in place of Rhett Butler). Quite lengthy at 109 minutes, it’s worthy screen entertainment. Look for it next time it plays on Turner Classic Movies. (***)

“Try Your Luck, You Could Be Donald Duck, Hooray For Hollywood”

When we talk Hollywood Hotel we could be talking about one of three things, the actual hotel, the radio program, and this film which was partially inspired by the first two. Dick Powell was the host of the Hollywood Hotel program on CBS radio network in which Louella Parsons dished out the weekly scoop on the stars.

Powell and Parsons debuted the Hollywood Hotel program in 1934 so by 1937 it had its fair share of the radio audience. Powell hosted, sang, and kibitzed with Louella and her movie star guests. With the power she had with her column, she was able to get the various stars to go on and plug their latest films for nothing.

Then the American Federation of Radio Artists stepped in and demanded she pay wages accordingly and they won the case. That ended the Hollywood Hotel program in 1938. Of course both Powell and Louella went on to other radio venues. The whole story is covered in the Tony Thomas book, The Films Of Dick Powell.

But before the plug was pulled this film came out from Powell’s home studio of Warner Brothers inspired by the radio program. Powell plays a singer/saxophonist with the Benny Goodman band who gets signed to a Hollywood contract. But when he gets out to Hollywood he gets himself tangled up with an egotistical film star Lola Lane, her lookalike double real life sister Rosemary Lane, and a ham actor in Alan Mowbray.

When Mowbray is called upon to sing in a Civil War epic he’s making with Lola Lane, it’s Powell’s voice they use. Then Mowbray develops a Lina Lamont problem when he’s asked to go on the Hollywood Hotel radio program, broadcast from the Hollywood Hotel. That’s got the studio in a tizzy. Let’s say the problem isn’t solved the way it is Singing In The Rain, but Powell’s manager Ted Healy proves to be resourceful.

Richard Whiting and Johnny Mercer provide a really nice score for the film. The big hit song comes right at the beginning as the Benny Goodman band with scat singing Johnnie Davis sing Hollywood’s anthem, Hooray for Hollywood. My favorite however is Powell and Rosemary Lane singing, I’m Like A Fish Out Of Water. Just listening to Johnny Mercer’s lyrics about Ginger Rogers running the Brooklyn Dodgers or Sally Rand without her fan, it’s a compendium of American popular culture in the Thirties.

Busby Berkeley does the choreography here and while the film doesn’t have the soaring imaginary stuff that his earlier work with Warner Brothers has, the numbers are well staged. Berkeley’s big moment is in a drive-in eatery where Powell and Healy have been forced to take jobs. The number starts with Benny Goodman broadcasting from the Hollywood Hotel doing Let That Be A Lesson To You and then at the drive-in Powell, Lane and the entire place start joining in song to the exasperation of owner Edgar Kennedy. And you know what you can expect from Edgar Kennedy exasperation.

Benny Goodman gets to show why he was named the King Of Swing when the band with drummer Gene Krupa and xylophonist Lionel Hampton as part of his ensemble. That together with Frances Langford singing as well. And possibly the last surviving cast member of the group was a fellow who had a small bit as a radio announcer. He died in 2004, but not before he became the 40th President of the United States. Ronald Reagan always credited Dick Powell and Pat O’Brien as being the two guys on Warner Brothers who were the most helpful to an eager young player looking to make his mark.

Hollywood Hotel is one delightful and entertaining motion picture, dated, but charmingly so.

A Terrific and Neglected Musical Comedy

“Hollywood Hotel” is a fast-moving, exuberant, wonderfully entertaining musical comedy from Warners which is sadly overlooked. It should be remembered if only for providing the official theme song of Tinseltown — “Hooray for Hollywood.” The score by Richard Whiting and Johnny Mercer has a number of other gems, however, including the charming “I’m Like a Fish Out of Water,” and “Silhouetted in the Moonlight.” The best musical number is “Let That Be a Lesson to You,” in which Dick Powell and company detail the misadventures of people who found themselves “behind the eight-ball,” a fate which literally befalls slow-burning Edgar Kennedy at the number’s end. The picture celebrates Hollywood glamour and punctures it all at once, as it gets a lot of comic mileage out of pompous and ego-maniacal actors and duplicitous studio executives. The cast includes a gaggle of great character comedians–Allyn Joslyn as a crafty press agent, Ted Healy as Dick Powell’s would-be manager, Fritz Feld as an excitable restaurant patron, Glenda Farrell as Mona Marshall’s sarcastic Gal Friday, Edgar Kennedy as a put-upon drive-in manager, Mabel Todd as Mona’s goofy sister, and Hugh Herbert as her even goofier dad. The “racist” element mentioned in another review here is a ten-second bit where Herbert appears in black-face during a pseudo-“Gone With the Wind” sequence. It’s in questionable taste, but it shouldn’t prevent you from seeing the other delights in this film, notably the Benny Goodman Quartet (including Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton!) in what I believe is the only footage available on this incredible jazz combo. The “Dark Eyes” sequence goes on a bit too long and comes in too late, but otherwise “Hollywood Hotel” is a gem, well worth your time and certainly a film which should be considered for DVD release.