The Big Broadcast of 1937

The Big Broadcast of 1937
Directed by	Mitchell Leisen
Produced by	Lewis E. Gensler
Starring	Jack Benny; George Burns; Gracie Allen
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	October 6, 1936;
Country	United States
Language	English

The Big Broadcast of 1937 is a 1936 Paramount Pictures production directed by Mitchell Leisen, and is the third in the series of Big Broadcast movies. The musical comedy stars Jack Benny, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Bob Burns, Martha Raye, Shirley Ross, Ray Milland, Benny Fields, Frank Forest and the orchestra of Benny Goodman (featuring Gene Krupa). It was in this film that Leopold Stokowski made his movie debut conducting two of his Bach transcriptions. Uncredited roles include Jack Mulhall.

German animator Oskar Fischinger was hired to create an animation sequence in Technicolor. However, when Paramount changed the production to black-and-white only, Fischinger's original abstract animation design was changed to a hybrid animation and live-action sequence showing consumer products emanating from a broadcasting tower, to the song "Radio Dynamics" by Ralph Rainger.[1]

Cast

Jack Benny as Jack Carson
George Burns as Mr. Platt
Gracie Allen as Mrs. Platt
Bob Burns as Bob Black
Martha Raye as Patsy
Shirley Ross as Gwen Holmes
Ray Milland as Bob Miller
Ellen Drew as Telephone Girl

Reception

Leonard Maltin described it as an "almost unbearable musical", that "manages to waste the talent of its formidable cast", giving it 1½ out of 4 stars.

Films in series

gollark: Here's a "helpful" illustration.

gollark: Consider the scenario: there are two boxes before you. One of the boxes (let us call it "A") is transparent and contains £10000, which you can see. The other box ("B") is opaque. It contains £1000000 if and only if the entity running this weird scenario predicted (beforehand) that you'll take box B and not box A. Historically, it has been right the vast majority of the time about this. Your options are to take both boxes, or just to take B. What do?!

gollark: Anyway, while I exist, Newcomb's paradox is a fun if not particularly related problem in decision theory.

gollark: When have I *ever* said false things?

gollark: I don't believe in beds.

References

IMDb entry for the film

Green, Stanley (1999) Hollywood Musicals Year by Year (2nd ed.), pub. Hal Leonard Corporation ISBN 0-634-00765-3 page 62

External links

The Big Broadcast of 1937 on IMDb

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[1] IMDb entry for the film