21 reviews
Lee Tracy is one of the lost joys of the pre-Code era. He mostly played newspapermen (he was Hildy Johnson in the original Broadway production of The Front Page) with a sideline in press agents, and whatever his racket he epitomized the brash, fast-talking, crafty, stop-at-nothing operator. He makes Cagney look bashful, skating around in perpetual, delirious overdrive, gesticulating and spitting out his lines like an articulate machine-gun, wheedling and needling and swearing on his mother's life as he lies through his teeth. He was homely and scrawny, with a raspy nasal voice, and he always played cocky, devious scoundrels, yet you find yourself rooting for him and reveling in his sheer energy and shameless moxie. Audiences of the early thirties loved his snappy style and irrepressible irreverence; they loved him because he was nobody's fool. He's a rare example of a character actorthat guy who always plays reporterswho through force of personality, and the luck of embodying the zeitgeist, had a brief reign as a star.
In BLESSED EVENT he plays Alvin Roberts, a character based so closely on Walter Winchell that Winchell could have sued--but he probably loved it. When we first meet Alvin, he's a lowly kid from the ad department who has been given a chance to sub for a gossip columnist and gotten in trouble for filling the column with dirtprimarily announcements of who is "anticipating a blessed event" without the proper matrimonial surroundings. Soon he's become an all-powerful celebrity and made scores of enemies, including a gangster willing to bump him off to shut him up. There's a subplot about Alvin's ongoing feud with a smarmy crooner, Bunny Harmon, played by Dick Powell. Anyone who finds Powell in his crooning days repellent will appreciate Tracy's merciless vendetta. Actually, I think Powell is being deliberately irritating hereeven in Busby Berkeley films he's not so egregiously perky and fey. He does sing one good song, "Too Many Tears" (a theme throughout the film), and a wonderfully witless radio jingle for "Shapiro's Shoes."
Alvin's standard greeting is, "What do you know that I don't?" The answer is nothingat least not for long. But he's surrounded by worthy foils. Ruth Donnelly is both tart and peppery as Alvin's harried secretary ("You want to see Mr. Roberts? Oh, you want to sue Mr. Roberts. The line forms on the left.") Allen Jenkins, who keeps saying he's from Chicago even though his Brooklyn accent could be cut with a steak knife, plays a mug sent by his gangster boss to threaten Roberts. In a mind-blowing scene, Alvin terrifies the tough guy with a graphic, horrifying description of death in the electric chair. Tracy plays this monologue with unholy gusto; if you're not opposed to the death penalty, you will be after this. There's a funny scene in which Jenkins has to pass time with Alvin's sweet, clueless mother, who is continually thwarted in her desire to listen to the Bunny Harmon Hour on the radio. The usual suspects fill out the cast, those character actors whose very predictability is their glory: Ned Sparks the perennial gloomy pickle-puss; Frank McHugh the perennial hapless nebbish; Jack La Rue the perennial menacing hoodlum. Director Roy Del Ruth (who also helmed the wildly entertaining BLONDE CRAZY) keeps BLESSED EVENT going like a popcorn-maker; the sly, outrageous zingers just keep coming.
Lee Tracy's career never recovered after he was fired from MGM for a drunken indiscretion committed in Mexico. But I doubt he could have lasted long as a star after the Code anyway, since his films are gleefully amoral, frequently demonstrating that crimeor at least lying, cheating and riding roughshod over other people's feelingspays. Every Lee Tracy vehicle contains a moment when he realizes he's gone too far, usually when the girl he fancies bursts into tears and tells him off. (Here he crosses the line in a big way when he betrays a desperate young woman who begs him not to reveal her pregnancy.) He looks suddenly abashed, protesting, "Gee, if I'd known you felt that way I'd give anything not to have done that Baby, sugar, listen !" But two second later he's back to his old scheming ways. A reformed Lee Tracy would be like Fred Astaire with arthritis. Not that he isn't a good guy deep down well, maybe. He has charm, anyway: an impish grin and twinkly eyes and boyish blond hair, like Tom Sawyer crossed with a Tammany Hall fixer. His reactions to sentimentalityto Dick Powell's cloying tenor or Franchot Tone in BOMBSHELL telling Jean Harlow he'd like to run barefoot through her hairare delicious. He's salt and vinegar, no sweetening. In BLESSED EVENT Alvin has a fit when an editorial calls him the "nadir" of American journalism. Lee Tracy, on the other hand, represents is the zenith of the American newspaper movie.
In BLESSED EVENT he plays Alvin Roberts, a character based so closely on Walter Winchell that Winchell could have sued--but he probably loved it. When we first meet Alvin, he's a lowly kid from the ad department who has been given a chance to sub for a gossip columnist and gotten in trouble for filling the column with dirtprimarily announcements of who is "anticipating a blessed event" without the proper matrimonial surroundings. Soon he's become an all-powerful celebrity and made scores of enemies, including a gangster willing to bump him off to shut him up. There's a subplot about Alvin's ongoing feud with a smarmy crooner, Bunny Harmon, played by Dick Powell. Anyone who finds Powell in his crooning days repellent will appreciate Tracy's merciless vendetta. Actually, I think Powell is being deliberately irritating hereeven in Busby Berkeley films he's not so egregiously perky and fey. He does sing one good song, "Too Many Tears" (a theme throughout the film), and a wonderfully witless radio jingle for "Shapiro's Shoes."
Alvin's standard greeting is, "What do you know that I don't?" The answer is nothingat least not for long. But he's surrounded by worthy foils. Ruth Donnelly is both tart and peppery as Alvin's harried secretary ("You want to see Mr. Roberts? Oh, you want to sue Mr. Roberts. The line forms on the left.") Allen Jenkins, who keeps saying he's from Chicago even though his Brooklyn accent could be cut with a steak knife, plays a mug sent by his gangster boss to threaten Roberts. In a mind-blowing scene, Alvin terrifies the tough guy with a graphic, horrifying description of death in the electric chair. Tracy plays this monologue with unholy gusto; if you're not opposed to the death penalty, you will be after this. There's a funny scene in which Jenkins has to pass time with Alvin's sweet, clueless mother, who is continually thwarted in her desire to listen to the Bunny Harmon Hour on the radio. The usual suspects fill out the cast, those character actors whose very predictability is their glory: Ned Sparks the perennial gloomy pickle-puss; Frank McHugh the perennial hapless nebbish; Jack La Rue the perennial menacing hoodlum. Director Roy Del Ruth (who also helmed the wildly entertaining BLONDE CRAZY) keeps BLESSED EVENT going like a popcorn-maker; the sly, outrageous zingers just keep coming.
Lee Tracy's career never recovered after he was fired from MGM for a drunken indiscretion committed in Mexico. But I doubt he could have lasted long as a star after the Code anyway, since his films are gleefully amoral, frequently demonstrating that crimeor at least lying, cheating and riding roughshod over other people's feelingspays. Every Lee Tracy vehicle contains a moment when he realizes he's gone too far, usually when the girl he fancies bursts into tears and tells him off. (Here he crosses the line in a big way when he betrays a desperate young woman who begs him not to reveal her pregnancy.) He looks suddenly abashed, protesting, "Gee, if I'd known you felt that way I'd give anything not to have done that Baby, sugar, listen !" But two second later he's back to his old scheming ways. A reformed Lee Tracy would be like Fred Astaire with arthritis. Not that he isn't a good guy deep down well, maybe. He has charm, anyway: an impish grin and twinkly eyes and boyish blond hair, like Tom Sawyer crossed with a Tammany Hall fixer. His reactions to sentimentalityto Dick Powell's cloying tenor or Franchot Tone in BOMBSHELL telling Jean Harlow he'd like to run barefoot through her hairare delicious. He's salt and vinegar, no sweetening. In BLESSED EVENT Alvin has a fit when an editorial calls him the "nadir" of American journalism. Lee Tracy, on the other hand, represents is the zenith of the American newspaper movie.
- imogensara_smith
- May 2, 2007
- Permalink
- theowinthrop
- Oct 3, 2005
- Permalink
I was a bit torn on this one--I wasn't sure whether to give it a 7 or an 8. Either way, it's a very good little film. Apparently, James Cagney was supposed to originally star in the movie but Lee Tracy eventually got the role. This film is a very good fit for Tracy, as he was the only guy at Warner Brothers who could talk as fast as Cagney---or even faster! Tracy plays a Walter Winchell-like muckraking journalist. His scruples are minimal and he seems very willing to stretch the truth in order to tell a good story---even if it means hurting a few people in the process. Because of this, his fiancé isn't sure whether she should marry him and she begs Tracy to find another line of work. But, it's obvious Tracy LOVES the work--he lives, eats and breathes this sort of scandal. Along the way, there are a few juicy stories you see in the film--including a funny one with Allen Jenkins as a mobster and a distraught pregnant lady who is at her wits end.
The film works well because of its style and fast-paced script. A few very choice scenes also spice things up. The best is Tracy as he's giving a VERY vivid account of what it's like to be electrocuted--as Jenkins recoils in horror. My favorite was the cop at the end after he caught a shooter--seeing him slap the guy around was very funny (even if it does violate the crook's Constitutional rights). Plus, I saw one scene where Ned Sparks actually looked like he was about to smile! All in all, an incredibly breezy and enjoyable little film.
By the way, although the ending and overall message is very different, another great film about muckraking journalism is "Five Star Final" (1931) and it sure appears as if Warner Brothers was strongly inspired by this previous film to make "Blessed Event".
The film works well because of its style and fast-paced script. A few very choice scenes also spice things up. The best is Tracy as he's giving a VERY vivid account of what it's like to be electrocuted--as Jenkins recoils in horror. My favorite was the cop at the end after he caught a shooter--seeing him slap the guy around was very funny (even if it does violate the crook's Constitutional rights). Plus, I saw one scene where Ned Sparks actually looked like he was about to smile! All in all, an incredibly breezy and enjoyable little film.
By the way, although the ending and overall message is very different, another great film about muckraking journalism is "Five Star Final" (1931) and it sure appears as if Warner Brothers was strongly inspired by this previous film to make "Blessed Event".
- planktonrules
- Nov 14, 2011
- Permalink
This isn't the first time I've raved about Roy del Ruth's Warners work prior to the emergence of the Hays Office, but it needs to be restated: few directors had as sure a hand with fast-paced, cynical comedy as Del Ruth. And, when teamed with the equally forgotten (and equally inspired) comedian Lee Tracy, what results is one of the best comedies of the 30s, as funny and audacious today as then. Tracy (who came West to Hollywood after originating the Hildy Johnson role in THE FRONT PAGE on Broadway) was the wisecrack-slinger all others are measured against; here he's so good, so inspired at mixing verbal and physical comedy, you'll be wondering how it's possible his career didn't soar for 25 years. (Besides his heavy drinking, which couldn't have helped him, he earned the wrath of Louis B Mayer during the shooting of VIVA VILLA by urinating on the Mexican army from his hotel balcony, effectively ending his career as a leading man. Or so the legend has it.) This is probably his best film, playing a Winchell-like columnist named Alvin Roberts, and Tracy plays him with such cheerful unscrupulousness you might almost forgot what a rat the real Winchell was. But this is pre-Code Warners, where even an unprincipled cur could be a hero so long as he scraped bottom with zest and pluck; don't be surprised at the many one-liners and situations that would become taboo in three years time: abortions, adultery, homosexuality and ethnicity are all fair game for BLESSED EVENT's satirical arrows, and only an insufferable prude would stifle his laughter. Not until Preston Sturges played chicken with the Hays Office in the early 40s would such darkly funny farce be allowed on the screen again. Keep an eye out for this one and prepare to become a Lee Tracy fan for life. As usual, Del Ruth's direction is dead on the money, while never calling attention to itself.
Unless someone had spent some time with Admiral Byrd at the South Pole there ain't no way that any American would have not recognized that Lee Tracy's main character was based on Walter Winchell. Winchell had not started his radio show as of yet, but his column was the most read in the nation. And the term Blessed Event was a contribution that Winchell made to the English language still in use today.
The play had a 115 performance run on Broadway and Allen Jenkins and IsabellJewell repeated their roles on Broadway. Tracy with a quip for all occasions takes over Ned Sparks's column and immediately makes his paper the biggest circulation in town. He takes on all, gangsters, politicians, show business personalities with an eye for the salacious. A man like that makes enemies and Winchell had plenty in his life.
They also with a bit of future forecasting had him in a staged feud with another show business personality, a crooner played by Dick Powell in his film debut. Powell because this was his debut was no one that Winchell would have bothered with in real life. Powell's character was based on a combination of Rudy Valle and Russ Columbo both who led their own orchestras as Powell's character Buddy Harmon does. In real life Winchell would be in a bogus feud with bandleader Ben Bernie and the two would trade insults on their respective radio shows like Crosby and Hope.
Blessed Event would be one of Tracy's best film roles until he got banished to the Bs for his performance in Mexico on a hotel balcony letting it all hang out and urinating on some passing Mexican soldiers while on location for Viva Villa.
For a time this was dated, but as news gradually became more about the personalities delivering them, Blessed Event got right back in style. I think a young audience would really appreciate Blessed Event today.
The play had a 115 performance run on Broadway and Allen Jenkins and IsabellJewell repeated their roles on Broadway. Tracy with a quip for all occasions takes over Ned Sparks's column and immediately makes his paper the biggest circulation in town. He takes on all, gangsters, politicians, show business personalities with an eye for the salacious. A man like that makes enemies and Winchell had plenty in his life.
They also with a bit of future forecasting had him in a staged feud with another show business personality, a crooner played by Dick Powell in his film debut. Powell because this was his debut was no one that Winchell would have bothered with in real life. Powell's character was based on a combination of Rudy Valle and Russ Columbo both who led their own orchestras as Powell's character Buddy Harmon does. In real life Winchell would be in a bogus feud with bandleader Ben Bernie and the two would trade insults on their respective radio shows like Crosby and Hope.
Blessed Event would be one of Tracy's best film roles until he got banished to the Bs for his performance in Mexico on a hotel balcony letting it all hang out and urinating on some passing Mexican soldiers while on location for Viva Villa.
For a time this was dated, but as news gradually became more about the personalities delivering them, Blessed Event got right back in style. I think a young audience would really appreciate Blessed Event today.
- bkoganbing
- Aug 20, 2014
- Permalink
"Blessed Event" is a parody of its time and of the media and entertainment of its day including newspapers and radio. But one wonders how exaggerated it really is. The sensationalism of the press and rise of yellow journalism was a frequent part of movie plots in the 1930s. But this one treats of another aspect as well - gossip.
Lee Tracy plays Alvin Roberts, who quickly becomes a famous New York gossip columnist. The movie is billed as a drama and comedy. While there is comedy in Robets' character and some of the funny things he says, the drama of the film isn't lost on the audience. We soon feel the distastefulness of Roberts' gossip column. We soon see the inconsiderate character that he becomes. We soon see his ego and pride and relish for the power he has assumed. These are sad situations, and the film shows the tragic results of such power and behavior. Of course, amidst all of this we have occasional funny lines or clever comments.
This film could be a biopic of a real person. Other reviewers have pointed this out. Roberts is as an obvious copy of Walter Winchell who was then on the rise as the king of gossip. Winchell was the original gossip columnist of Broadway and New York. He rose to such power through the press that politicians, the rich and famous, sports celebrities, gangsters, and actors feared him or tried to get close to him. Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons would become the Walter Winchells of Hollywood.
Lee Tracy's high-pitched voice and rapid-fire delivery closely emulate Winchell's persona. Although carried to the extreme for this film, those also were natural characteristics of Tracy. For a time, he was a leading actor in great demand. Some of his real lifestyle was similar to Winchell's. He was arrogant and seemed to bathe in the power of his position. Tracy also lived a racy, reckless, self-centered life. His temper, rowdiness and bad manners earned him a "bad-boy" reputation. He was given the boot from MGM after a public incidence in Mexico during filming of a movie there. Tracy urinated in public off a balcony and got in fisticuffs with the police.
His later roles about hard-bitten, muck-racking, sensationalist reporters soon wore thin with the public. Tracy returned to the stage and later ended up on television in supporting roles. He had a successful marriage and apparently tamed down before his 1968 death from cancer at age 70.
Winchell's fortunes were quite different. From the mid-1930s on, his star continued to rise through the 1950s. He had his own radio show and his newspaper column was syndicated in more than 2,000 papers worldwide. Winchell was very controversial. He had powerful friends and enemies. He was the first media personality to attack Adolf Hitler and the rise of Nazism. He also hated Communism and attacked the National Maritime Union during World War II as being a communist front. He admired Franklin D. Roosevelt and was invited to the White House. He also liked J. Edgar Hoover. Winchell was one of the earliest and most outspoken supporters of civil rights for African Americans. He attacked the Ku Klux Klan and other racist groups. He also supported Sen. Joseph McCarthy's efforts to ferret out communists in Hollywood.
Winchell held court at the Stork Club in New York for years. But by the late 1950s, his appeal began to wane. And, his power dropped quickly. His family life was unstable and unconventional and experienced sad deaths. He lived alone his last two years in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He died of cancer at age 74 in 1968.
In this movie, Tracy's Roberts says repeatedly, "Pride ain't power." He has a few funny lines. "I almost starved to death for two weeks," was one. The story is all about so-called "entertainment journalism." The supporting cast are fine, with Mary Brian doing an excellent job as Gladys Price, Roberts' secretary and right-hand man.
This movie is interesting in its snapshot of the time and its parodies. It has some historical value for that reason. The cast and production values are all good. And, it's somewhat entertaining.
Lee Tracy plays Alvin Roberts, who quickly becomes a famous New York gossip columnist. The movie is billed as a drama and comedy. While there is comedy in Robets' character and some of the funny things he says, the drama of the film isn't lost on the audience. We soon feel the distastefulness of Roberts' gossip column. We soon see the inconsiderate character that he becomes. We soon see his ego and pride and relish for the power he has assumed. These are sad situations, and the film shows the tragic results of such power and behavior. Of course, amidst all of this we have occasional funny lines or clever comments.
This film could be a biopic of a real person. Other reviewers have pointed this out. Roberts is as an obvious copy of Walter Winchell who was then on the rise as the king of gossip. Winchell was the original gossip columnist of Broadway and New York. He rose to such power through the press that politicians, the rich and famous, sports celebrities, gangsters, and actors feared him or tried to get close to him. Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons would become the Walter Winchells of Hollywood.
Lee Tracy's high-pitched voice and rapid-fire delivery closely emulate Winchell's persona. Although carried to the extreme for this film, those also were natural characteristics of Tracy. For a time, he was a leading actor in great demand. Some of his real lifestyle was similar to Winchell's. He was arrogant and seemed to bathe in the power of his position. Tracy also lived a racy, reckless, self-centered life. His temper, rowdiness and bad manners earned him a "bad-boy" reputation. He was given the boot from MGM after a public incidence in Mexico during filming of a movie there. Tracy urinated in public off a balcony and got in fisticuffs with the police.
His later roles about hard-bitten, muck-racking, sensationalist reporters soon wore thin with the public. Tracy returned to the stage and later ended up on television in supporting roles. He had a successful marriage and apparently tamed down before his 1968 death from cancer at age 70.
Winchell's fortunes were quite different. From the mid-1930s on, his star continued to rise through the 1950s. He had his own radio show and his newspaper column was syndicated in more than 2,000 papers worldwide. Winchell was very controversial. He had powerful friends and enemies. He was the first media personality to attack Adolf Hitler and the rise of Nazism. He also hated Communism and attacked the National Maritime Union during World War II as being a communist front. He admired Franklin D. Roosevelt and was invited to the White House. He also liked J. Edgar Hoover. Winchell was one of the earliest and most outspoken supporters of civil rights for African Americans. He attacked the Ku Klux Klan and other racist groups. He also supported Sen. Joseph McCarthy's efforts to ferret out communists in Hollywood.
Winchell held court at the Stork Club in New York for years. But by the late 1950s, his appeal began to wane. And, his power dropped quickly. His family life was unstable and unconventional and experienced sad deaths. He lived alone his last two years in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He died of cancer at age 74 in 1968.
In this movie, Tracy's Roberts says repeatedly, "Pride ain't power." He has a few funny lines. "I almost starved to death for two weeks," was one. The story is all about so-called "entertainment journalism." The supporting cast are fine, with Mary Brian doing an excellent job as Gladys Price, Roberts' secretary and right-hand man.
This movie is interesting in its snapshot of the time and its parodies. It has some historical value for that reason. The cast and production values are all good. And, it's somewhat entertaining.
A foray into the early days of tabloid and sensationalist journalism in Hoover's America.
Lee Tracy delivers a convincing performance as Alvin Roberts, the self-proclaimed inventor of pink journalism, which promotes and feeds on the scandal and reputations of the rich and famous. His rise is meteoric as newspapers realize that rumor and controversy sell.
Less happy is the intersection of this interesting exposition of the intricacies of journalistic populism with romantic and musical comedy, which imposes an improbable happy ending, accompanied by the voice and orchestra of Dick Powell.
If Alvin's use of the radio and its communicative power to broaden his influence is a plausible consequence of the success of his polemical style, the attempt to turn that connection into a musical seems to me to be misplaced and reduces the relevance of the theme.
Lee Tracy delivers a convincing performance as Alvin Roberts, the self-proclaimed inventor of pink journalism, which promotes and feeds on the scandal and reputations of the rich and famous. His rise is meteoric as newspapers realize that rumor and controversy sell.
Less happy is the intersection of this interesting exposition of the intricacies of journalistic populism with romantic and musical comedy, which imposes an improbable happy ending, accompanied by the voice and orchestra of Dick Powell.
If Alvin's use of the radio and its communicative power to broaden his influence is a plausible consequence of the success of his polemical style, the attempt to turn that connection into a musical seems to me to be misplaced and reduces the relevance of the theme.
- ricardojorgeramalho
- Dec 10, 2022
- Permalink
A brash tabloid columnist turns his BLESSED EVENT style of gossip mongering into a sensation, but creates many enemies along the way.
This is the film that made Lee Tracy an authentic movie star - the role and the actor were perfect for each other. For the next couple of years Tracy would specialize in fast talking shyster lawyers, agents, reporters & flimflam men. In the process, he became one of the most enjoyable performers of the era, always fresh & entertaining. However, after misbehaving in Mexico while under contract to MGM, he would be banished to the Poverty Row studios to continue acting in minor films. Today, regrettably, he is almost forgotten.
But in pre-Code BLESSED EVENT Tracy is at the top of his form: exasperating, maddeningly irritating & wonderfully funny. Warner Brothers gives him an excellent supporting cast to bounce off of - acerbic Ned Sparks as a disgruntled tabloid reporter; peppy Frank McHugh as an overeager publicity agent; porcine Edwin Maxwell as a nasty gangster; and Allen Jenkins as a softhearted criminal (his electric chair' scene with Tracy is a classic).
Boyish Dick Powell, in his film debut, seems an odd choice to play Tracy's nemesis, but there's no doubt about his charm & fine singing style, both of which would soon make him a major movie star.
Mary Brian is lovely as Tracy's girlfriend & Emma Dunn is sweet as his mother, but each tends to be a bit smothered by Tracy's oversized personality. His true co-star is tart-tongued Ruth Donnelly as his secretary. No slacker in slinging the dialogue around, she's able to match Tracy line for line.
Movie mavens will recognize Charles Lane as a reporter; Isabel Jewell, terrific as a much-abused showgirl; and hilarious Herman Bing as a chef - all of them uncredited.
This is the film that made Lee Tracy an authentic movie star - the role and the actor were perfect for each other. For the next couple of years Tracy would specialize in fast talking shyster lawyers, agents, reporters & flimflam men. In the process, he became one of the most enjoyable performers of the era, always fresh & entertaining. However, after misbehaving in Mexico while under contract to MGM, he would be banished to the Poverty Row studios to continue acting in minor films. Today, regrettably, he is almost forgotten.
But in pre-Code BLESSED EVENT Tracy is at the top of his form: exasperating, maddeningly irritating & wonderfully funny. Warner Brothers gives him an excellent supporting cast to bounce off of - acerbic Ned Sparks as a disgruntled tabloid reporter; peppy Frank McHugh as an overeager publicity agent; porcine Edwin Maxwell as a nasty gangster; and Allen Jenkins as a softhearted criminal (his electric chair' scene with Tracy is a classic).
Boyish Dick Powell, in his film debut, seems an odd choice to play Tracy's nemesis, but there's no doubt about his charm & fine singing style, both of which would soon make him a major movie star.
Mary Brian is lovely as Tracy's girlfriend & Emma Dunn is sweet as his mother, but each tends to be a bit smothered by Tracy's oversized personality. His true co-star is tart-tongued Ruth Donnelly as his secretary. No slacker in slinging the dialogue around, she's able to match Tracy line for line.
Movie mavens will recognize Charles Lane as a reporter; Isabel Jewell, terrific as a much-abused showgirl; and hilarious Herman Bing as a chef - all of them uncredited.
- Ron Oliver
- Apr 4, 2002
- Permalink
"What do you want to interview Mr. Roberts about?"
"Oh you know, how he lives, and where he goes, and what he thinks about."
"My dear, you think they would print that in a high school paper?"
This is a satire of Walter Winchell, the ruthless gossip columnist who wielded great power for decades in the entertainment industry, and who by 1932 had already achieved celebrity. He's played here by slick talking Lee Tracy, a good fit for the role, but I found the character so unlikeable that when he was made out to be the good guy, it was tough to enjoy.
The character loves publishing secrets and personal details that ruffle feathers, e.g. Upcoming birth announcements ("blessed events") with due dates less than nine months after a couple got married. People sue the paper, but that just fans the flames and he goes merrily along raking in money (the $90,000 a year is over $2 million in today's money). His assistant (Ruth Donnelly) is feisty and a good supporting character, handling a deluge of phone calls and cracking jokes like "You want to see Mr. Roberts? Oh, you want to SUE Mr. Roberts? The line forms on the left." Unfortunately, the scenes of him frenetically operating in the newsroom got a little monotonous despite their energy level, with the exception of his rather gruesome description of electrocution to intimidate a gangster (Allen Jenkins).
Things go especially sour when the gossip columnist reports about a desperate young woman (Isabel Jewell) who's pregnant and literally just told him she's suicidal over the idea of people finding out. Instead of making this a point of reckoning for the character, the script pays lip service to a little guilt, then has him be the hero in standing up to gangsters as well as his rival (a crooner played by Dick Powell, in his very first film). By the end I had really tired of the character and how it was playing out, hence the middling review score.
Interesting quote about TV, pretty early for 1932: "Ask him about sex appeal by television." "By television? I'll tell you right now it'll never prove a popular method."
This is a satire of Walter Winchell, the ruthless gossip columnist who wielded great power for decades in the entertainment industry, and who by 1932 had already achieved celebrity. He's played here by slick talking Lee Tracy, a good fit for the role, but I found the character so unlikeable that when he was made out to be the good guy, it was tough to enjoy.
The character loves publishing secrets and personal details that ruffle feathers, e.g. Upcoming birth announcements ("blessed events") with due dates less than nine months after a couple got married. People sue the paper, but that just fans the flames and he goes merrily along raking in money (the $90,000 a year is over $2 million in today's money). His assistant (Ruth Donnelly) is feisty and a good supporting character, handling a deluge of phone calls and cracking jokes like "You want to see Mr. Roberts? Oh, you want to SUE Mr. Roberts? The line forms on the left." Unfortunately, the scenes of him frenetically operating in the newsroom got a little monotonous despite their energy level, with the exception of his rather gruesome description of electrocution to intimidate a gangster (Allen Jenkins).
Things go especially sour when the gossip columnist reports about a desperate young woman (Isabel Jewell) who's pregnant and literally just told him she's suicidal over the idea of people finding out. Instead of making this a point of reckoning for the character, the script pays lip service to a little guilt, then has him be the hero in standing up to gangsters as well as his rival (a crooner played by Dick Powell, in his very first film). By the end I had really tired of the character and how it was playing out, hence the middling review score.
Interesting quote about TV, pretty early for 1932: "Ask him about sex appeal by television." "By television? I'll tell you right now it'll never prove a popular method."
- gbill-74877
- Aug 21, 2024
- Permalink
The main reason people I know won't watch classic movies is because they "move too slow". Everyone I know this all old films are super-long, slow moving affairs with no action. I can't wait to show them Blessed Event.
Blessed Event (1932) is a terrifically fast, hilarious pre-code comedy with it's main character based on 30's tabloid writer Walter Winchell. Lee Tracy plays Alvin Roberts, the main character, who runs the "dirtiest" gossip column in New York, but events ensue that may have to cause him to give up his column.
If you have an opportunity to watch this amazing movie, do so. If you are already a fan of classics you will love it, and even if you've never watched an old movie, this is a great movie for anyone, if you thought all old movies were squeaky clean, slow, boring, and innocent, you're in for a surprise.
Blessed Event (1932) is a terrifically fast, hilarious pre-code comedy with it's main character based on 30's tabloid writer Walter Winchell. Lee Tracy plays Alvin Roberts, the main character, who runs the "dirtiest" gossip column in New York, but events ensue that may have to cause him to give up his column.
If you have an opportunity to watch this amazing movie, do so. If you are already a fan of classics you will love it, and even if you've never watched an old movie, this is a great movie for anyone, if you thought all old movies were squeaky clean, slow, boring, and innocent, you're in for a surprise.
- broadway_melody_girl
- Mar 15, 2008
- Permalink
Pretty good cynical newspaper movie (a staple of 30s Hollywood). Not as gloriously dark as "His Girl Friday", the best of the genre, or as flat out funny as "Libeled Lady", the second best, (and as a portrait of Walter Winchell it's considerably beneath "Sweet Smell of Success"), but director Roy Del Ruth provides a good balance between the two moods while keeping the pace properly zippy. Lee Tracy, of course, is deep in his comfort zone playing a wisecracking heel. Also good are Ruth Donelly as his equally mordant assistant, Alan Jenkins as a gangster terrified by Tracy's description of the electric chair (the film's best scene), Emma Dunn as Tracy's sweet, dim mom and Dick Powell nicely satirizing the syrupy songs of his mercifully short lived crooner period. Would have liked more of Ned Sparks and his sharp, curdled jabs, though, and the ending is way too sappy/happy for this most curmudgeonly of genres, especially one made pre code. B minus.
This is Lee Tracy in a definitive role for him in a definitive Warner's precode. Tracy had been a hit in quite a few films over at Warner's but if I was going to recommend just one film that he did that best displayed his fast talking talent, it would probably be this one.
Tracy plays Alvin Roberts, a guy who worked in the ad department at a newspaper until someone with a regular column goes on vacation (Ned Sparks as George Moxley). Roberts is given a chance to do the column for a couple of weeks and turns it into a mud slinging piece. He is constantly writing bits about how Mr and Mrs. X are anticipating a "blessed event", even if the event is in October and the wedding was in July. Believe it or not, just the discussion of pregnancy in the 1930's was taboo, even though, as Alvin says, the Blessed Events eventually turn into babies, and who doesn't like babies? Circulation soars, and when Moxley returns he finds that he is now the "pet editor" and Alvin keeps the column.
Ruth Donnely plays Alvin's fast talking secretary who answers phones ringing off the hook threatening lawsuits. As she says, "the line forms on the left". Alvin gets in trouble with a local gangster he is always writing about, and when one of his muscle men (Allen Jenkins as Frankie Wells) comes up to threaten him, Alvin turns the tables and scares him by getting Frankie to threaten him with the Dictaphone turned on, then Alvin describes the electric chair to Wells in hilarious detail - who else but Lee Tracy could make the electric chair funny? - and even charms Wells when he shows up at Alvin's apartment and meets his mom. At any rate, Wells ends up becoming a source of information for Alvin.
Soon Alvin has radio spots and with his column and appearances is pulling down 90K a year in 1932!. Still in spite of this hardened front Alvin lives at home with mom and drinks milk. Now all through this Alvin has a running feud going in his column with crooner Bunny Harmon (Dick Powell). This is Powell's first credited role, and apparently Harmon got Alvin fired from another paper years ago, so now Alvin goes around talking about what a bad singer Harmon is and showing up in "Alvin free zones" that Harmon has set up. But here's the thing - Dick Powell has no dialogue until the very end, and then it is very generic. Perhaps WB was just trying out Powell as a songbird to see if he went over with audiences.
So we have several stories here that begin to collide - Alvin's love for a female reporter (Mary Brian) who does not like how he is making his living, the gangster who can't figure out how Alvin knows his every move, Alvin's feud with Bunny Harmon, and one piece of dirt that Alvin dished out that he wishes that he could take back because it ruined a girl's life. How will all of this work out? Watch and find out. Highly recommended.
Tracy plays Alvin Roberts, a guy who worked in the ad department at a newspaper until someone with a regular column goes on vacation (Ned Sparks as George Moxley). Roberts is given a chance to do the column for a couple of weeks and turns it into a mud slinging piece. He is constantly writing bits about how Mr and Mrs. X are anticipating a "blessed event", even if the event is in October and the wedding was in July. Believe it or not, just the discussion of pregnancy in the 1930's was taboo, even though, as Alvin says, the Blessed Events eventually turn into babies, and who doesn't like babies? Circulation soars, and when Moxley returns he finds that he is now the "pet editor" and Alvin keeps the column.
Ruth Donnely plays Alvin's fast talking secretary who answers phones ringing off the hook threatening lawsuits. As she says, "the line forms on the left". Alvin gets in trouble with a local gangster he is always writing about, and when one of his muscle men (Allen Jenkins as Frankie Wells) comes up to threaten him, Alvin turns the tables and scares him by getting Frankie to threaten him with the Dictaphone turned on, then Alvin describes the electric chair to Wells in hilarious detail - who else but Lee Tracy could make the electric chair funny? - and even charms Wells when he shows up at Alvin's apartment and meets his mom. At any rate, Wells ends up becoming a source of information for Alvin.
Soon Alvin has radio spots and with his column and appearances is pulling down 90K a year in 1932!. Still in spite of this hardened front Alvin lives at home with mom and drinks milk. Now all through this Alvin has a running feud going in his column with crooner Bunny Harmon (Dick Powell). This is Powell's first credited role, and apparently Harmon got Alvin fired from another paper years ago, so now Alvin goes around talking about what a bad singer Harmon is and showing up in "Alvin free zones" that Harmon has set up. But here's the thing - Dick Powell has no dialogue until the very end, and then it is very generic. Perhaps WB was just trying out Powell as a songbird to see if he went over with audiences.
So we have several stories here that begin to collide - Alvin's love for a female reporter (Mary Brian) who does not like how he is making his living, the gangster who can't figure out how Alvin knows his every move, Alvin's feud with Bunny Harmon, and one piece of dirt that Alvin dished out that he wishes that he could take back because it ruined a girl's life. How will all of this work out? Watch and find out. Highly recommended.
Dick Powell is wearing waaaaaay too much make-up in this one, but it IS a pretty early talkie, so they were just getting used to things. Powell is Bunny Harmon, the very FIRST film role for Powell! Some fun character actors in here as well... Alan Jenkins, Ned Sparks, and Edwin Maxwell.. they would all go on to be HUGE players in hollywood films. Lee Tracy is the gossip columnist, who knows something (many things! ) that people don't want published, but might print it anyway, no matter what the consequences for those involved. The story of someone's personal troubles, put into print, for everyone to see. Mary Brian is the girlfriend Gladys, who clearly has a conscience, and knows right from wrong. and the mob is involved. it doesn't pay to publish too much information. An early version of Sweet Smell of Success. (Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis...) Directed by Roy DelRuth. Had started in the silents and moved into the talkies. A couple songs by Powell, who could belt out a good song when necessary. was so good in Postman Always Rings Twice.
Obscure and almost forgotten, this is a gem of the type of picture Warner Brothers did best in the 30s. Earthy, moving at a breakneck pace, packed with dialogue that snaps, crackles and pops, it is super entertainment. The Warners look and feel are everywhere, along with several key members of the studio's stock company. The humor (and there is lots of it) has a sardonic edge, much in keeping with the overall tone of the story. Lee Tracy's vivid description of life and death in the electric chair is a grisly, repulsive comedy turn. In an excellent cast, special attention to poor uncredited Isabel Jewell - perhaps just a bit more strident than the role required, but delivering an on-edge performance you will not soon forget.
Lee Tracy gets a Broadway column on the basis of his spilling when various celebrities anticipate a birth. As his success grows, so does his ego, and his feuds: with radio crooner Dick Powell in his first movie; and gangster Edwin Maxwell. After he ruins club singer Isabel Jewell's life, he starts to develop a conscience. It's a race between being dumped by girl friend Mary Brian, being bumped off by Maxwell's button man.
It's based on a play that showed up on Broadway in 1928 -- Alan Jenkins appeared in the show, as well as this movie -- and demonstrates what a difference a century can make in societal standards. It still has some fun in it, although perhaps not for anyone much younger than I. With Ruth Donnelly, Emma Dunn, and Ned Sparks.
It's based on a play that showed up on Broadway in 1928 -- Alan Jenkins appeared in the show, as well as this movie -- and demonstrates what a difference a century can make in societal standards. It still has some fun in it, although perhaps not for anyone much younger than I. With Ruth Donnelly, Emma Dunn, and Ned Sparks.
- mark.waltz
- Apr 16, 2014
- Permalink
Fast paced and very clever Lee Tracy vehicle playing a Walter W. type gossip columnist with a grudge against "crooners"generally and one in particular played by Dick Powell. Definitely precode with dialogue and subject matter that would have been totally rejected just a few years later. One scene culminates in a phrase spoken by Tracy's"mother" containg a word that rocked the film world at the end of Gone With the Wind. Among other wonderful sequences watch for Tracy's evocation of a trip to the "hot seat", and Dick Powell's rendition of a singing commercial extolling the qualities of"Shapiro's Shoes". With Shapiro himeself beaming at his side. Do catch this film also a similar effort also with Tracey "The Half Naked Truth".
- houndspirit
- Jun 27, 2000
- Permalink
BLESSED EVENT (Warner Brothers, 1932), directed by Roy Del Ruth, isn't a motion picture set at a maternity ward. Yet, Warner Brothers did produce a maternity ward/hospital melodrama titled LIFE BEGINS (1932) starring Loretta Young, both films that could easily stir up confusion among classic movie lovers. Based on the play by Manuel Seff and Forrest Wilson, this dramatic story with comedic pre-code overtones takes place in a newspaper office where one lone gossip columnist obtains enough news unfit to print. Though known mostly to film historians as the movie debut of future singing star, Dick Powell (1904-1963), BLESSED EVENT virtually belongs to Lee Tracy from start to finish. Following the success of Warners' own FIVE STAR FINAL (1931) starring Edward G. Robinson, where story dealt with tabloid story ruining the lives of a family, BLESSED EVENT goes even further with less dramatics placing tabloids and scandal on Broadway fixtures to help boost up circulation.
Set at New York City's Daily Express newspaper, Alvin Roberts (Lee Tracy) rises from the advertising department to gossip columnist on well-known personalities while George Moxley (Ned Sparks), is on vacation. Upon his return, Moxley finds circulation at an all time high due to Alvin's tell-all columns. Regardless of libel suits involved, Louis Miller (Walter Walker), its publisher, allows Alvin to continue what he is doing. Alvin, who lives at home with his mother (Emma Dunn), is loved by Gladys Price (Mary Brian), a fellow reporter, who disapproves of his newfound popularity ranging to his "Spilling the Dirt" articles to radio broadcasts where he and Bunny Harmon (Dick Powell), a crooner Alvin dislikes, carry on their feuds over the air. Alvin's "Blessed Event" tabloids go too far when he finds himself threatened by Frankie Wells (Allen Jenkins), a Chicago gangster hired by his mobster boss, Sam Gobel (Edwin Maxwell) to get him to stop writing articles about the well known "Broadway Public Enemy." Guilt sets in when Alvin's promise not to expose Dorothy Lane (Isabel Jewell), a Broadway singer of the Midnight Revue, about her "blessed event without benefit of clergy," goes to print, causing Dorothy to lose both her job and respect from her mother in Texas. As Alvin resumes destroying personal lives of others, Gladys fears for Alvin after discovering his life might be destroyed by gangsters.
The supporting players, consisting mostly Warner Brothers stock players, consist of Ruth Donnelly (Miss Stevens, Alvin's wisecracking secretary); Robert Emmett O'Connor (Detective Jim); and Frank McHugh (coming late into the story) as Reilly, a press agent from the Gazette. Look for familiar faces of Charles Lane, Harold Waldridge, Jack LaRue and George Chandler in smaller roles.
For Dick Powell's first movie, he does more singing than participating in the non-musical segments. Coming 30 minutes into the start of the story, Powell introduces himself by singing the film's best song of "How Could You Say 'No" When All the World is Saying Yes" on WYNY Broadcasting Station. Other songs include "Waiting for a Call From You" (sung by Isabel Jewell); while Powell croons to "Wear Shapiro Shoes," "Too Many Tears," and "I'm Making Hay in the Moonlight" at the Chateau Harmony Night Club. While Powell's first song is impressive, the others that follow are either overdone or overripe, lacking the natural singing style and appeal found in his later musicals. Seeing how youthful Powell appears here, it's hard to imagine he's that same actor who reinvented himself as the unshaven tough guy detective Philip Marlowe in MURDER MY SWEET (RKO, 1944). Mary Brian, Tracy's co-star, is no stranger to the newspaper movies, having already appeared in the highly successful screen adaptation to the 1928 stage production of THE FRONT PAGE (United Artists, 1931) opposite Pat O'Brien, also gives a commendable performance. Isabel Jewell (also in movie debut), in a sizable role as the doomed show girl, surprisingly does not get any casting credit for her impressive performance. As usual, both Ruth Donnelly and Ned Sparks offer great humor for their puns and verbal wisecracks.
For anyone viewing BLESSED EVENT as a curiosity in watching Dick Powell making his blessed event in the motion picture industry, many may tend to forget he's in the movie at all after watching the dynamic performance given by Lee Tracy in what's often categorized as his best movie role. In typical Warner Brothers fashion, BLESSED EVENT moves swiftly during its entire 79 minute length. Seldom broadcast on commercial television in the 1960s and 70s, BLESSED EVENT later achieved rediscovery years later either on a video cassette release in the 1990s or cable television's Turner Classic Movies. Sit back and enjoy this one. (***)
Set at New York City's Daily Express newspaper, Alvin Roberts (Lee Tracy) rises from the advertising department to gossip columnist on well-known personalities while George Moxley (Ned Sparks), is on vacation. Upon his return, Moxley finds circulation at an all time high due to Alvin's tell-all columns. Regardless of libel suits involved, Louis Miller (Walter Walker), its publisher, allows Alvin to continue what he is doing. Alvin, who lives at home with his mother (Emma Dunn), is loved by Gladys Price (Mary Brian), a fellow reporter, who disapproves of his newfound popularity ranging to his "Spilling the Dirt" articles to radio broadcasts where he and Bunny Harmon (Dick Powell), a crooner Alvin dislikes, carry on their feuds over the air. Alvin's "Blessed Event" tabloids go too far when he finds himself threatened by Frankie Wells (Allen Jenkins), a Chicago gangster hired by his mobster boss, Sam Gobel (Edwin Maxwell) to get him to stop writing articles about the well known "Broadway Public Enemy." Guilt sets in when Alvin's promise not to expose Dorothy Lane (Isabel Jewell), a Broadway singer of the Midnight Revue, about her "blessed event without benefit of clergy," goes to print, causing Dorothy to lose both her job and respect from her mother in Texas. As Alvin resumes destroying personal lives of others, Gladys fears for Alvin after discovering his life might be destroyed by gangsters.
The supporting players, consisting mostly Warner Brothers stock players, consist of Ruth Donnelly (Miss Stevens, Alvin's wisecracking secretary); Robert Emmett O'Connor (Detective Jim); and Frank McHugh (coming late into the story) as Reilly, a press agent from the Gazette. Look for familiar faces of Charles Lane, Harold Waldridge, Jack LaRue and George Chandler in smaller roles.
For Dick Powell's first movie, he does more singing than participating in the non-musical segments. Coming 30 minutes into the start of the story, Powell introduces himself by singing the film's best song of "How Could You Say 'No" When All the World is Saying Yes" on WYNY Broadcasting Station. Other songs include "Waiting for a Call From You" (sung by Isabel Jewell); while Powell croons to "Wear Shapiro Shoes," "Too Many Tears," and "I'm Making Hay in the Moonlight" at the Chateau Harmony Night Club. While Powell's first song is impressive, the others that follow are either overdone or overripe, lacking the natural singing style and appeal found in his later musicals. Seeing how youthful Powell appears here, it's hard to imagine he's that same actor who reinvented himself as the unshaven tough guy detective Philip Marlowe in MURDER MY SWEET (RKO, 1944). Mary Brian, Tracy's co-star, is no stranger to the newspaper movies, having already appeared in the highly successful screen adaptation to the 1928 stage production of THE FRONT PAGE (United Artists, 1931) opposite Pat O'Brien, also gives a commendable performance. Isabel Jewell (also in movie debut), in a sizable role as the doomed show girl, surprisingly does not get any casting credit for her impressive performance. As usual, both Ruth Donnelly and Ned Sparks offer great humor for their puns and verbal wisecracks.
For anyone viewing BLESSED EVENT as a curiosity in watching Dick Powell making his blessed event in the motion picture industry, many may tend to forget he's in the movie at all after watching the dynamic performance given by Lee Tracy in what's often categorized as his best movie role. In typical Warner Brothers fashion, BLESSED EVENT moves swiftly during its entire 79 minute length. Seldom broadcast on commercial television in the 1960s and 70s, BLESSED EVENT later achieved rediscovery years later either on a video cassette release in the 1990s or cable television's Turner Classic Movies. Sit back and enjoy this one. (***)
- jarrodmcdonald-1
- Jul 14, 2022
- Permalink