Dizzy Dames

Former stage star Lillian Bennett now leads a comfortable life running a boarding house for theater performers. Not wanting her daughter Helen to follow in her footsteps, she has always kept her past life treading the boards a secret from the sheltered schoolgirl. But when Helen arrives on a surprise visit from boarding school, Lillian must cajole her tenants into pretending to be respectable business men and women to keep the snoopy teenager away from the lure of the greasepaint. All these efforts prove to be for naught once Helen meets Terry Ramsey, a young songwriter who wants to cast her in the musical he's writing. Enticed by Terry's charm, Helen blows off the wealthy young suitor her mother hopes she will marry. Her heart now set on starring in Terry's musical, Helen has to convince Lillian that it's an actor's life for her, as well.

Based on the story ‘The Watch Dog' by ‘Jeeves' creator P.G. Wodehouse, Dizzy Dames is a rare starring role in the talkie era for the underrated Marjorie Rambeau. Though she had been a Broadway star and headlined in silent pictures, by the advent of sound she had settled into being a dependable character actor, with roles in Min and Bill (1930), Laughing Sinners (1931) and Palooka (1934). She was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for Primrose Path (1940) and Torch Song (1953). Perhaps her most lasting claim to fame was inspiring the creation of the Reuben. Arnold Reuben, owner of Reuben's Delicatessen in New York City, assembled the soon-to-be famous sandwich for her from what remained in his nearly empty cupboards after learning she would be stopping by following an evening Broadway performance. In one of Dizzy Dames' memorable musical numbers, Fuzzy Knight and Inez Courtney get to perform a song-and-dance routine. Fuzzy Knight was a vaudeville performer who broke into motion pictures with the help of Mae West. He appeared in countless B-movies including Horror Island (1941), The Silver Bullet (1942) and Code Of The Lawless (1945). Fiery redhead Inez Courtney went from Broadway musical fame in the 1920s to Hollywood in the 1930s. She would appear in 58 films in the next decade, often as the comedic sidekick to Jean Harlow or Ginger Rogers, including memorable roles in The Raven (1935), Suzy (1936) and The Shop Around The Corner (1940).

BONUS: Trees (1932): Famed organist Jesse Crawford, whose keyboard work was a popular accompaniment to films during the silent era, sets Joyce Kilmer's immortal poem ‘Trees' to music in this rarely seen short subject from 1932.