Sam Lee
Originally slated for release by Eagle Lion, Skipalong Rosenbloom purchased by United Artists -- who gave it a cursory theatrical release before selling the film to television. As it turned out, TV was the appropriate medium for this heavy-handed satire of video westerns. Former boxing champ Maxie Rosenbloom plays a lampooned variation of Hopalong Cassidy, with all the standard western cliches in evidence. "Skipalong" Rosenbloom is depicted as the star of a heavily commercialized TV kiddie show, presided over by a smarmy announcer. The plot proper finds "Skipalong" at odds with western bad guy Butcher Baer, played by Rosenbloom's onetime ring opponent Max Baer. Others in the cast are Jackie Coogan, Fuzzy Knight and Hillary Brooke, who seem to be having fun with the dreadful material foisted upon them.
Entertainment trade-paper headlines report the resurgence of vaudeville as the new medium of television searches for new talent. At the Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles, master of ceremonies Robert Alda introduces vaudeville performers while being frequently interrupted by several comedians
Using edited archive footage, mockery is made of Italy's dictator Benito Mussolini.
A British merchant ship is torpedoed by a German U-Boat and takes shelter in a neutral port. The Captain then strikes back at the German enemy.
In coastal Cornwall, England, during the early 19th Century, a young woman discovers that she's living with a gang of criminals who arrange shipwrecking for profit.
The zany plot follows nitwit Gracie Allen trying to help master sleuth Philo Vance solve a murder.
Two starving songwriters will only get funding if they get British actress Jane Clarke to star in their show.
Warner Baxter plays the ambitious producer of a burlesque show who rises to the big time on Broadway. Alice Faye is the loyal burleycue singer who helps make Baxter a success. His head turned by sudden fame, Baxter falls under the spell of a society woman (Mona Barrie) who has theatrical aspirations of her own. She marries Baxter, then convinces him to produce a string of "artistic" plays rather than his extravagant musical revues. The plays are flops, and the woman haughtily divorces Baxter. Faithful Alice Faye, who'd gone to London when her ex-beau was married, returns to the penniless Baxter. She and her burlesque buddies team up to pull Baxter out of his rut and put him on top again.
The Wiggs family plan to celebrate Thanksgiving in their rundown shack with leftover stew, without Mr. Wiggs who wandered off long ago an has never been heard from. Do-gooder Miss Lucy brings them a real feast. Her boyfriend Bob arranges to take Wiggs' sick boy to a hospital. Their other boy makes some money peddling kindling and takes the family to a show. Mrs. Wiggs is called to the hopsital just in time to see her boy die. Her neighbor Miss Mazy wants to marry Mr. Stubbins who insists on tasting her cooking. Mrs. Wiggs sneaks her dishes past Stubbins who agrees to marriage. Mr. Wiggs appears suddenly, in tatters, with just the amount of money (twenty dollars) needed to save the family from foreclosure. Miss Lucy and Bob get married.
A wife tries to hide a surprise birthday present from her husband but the butler causes trouble.
Two bums manage to get into a restaurant. They admit that they are a couple of self made men. A couple of comics they are.
Vaudeville team Shaw & Lee sing songs and tell jokes in hilarious deadpan.
