Breakfast in Hollywood

As with several movies I've reviewed for the last several days, this one has an It's a Wonderful Life connection which I like to cite as it's my favorite one: Beulah Bondi plays a lonely 82-year old woman with only a dog living with her who just wants to attend the film's title radio show hosted by one Tom Brenenan during the one day setting this takes place in. Other audience members that abound in this movie are a discharged sailor (Edward Ryan) in love with a young woman (Bonita Granville) whose fiancée she's trying to reach, an eccentric woman trying to get attention for a most outrageous hat (Zazu Pitts), and famous gossip columnist Hedda Hopper with the mothers of Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford, and Brenenan sitting with her. I didn't think Ms. Pitts was too funny with her hat story but I was a bit touched by that of Bondi's condition after she was hit by a car whose owner (Raymond Walburn) touched another story of his gallivanting with young women while neglecting his wife (Billie Burke). That one was a little funny to me. The most touching was the one with that sailor and that young woman with Ms. Granville really charming in her wholesome beauty. Those subplots weren't too bad but it was largely the musical performances that I was interested in particularly that of The King Cole Trio that had a nice brief moment in the beginning with "Solid Potato Salad" and great second set with "It's Better to Be by Yourself". I especially loved when the camera showed close-ups of Nat King Cole's hands on the keyboards and that of the guitarist's as well. Then, there's Spike Jones and his City Slickers with their hilarious brand of music which is particularly funny on their second set when the only female in the band warbles her tune. Finally, there's Andy Russell, a regular on radio's "Your Hit Parade" who I previously watched as a much older man on a special edition of Richard Dawson's "Family Feud" on YouTube a couple of years ago, whose romantic croonings must've melted many a woman's heart especially when he sang in Spanish. So in summary, Breakfast in Hollywood is slight fluff that should provide at least some interest for some fans of the icons that appear here. P.S. Ms. Granville was another born in Chicago where I also was native to.