Manhattan Parade

A great example of the liberated woman is found in Manhattan Parade with Winnie Lightner who is the real brains behind the John Roberts Costume Company. Husband Walter Miller just takes advantages of the perks of the business, one of them being to run away for a little romp with a chorus girl while Lightner is both mother and breadwinner for their kid Dickie Moore. In the end Miller with his dalliances should have been more discreet, he had it made and didn't appreciate it.

But the real strength of Manhattan Parade is in the outrageous and zany overacting of Luis Alberni as an eccentric Russian producer and the great vaudeville team of Smith and Dale as a pair cheese manufacturers who want to become theatrical angels. What a merry chase Alberni leads Smith and Dale on.

Also in the cast are Charles Butterworth who works for Lightner in his droll kind of slapstick and Bobby Watson who later played Adolph Hitler in a dozen or so films. He plays an outrageous gay stereotype also working for Lightner.

I'm torn as far as Watson's character is concerned. It's offensive yes, but under the Code gays became practically invisible. You can see why Stonewall was needed watching him.

Manhattan Parade is a nice pre-Code comedy, very outrageous in many spots.

After her husband runs off with his sexy 17-year-old secretary, matronly Winnie Lightner (as Doris Roberts) works to save his faltering business, a Broadway costume designing company. "Manhattan Parade" is one of those "revue" type pictures very popular in the early 1930s. This one was presented, minus songs from the original play, for your 1931 Christmas from Warner Bros. The original Technicolor is missing, but the ostrich remains as colorful as ever. A frantic energy is present, but doesn't quite add up or compliment the plot. The ensemble's main attraction was vaudeville comedy team Smith & Dale (as Lou and Jake Delman), who are better appreciated in short films and television appearances. Today, you'll either howl or recoil upon seeing Bobby Watson play a character named "Paisley" who screams sissy at the top of his lungs.

*** Manhattan Parade (12/24/31) Lloyd Bacon ~ Winnie Lightner, Joe Smith, Charles Dale, Bobby Watson

"Manhattan Parade" unspools like the libretto of one of those silly musical comedies of the 1920s except without the songs. Imagine something like "No, No Nanette" without the Youmans-Caesar score or any of the Busby Berkeley musicals without the songs and dance numbers. Plot elements abound but few are developed. The one consistent thread involves the blunders of a pair of bickering, ridiculously naïve Broadway producers played by the exhaustingly verbose vaudeville team of Smith & Dale who get mixed up with a floundering Broadway costume company run by a married couple (Walter Miller and Winnie Lightner) whose staff includes Charles Butterworth (a perfect blend of Stan Laurel and George Arliss) as a bookish researcher and Bobby Watson as an extremely effeminate costume designer (a character type he would repeat a couple of years later in "Moonlight and Pretzels"). Dickie Moore has some excellent moments as Miller and Lightner's neglected but self-reliant little son and Luis Alberni gobbles scenery as a mad Russian director. There are a couple of interesting shots of Times Square in 1931 (including a partially visible marquee for the Capra feature "Ladies of Leisure" which starred Barbara Stanwyck).

More historical curiosity that entertainment, "Manhattan Parade" is an early sound effort that has dated badly. Perhaps hysterically funny in 1932, the film's static shooting technique only emphasizes the flatness of the jokes. A recurring pair of theatrical producers, played by the comedy team of Smith and Dale, overstays their welcome with a series of tiresome exchanges. Abbott and Costello they are not. The story, which originally had songs, revolves around a theatrical costume company, whose successful president is played by Winnie Lightner. However, Lightner surrenders her feminist credentials early on when she meekly submits to her husband's demands that he run the company and she stay home where she belongs and care for their young son. Needless to say, the philandering husband is no better at business than he is at marriage, and the company falls into debt.

Were it not for Bobby Watson, who plays a designer named Paisley, "Manhattan Parade" would rarely be unwound from its reels. However, Watson's limp wristed character is yet another prime example of gay stereotyping in early Hollywood. His threats to slap his foes or quit and stay home to decorate his apartment are evidently accepted by the other characters as quite normal for a sissy. Whining about fabric that should be maroon rather than cerise, Watson underscores filmdom's concept that gays are silly, shallow freaks with no values of consequence in their lives. While not as offensive as some gay characterizations, Paisley, nevertheless, will irritate viewers who are sensitive to negative stereotypes. Interestingly, the film also features two other male characters, a shy, daffy researcher and an effete, snobbish actor, whose sexuality could also be questioned. The concept of the theatrical world as a haven for gays had already taken root.

Unfortunately, there is little to recommend in "Manhattan Parade" other than its status as a footnote in gay film history. The performances are competent, although Dickie Moore is a scene-stealer as Lightner's son, and Lloyd Bacon's direction is perfunctory given the restraints of the period. This short comedy will seem to drag on humorlessly for hours to viewers who are not dedicated film historians.

I'm sure that some who see this movie will be very unimpressed and a bit put off by its style, but I had a great time watching the film even though it could never be mixed up for Shakespeare due to its decidedly low-brow approach. While the film is essentially a drama about a company that provides costumes for Broadway productions, there is a lot of far from subtle comedy that made me laugh in spite of its very modest pretensions. Many of the laughs came from the legendary Vaudeville team "Smith and Dale"--who were reportedly the inspiration for Neil Simon's THE SUNSHINE BOYS. There jokes are corny and pure "Borscht Belt" (i.e., very stereotypically Jewish) but I liked their act--though I am sure many might find them annoying or very old fashioned. I think the reason I like them so much is that although they had a very long career together, they did almost no films. This and the great short WHAT PRICE PANTS? are two wonderful examples of their comedy--and I am a huge fan of early comedy (silent and sound). However, if you aren't a fan, I could see that you might just find the act bizarre.

The other funny act in the film was Bobby Watson in the role of "Paisley". His was perhaps the most stereotypically gay performance in films during the Pre-Code era--so named because a loose and unformalized Production Code often meant that taboo topics such as adultery and homosexuality were included in films. His gay designer "schtick" was great and very funny, though I am sure some might find his mincing manner offensive. Considering the time and context, to me it didn't seem offensive--just a time capsule of the era and its attitudes. Incidentally, because of Watson's performance, this film was spotlighted by Turner Classic Movies for their salute to homosexual images in film.

As far as the plot goes, it wasn't all that subtle or believable, but it was fun--though a tad over the top and silly. Once again, it was not great art but due to a lot of energy by everyone concerned the film is likable and nearly earns a 7--especially if you (like me) are a huge fan of Pre-Code Hollywood. The Watson performance plus a plot involving adultery make this a film you could not have seen post-1934 due to the restrictiveness of the code. An excellent historical curio.