The Kid from Spain (1932)

The Kid from Spain (1932) is an American pre-Production-Code black-and-white musical comedy starring Eddie Cantor. The film was directed by Leo McCarey and produced by Samuel Goldwyn. Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar composed the songs, and Busby Berkeley is credited with creating and directing the film's musical scenes. The film was a considerable financial hit in its day.


British postcard in the Famous Film Stars series by Valentine's, no. 7123A. Eddie Cantor in The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932). Caption: Eddie Cantor, whose real name is Izzy Iskowitch, was born 31st January 1893 in New York. Beginning life as a newsboy, he ultimately appeared in Vaudeville and has risen to great fame as a star. A few of his successes are Whoopee, Palmy Days, The Kid from Spain and Roman Scandals.


British postcard in the Film Shots series by Film Weekly. Photo: United Artists. The Goldwyn Girls in The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932).

The only bullfighter from the USA

The Kid from Spain was shot at the Samuel Goldwyn Studios in West Hollywood at the beginning of 1932. Two years before shooting began, Eddie Cantor talked to Samuel Goldwyn about one of his film ideas.

Cantor suggested playing a googly-eyed Jewish lout from Brooklyn who became the best bullfighter in the world. Cantor's friend Sidney Franklin, the only bullfighter from the USA at the time, was the godfather of this idea.

Eddie Williams and his friend Ricardo are about to graduate when they are expelled from university because they broke into the girls' dormitory in a drunken stupor. Ricardo persuades Eddie to accompany him to his home in Mexico to meet his girlfriend Anita Gomez.

Eddie waits for his friend outside a bank that is being robbed. The robbers think he is the driver of the getaway car and force him to drive off. In their hideout, they refrain from killing him and allow him to travel to Mexico. While Eddie waits at the border, Ricardo has already arrived in his home town. There he learns from Anita's father Alonzo that Anita is engaged to the bullfighter Pancho, who saved her mother from a gang of bandits.

Alonzo can convince Ricardo that Pancho is the better choice. Ricardo finds Eddie, who has managed to cross the border and helps him disguise himself to escape the policeman Crawford who chases him. Ricardo tells Crawford that Eddie, the famous bullfighter Don Sebastian II, takes part in an important fight the following Sunday. Crawford sees through the charade and promises to watch the battle.


British postcard in the Film Weekly Stars series. Photo: United Artists. Robert Young and Eddie Cantor in The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932).

A special train to the south of the country to promote the film

Filming of The Kid from Spain (1932), would start at the beginning of May under the direction of Albert S. Rogell. Due to differences with Goldwyn over the story, Rogell withdrew from the project. Enter Leo McCarey.

Eddie Cantor starred as Eddie Williams, Robert Young was miscast as his Mexican college buddy Ricardo, and Polish comic actress Lyda Roberti and Ruth Hall were their love interests, Rosalie and Anita.

In the supporting cast were John Miljan as the evil matador Pancho, Noah Beery, Sr. as Alonzo Gomez, and J. Carrol Naish as Pancho's grimy sidekick Pedro. The stock company of the Goldwyn Girls included Betty Grable, Paulette Goddard, Toby Wing, and the debuting Jane Wyman.

Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby wrote the songs 'But We Must Rise', 'In the Moonlight', 'Look What You've Done' and 'What a Perfect Combination'. Busby Berkeley was the choreographer of the musical numbers. He was supported by Fred Zinnemann. The film also highlights the early talents of 28-year-old cinematographer Greg Toland. His camerawork shows expertise in both framing and focus, soon making him one of Hollywood's most sought-after cinematographers.

The production costs were over one million dollars (2024: approx. 22.5 million dollars). Goldwyn borrowed the money for the production from the Bank of America, which provided a seven-figure sum for a film for the first time. While United Artists took over cinema distribution, Samuel Goldwyn had reserved distribution for New York. He also sent a special train to the south of the country to promote the film and the musical Whoopee! (Thornton Freeland, 1930) in areas that either did not have a film projector or whose cinema operators did not have a rental agreement with United Artists.


British postcard in the Film Weekly Stars series. Photo: United Artists. Eddie Cantor in The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932).

Rolling his eyes and clapping his hands

The Kid from Spain was a huge success. With rentals gross of $2.6 million, it was number one at the American box office in 1932.

Ron Oliver at IMDb: "'Follies' star Eddie Cantor prances his way through this naughty pre-Code comedy. Rolling his eyes and clapping his hands, he uses every trick at his disposal to amuse and he succeeds quite nicely.

Cantor never slows down, but, like a mischievous little boy, he seems forever looking for new trouble to explore. His climactic scene in the bullfighting arena remains his best-remembered movie moment."

In his review at AllMovie, Craig Butler refers to a blackface sequence in the film: "While the blackface is somehow more palatable with Cantor than it is when done by Al Jolson, it still disconcerts and disturbs modern audiences, and tends to temporarily stop one's enjoyment of the film. Fortunately, director Leo McCarey keeps things moving at a snappy enough pace that the film is able to recover, and Cantor's appealing personality does help.

He's aided by the unique Lyda Roberti, who's strange but a treat, especially in her duets with Cantor. And the Busby Berkeley touches - a water ballet (in high heels) and a finale with multiple overhead shots, including one in which the girls put together a jigsaw puzzle that forms a bull's head -- are quite welcome."


British postcard in the Film Weekly Stars series. Photo: United Artists. Ruth Hall, Eddie Cantor and Lyda Roberti in The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932).

Sources: Ron Oliver (IMDb), Craig Butler (AllMovie), Wikipedia (English, German and Dutch), and IMDb.

Eddie Cantor

Eddie Cantor (1892-1964) was an American actor, screenwriter, producer and songwriter. After a rich Broadway career in the late 1910s and 1920s, he became a popular Hollywood star in pleasant and fast-paced musical film comedies in the early 1930s.


Belgian postcard by N.V. Universum S.A., Antwerpen / Anvers. Photo: Paramount.


British postcard by De Reszke Cigarettes, no. 37. Photo: United Artists.


British postcard in the Famous Film Stars series by Valentine's, no. 7123A. Eddie Cantor in The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932).

Florenz Ziegfeld and the Ziegfeld Follies

Eddie Cantor was born Edward Israel Iskowitz in 1892 in New York City, New York, USA. He was the son of amateur violinist Mechel Iskowitz (also Michael) and his wife Meta Kantrowitz Iskowitz (also Maite), a young Jewish couple from Russia. Both his parents died when he was still very young, and he was adopted and raised by his maternal grandmother, Esther Lazarowitz Kantrowitz. She called him Izzy and Itchik, both diminutives for Isidor.

She supported herself and her grandson as a door-to-door peddler. The boy was educated in public schools. "Kantrowitz" was the name mistakenly assigned to the boy instead of his actual name, Iskowitz, by a public school registrar. It was shortened to Cantor. Eddie was the nickname given to him by his girlfriend, Ida Tobias, whom he later married.

After winning $5 at a Bowery Theatre Amateur Night, the teenage Cantor knew where his destiny lay. One of his earliest paying jobs was a double position as a waiter and performer. He sang for tips at Carey Walsh's Coney Island saloon, where a young Jimmy Durante accompanied him on piano. He made his first public appearance in Vaudeville in 1907 at New York's Clinton Music Hall, then became a member of the Gus Edwards Gang, later touring Vaudeville with Al Lee as the team Cantor & Lee.

His grandmother, Esther Kantrowitz, died on 29 January 1917, two days before he signed a long-term contract with Broadway's top producer Florenz Ziegfeld, to appear in his "Follies". Eddie starred in the Ziegfeld rooftop post-show 'Midnight Frolic' (1917) and in the 'Ziegfeld Follies' of 1917, 1918, 1919 and 1927. He also made Broadway stage appearances in 'Broadway Brevities of 1920', 'Make It Snappy' (1922), 'Kid Boots' (1923), 'Whoopee' (1928) and 'Banjo Eyes' (1941).

For several years, Cantor starred in an act with pioneering comedian Bert Williams, both in blackface. Cantor played Williams' son. Other co-stars with Cantor during his time in the Follies included Will Rogers, Marilyn Miller, Fanny Brice and W.C. Fields. The successful Broadway series of 'Banjo eyes' in 1941 was cut short when Cantor suffered a major heart attack, the first of several that would dominate his later years.


British postcard in the A Real Photogravure Portrait series. Photo: United Artists. Eddie Cantor in Special Delivery (Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, 1927).


British postcard by Film Weekly. Eddie Cantor and Edward Arnold in Roman Scandals (Frank Tuttle, 1933).


British postcard by Film Weekly. Eddie Cantor in Roman Scandals (Frank Tuttle, 1933).


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 693. Photo: United Artists.

One big-budget musical comedy per year

Eddie Cantor also made numerous film appearances. He appeared in a number of short films in the 1920s, performing his Follies songs and comedy routines, and in two silent feature films, Kid Boots (Frank Tuttle, 1926) with Clara Bow and Special Delivery (Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, 1927). He was offered the lead role in The Jazz Singer (Alan Crosland, 1927) after it was turned down by George Jessel, but Cantor also turned down the role so it went to Al Jolson.

His best Hollywood years were spent under contract to Samuel Goldwyn, where Eddie turned out one big-budget musical comedy per year between 1930 and 1936. Eddie became a leading Hollywood star with the film version of Whoopee! (Thornton Freeland, 1930), shot in two-colour Technicolour. He continued to make films for the next two decades, including such hits as Palmy Days (A. Edward Sutherland, 1931), The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932), Roman Scandals (Frank Tuttle, 1933) with Gloria Stuart, Kid Millions (Roy Del Ruth, Willy Pogany, 1934) co-starring Ann Sothern and Ethel Merman, Strike Me Pink (Norman Taurog, 1936) and Ali Baba Goes to Town (David Butler, 1937).

His last leading role was in If You Knew Susie (Gordon Douglas, 1948) with Joan Davis. In the Warner Bros. biopic The Eddie Cantor Story (Alfred E. Green, 1953) he did a cameo appearance. He was the President of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) from 1933-1935. Cantor turned to radio with 'The Chase and Sanborn Hour' in 1931. Performing as a standup comedian, he used his vaudeville experience to outstanding effect and combined the expression of patriotism and personal values with humour; audiences responded enthusiastically. With changes of name, the show continued for 18 years on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) networks.

He also served as host of The Eddie Cantor Variety Theater, a half-hour television variety show that was syndicated in 1955. Cantor also made many records. His theme song was 'One Hour With You'. His other popular-song compositions include 'Get a Little Fun Out of Life', 'It's Great to Be Alive' and 'The Old Stage Door'. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "The offstage Cantor was not perfect, but most of the man's character flaws have been forgotten in the light of his inexhaustible work on behalf of dozens of charities, most prominently the March of Dimes. He also regularly put his career on the line through his union activities with Actors Equity, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Radio Artists, and flew in the face of bigotry and anti-Semitics through his work with the B'nai Brith and Jewish Relief."

Eddie Cantor wrote the books 'Ziegfeld, the Great Glorifier' and 'As I Remember Them', and the autobiographies 'My Life Is In Your Hands' and 'Take My Life'. He received a Special Academy Award in 1956 for distinguished service to the film industry. Eddie Cantor died of a heart attack in 1964 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA. His wife Ida had passed away two years earlier. They had five daughters, Marilyn Cantor Baker, Marjorie Cantor, Natalie Cantor, Edna Cantor McHugh and Janet Cantor Gari. Eddie Cantor is interred in Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery in Culver City, California.


French postcard, no. 47.


British postcard by Picturegoer, London, no. 693a. Photo: United Artists.


British postcard by W&G Ltd., no. 82. Photo: United Artists. Eddie Cantor in Kid Millions (Roy Del Ruth, 1934) at the Hippodrome in Nottingham.


American Arcade card.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Britannica, Wikipedia (English and Dutch) and IMDb.