Lord Byron of Broadway

Don't let some ol' sourpusses diminish the charm of this admittedly antique musical. For those who find early sound musicals innately fascinating, this one is a key film, particularly for the two-strip Technicolor sequences. And the music is very, very evocative of the era. I'm glad we have such early films available on TCM, since they don't deserve obscurity, whatever their dated qualities. There >is< definitely something to like about this film, which is unfortunately at the mercy of sometimes ignorant and unforgiving 21st century sensibilities. Look beyond the hokey acting and let the authentic feel and sound of the late '20s cast a unique spell. It's still worth a visit.

ETHELIND TERRY WAS A THEATRICAL SINGER OF BEAUTY AND TALENT, THE HEIGHT OF HER CAREER STARRING IN THE TITLE ROLE OF THE LATE-TWENTIES BROADWAY HIT, "RIO RITA". SHE WAS PASSED OVER FOR RKO'S 1929 MOVIE VERSION IN FAVOR OF BEBE DANIELS - THIS PRODUCTION WITH AN EXTRAORDINARILY LENGTHY RUNNING TIME! MISS TERRY DID HAVE THE FEMALE LEAD IN "LORD BYRON OF BROADWAY" (MGM; 1930), A BAD FEATURE ALTHOUGH WITH THE SONGSTRESS PERFORMING IN A TRULY WONDERFUL MUSICAL NUMBER, "WOMAN IN THE SHOE", PHOTOGRAPHED IN THE TWO-STRIP TECHNICOLOR PROCESS AND LATER REUSED IN "NERTSERY RHYMES", A 1933 MGM COMEDY SHORT FEATURING THE THREE STOOGES WITH TED HEALY (HE AN ANCHOR AROUND THEIR NECKS BEFORE THEY LEFT HIM IN 1934 FOR COLUMBIA PICTURES). TERRY CONTINUED TO STAR IN VARIOUS STAGE MUSICALS, NONE VERY SUCCESSFUL. IN 1937, SHE APPEARED IN A TEX RITTER WESTERN FOR GRAND NATIONAL (A SMALL STUDIO) ENTITLED "ARIZONA DAYS", AND THEREIN LIES A TRULY STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCE: RECEIVING PROMINENT BILLING (THIRD AFTER RITTER'S HORSE, "WHITE FLASH"!) ON POSTERS AND LOBBY CARDS - AND HAVING A BIT OF DIALOGUE WITH ANOTHER WOMAN, BOTH SEATED UPON A WAGON EARLY IN THE STORY - THE SINGER DISAPPEARS FROM THE PRODUCTION! STILLS SHOW HER PERFORMING IN A STAGE NUMBER, VERIFYING THAT SHE HAD A PROMINENT ROLE INITIALLY. BUT ETHELIND TERRY NO LONGER IS EVEN BILLED IN THE PICTURE'S MAIN CREDITS! WHAT HAPPENED? ASIDE FROM A FEW NEWS PHOTOS OF HER AS ASSISTING THE WAR EFFORT BY BEING EMPLOYED IN AN AIRCRAFT PLANT, THIS IN 1943 - STILL HIGHLY ATTRACTIVE - SHE SEEMINGLY DISAPPEARS, AS SHE DID FROM THE TEX RITTER FILM. HER DEATH IS GIVEN AS MARCH 17, 1984 IN FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA, REPORTEDLY WEALTHY ; ADDITIONAL DETAILS, HOWEVER, ARE NOT INCLUDED. PERHAPS AN EXPLANATION WAS RENDERED FOR HER NO LONGER BEING IN THE WESTERN FEATURE, THIS IN A TRADE PAPER SUCH AS "VARIETY" OR "THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER" - UNLESS THEY, TOO, HAD BY THEN LITTLE IF ANY INTEREST IN THIS ONCE VERY SUCCESSFUL SINGER.

SINCERELY, RAY CABANA, JR.

I've seen this film twice and I think it's really one of the most underrated early musicals. Yes, it has its flaws: there's some typical early-talkie clunkiness in the direction, and Charles Kaley as the leading man is good-looking and a competent actor but hardly the irresistibly charismatic woman-magnet and energetic go-getter the script tells us Roy Erskine is. (Imagine this script as an early-1930's Warners product with James Cagney in the lead and you've got a good idea of what this story could have been.) But the story has real bite and pathos, its picture of the music business as exploitative and cutthroat rings as true now as it did then, and next to Rouben Mamoulian's masterpiece "Applause" this is probably the darkest backstage musical ever made. Even the ending, which in other hands could have been unbearably sentimental and sappy, is handled with the same realistic toughness as the rest of the film. Worthy of note is the appearance of a Columbia record label on screen (the label Charles Kaley actually recorded for; I have a 78 of him singing "Hello, Bluebird," a song Judy Garland revived in her last film, "I Could Go On Singing") instead of a made-up record company, and the two beautifully preserved two-strip Technicolor dance numbers (including an Albertina Rasch ballet that features Busby Berkeley-style overhead shots a year before Berkeley himself ever made a film) that show off what a gorgeous process two-strip Technicolor really was, with a harmonious, painterly color scheme that often is more pleasing than the often overripe colors of the early three-strip process which replaced it.

This film is full of very talented actors and actresses, who I've never seen before, and don't know their names. I think 1930 is getting pretty close to the start of talkies, but the sound is fine in this one. Its full of good songs and good performers, instrumental and vocal, men and women. Dancing extraordinaire! Busby Berkely type routines on stage with Circles of high kicking young ladies. This captures the feeling and the passion of the music of this day. Charles Kaley, (Roy Erskine) is one of the main singers and actors. He is superb in both respects. The ladies opposite him are perfect to a "T" also. Flappers galore. Where are they now? If you would like to be taken back to the 20's in fine style, catch this short film. Dave Danzl

LORD BYRON OF Broadway (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1930), directed by William Nigh and Harry Beaumont, turns out to be another one of the studio's musical contributions to "The Broadway Melody" (1929) mode. With the title leaving the impression of a British Lord achieving fame and fortune on the Broadway stage, it's actually a scripted story from the novel by Nell Martin dealing with an American songwriter and the women and tunes in his life. While this production could have been a reunion for its "Broadway Melody" stars of Charles King, Bessie Love and Anita Page, MGM placed another singing Charles in the lead, Charles Kaley, accompanied by Broadway veteran, Ethelind Terry, and Marion Shilling as his female co-stars. As with many early musicals featuring star named performers from the theater making their mark in motion pictures, the names of Kaley and Terry just didn't go any further than this film. As much as they separately appeared later in short subjects and an obscure western film into the thirties, LORD BYRON OF Broadway was just another here today/gone tomorrow musical from the early sound era and nothing more.

The story introduces Roy Erskine (Charles Kaley), a piano playing songwriter coming to the Trocadero Café where he's met by another one of his rejected girlfriends, this one named Kitty, who sees him for what he actually is. With another girl out of the way, Roy encounters Bessie (Gwen Lee), a flirtatious blonde at the café. He escorts Bessie to her apartment where he not only gets an inspiration for another new song, but works fast with kiss and embrace with a woman he hardly knows. Later, Bessie introduces Roy to Mr. Millaire (John Byron), a song promoter interested in his latest composition, "Just a Bundle of Old Love Letters." In spite of her favor, Roy begins to tire and ignore Bessie. Later that night, Roy comes into a sheet music store where he immediately becomes interested in employee, Nancy Clover (Marion Shilling), who guides him through his "Love Letters" song. The song is soon introduced on the theatrical stage by Joe Lundeen (Cliff Edwards), the popular singer of songs. Roy and Nancy, who happen to be in the audience, are shocked when Lundeen credits the "Love Letters" song written by Mr. Millaire. As Roy proves he actually wrote that song, Lundeen's agent, Phil (Benny Rubin) stumbles upon a great idea by having Roy and Lundeen work as a song and dance team, with Nancy at the piano, and Roy providing his latest song hits. Now a popular vaudeville team, Roy, the ladies man, forgets his friends and spends much of it with Ardis Treyker (Ethelind Terry), a theatrical singer. After Roy and Ardis become engaged, Roy discovers his fiancé happens to still be married, and is surprised to find out the name of her husband of seven years. Also appearing in the story are Drew Demarest (Edwards, the Butler); Paulette Aqult (Marie, the Maid); Gino Corrado (Riccardi, the jealous husband); Rita Flynn and Hazel Craven, among others not credited in the cast listings.

While LORD BYRON OF Broadway gets by with its familiar plotting, the song interludes come off best. The motion picture soundtrack, credited by "Broadway Melody" composers as Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed include: "Just a Bundle of Old Love Letters" (sung by Charles Kaley); "The Japanese Sandman" and "Just a Bundle of Old Love Letters" (both sung by Cliff Edwards); "Just a Bundle of Old Love Letters" (reprise by Kaley); Untitled dance number; "Blue Daughter of Heaven" (stage production by Dmitri Tiomkin and Raymond B. Cagan, sung by James Burroughs); "Should I?" (sung by Charles Kaley); "Should I?" (sung by Ethelind Terry); "The Woman in the Shoe" (stage production sung by Ethelind Terry); and "You're the Bride and I'm the Groom" (sung by Kaley). The two production numbers, staged and filmed in color to an otherwise black and white film, are highlights to a degree. As much a some musicals of 1930 were beginning to improve in its staging by this point (as opposed to production numbers from 1929 with ensembles doing card-wheels or flip-flops), "The Japanese Sandman," for instance, is a predate to the Busby Berkeley numbers of the 1930s with chorus girls in circular revolving floors doing formations captured by camera from top of the stage. Yet, this production is credited not by Berkeley but to Sammy Lee, with ballet sequences by Albertine Rasch. "The Woman in the Shoe" is another color staged production that comes later in the story. Of the bundle of songs vocalized, "Should I?" is well received, considering it was the same score used in parts of the silent film production of OUR MODERN MAIDENS (MGM, 1929) starring Joan Crawford.

Though Kaley sings and acts his part well, like Charles King from "The Broadway Melody," they would only become associated only with early sound musicals during the 1929-30 season and nothing else. Ethelind Terry, better known for her stage role in the Florenz Ziegfeld musical, RIO RITA, receives second billing, yet surprisingly comes 40 minutes into this 70 minute story. One would assume it would be Ethelind as the good girl rather than the third-billed Marion Shilling, the actual co-star of the story. The only familiar faces seen here are Benny Rubin (with that distinctive laugh) and Cliff Edwards, considering their extended movie and later television roles, even if their latter day careers were far from major. Edwards, however, usually associated with singing and comedy routines, is quite effective with good when serious, especially during his showdown scenes with song and dance partner, Kaley.

With the exception of rare revivals in theatrical movie houses as Theater 80/St Marks in the 1970s, LORD BYRON OF Broadway remains virtually forgotten and unknown today, even with occasional cable television showings on Turner Classic Movies and availability on home video and DVD. It may not have been theatrically successful in 1930, LORD BYRON OF Broadway somehow holds interest for film buffs, even with the now lacking of better-known names heading in the cast. (**)