The Half-Naked Truth

Lee Tracy is a name few would remember today. However, for just a few years in the 1930s, he was a hot commodity--playing in some top films for top studios like RKO, Fox, Warner Brothers and MGM. So what happened to him? Well, he had two huge problems--he was typecast as the same sort of fast- talking sharpie (often a reporter or confidence man) AND he was an idiot. I really hate to be so blunt, but his off-camera behaviors severely alienated him and the studios apparently tired of working with him and apologizing for his actions.

In "The Half Naked Truth", Tracy plays a very typical sort of role--the fast-talking showman who lies, tells half-truths and promotes his girlfriend, Lupe Valez, from a cheesy carnival sideshow act to the toast of Broadway. However ridiculous this was (as Valez' character had no discernible talent and the charisma of a case of the clap), the film is entertaining on a basic level. Don't think too much and you can enjoy it. So why did I give it only a 6? Well, it broke absolutely no new ground and Tracy's role is almost exactly like 1472343 others I've seen him do. In other words, it's fun but lacked originality to make it worthy of a higher score.

The Half Naked Truth is directed by Gregory La Cava who also co-writes the screenplay with Corey Ford from a story by Ben Markson and H.N. Swanson. It stars Lupe Velez, Lee Tracy, Eugene Palette and Frank Morgan. Music is by Max Steiner and cinematography by Bert Glennon.

A carnival barker and a spunky belly dancer take on the might of Broadway...

Based on the book The Anatomy of Ballyhoo: Phantom Fame (David Freedman & Harry Reichenbach), The Half Naked Truth is a smart and near caustic observation on the product of celebrity status. While not in the same league as the best of Preston Sturges, it's a film of many pleasures if you have a bent for rapid fire dialogue and scattergun pacing. What unfolds during the story is basically that an energetic Lee Tracy as Bates pulls stunts galore to bluff the whole of Broadway. The ruse is that Velez's belly dancer is actually a foreign princess and Bates engineers openings to stardom because of it. But of course problems are around the corner.

Sharp performances back up the sharp script and some of the stunts pulled by Bates are very funny. It's something of an acquired taste, as comedy - especially the screwball variety - invariably always is, but this is a good pre-code comedy that has more beneath the surface than is first apparent. 7/10

The fast-talking Lee Tracy fits the role perfectly of Jimmy Bates in "The Half-Naked Truth." This is a strange film, with some humor. Bates is a character who promotes Teresita (played by Lupe Velez) from a carnival act to the big time on Broadway. It's all done with very little truth. The only thing that is true is that his client has some talent. As Bates says, success is all in the publicity, and what he won't do for publicity! It's a nice satire, but on the duped as well as on the dupers, and of the press that was always looking for the sensational and unusual to report as "news."

Hollywood staple player Eugene Pallette is Achilles, Bates' right hand man. Frank Morgan plays Merle Farrell, a big-time Broadway producer. If he's supposed to be a takeoff or copy of Florenz Ziegfeld, it's a lousy one. Here, Morgan plays more of a buffoon than a real talent and show promoter.

The comedy is hit and miss in this film. The funniest scene is when they get rooms in the Ritz hotel. Bates registers for the three of them with separate rooms and a suite for Teresita. When he registers for Pallette, the clerk looks at the registration, and though the word is never spoken, it's clear that Bates has signed him in as a eunuch. He says to the hotel clerk, Mr. Wellburton, "Oh, uh, you know, uh, they have them in all Turkish harems." Wellburton says, "Oh, yes, of course," and Bates says, "He's very sensitive about it." This comes back a couple times later in the film with Achilles fussing over what Bates registered him as. Wellburton is played by another established and familiar supporting actor, Franklin Pangborn.

And, in a whirlwind of newspaper reports and scene flashes, we see the meteoric rise of Bates as a promoter with some outlandish tidbits. A newspaper article reports, "Citizens of Pleasant Falls were startled yesterday at the report that a Nudist Colony had taken up its abode in a wooded dell on the outskirts of town." Then an action segment shows Pallette and some other guys in what look live caveman costumes in the woods. It's a hoot and over-the-top crazy.

Although this is just a so-so comedy and film, it is one of the better ones of the young and attractive Mexican actress, Lupe Velez. She was 24 when she made this film. Like some other young actors, Velez had some rocky affairs and took to heavy drinking and drugs. At age 36, she would commit suicide with a drug overdose.

Some reviewers see much more comedy in this film than I did. But, for anyone familiar with Lee Tracy, his fast-paced non-stop prattling soon becomes rattling on the nerves. Only fans who can long bear with that sort of delivery, and those of Tracy and Velez are likely to enjoy this film. Here are the best lines of this film.

Teresita, "Oh, you're crazy." Jimmy Bates, "All pioneers are crazy, till they die - then they get a monument." Achilles, "Who wants a monument?"

Jimmy Bates, "Listen, baby, you don't wanna be a hootch dancer all your life, do ya?"

Jimmy Bates, "If I don't have you in Merle Farrell's Folies before the end of the week, I'll eat that dog in Times Square without mustard."

Merle Farrell, "I'm working so hard, I don't know what I'm doing."

Jimmy Bates, going over mail with his secretary, "What else is there?" Miss Flowers, "A letter from the Seluvian secretary of state." Bates, "What does he want?" Miss Flowers, "Would you be interested in handling the next presidential campaign?" Bates, "No. Who wants to leave a sucker town like this."

Miss Flowers," Imagine anyone daring to question your veracity." Jimmy Bates, "Such language."

Lee Tracy, too little known today, is one of the all-time great comic actors and a personal favorite of mine. He was the original Hildy Johnson in The Front Page on Broadway and although his major films are not numerous, each is a delight. Blessed Event with co-star Dick Powell and Bombshell with co-star Jean Harlow are gems long beloved by Thirties film buffs, but even they may not have seen The Half-Naked Truth, which is a pure jolt of the Lee Tracy magic. His physical and vocal presence are uniquely and unmistakably his: the lankily elastic body, the whirling-dervish energy, the sarcastic tone, the long fingers that always seem to be jabbing in someone's direction. There's not another screen actor I can think of who has quite the manic joie de vivre of the young Tracy. In The Half-Naked Truth, he plays a carnival barker and theatrical promoter who will go to any insane lengths to hog headlines (a very contemporary figure for us!). He's paired with Lupe "Mexican Spitfire" Velez, who proves to be an extremely apt partner for him; you believe in these two together, and that makes their final scene surprisingly emotional. (Tracy's magnetism definitely has its romantic aspect; watching Bombshell, an audience can be driven to heights of frustration waiting for Tracy and Harlow to realize that they are, in fact, perfect for one another.) The wonderful ending of The Half-Naked Truth also crystallizes the Tracy credo in a single line: "What good is life if you don't get some fun out of it?" You can have some of that fun by watching this film.

Fast-talking promoter Tracy moves carny dancer Velez from lowly tent act to high-class Broadway using nothing more than wiles and wits.

Too bad we can't hook up Tracy and Velez to a generator, because between them they could whip up enough sheer energy to light a city block plus a few darkened bedrooms. Tracy is in overdrive the entire time, while Velez appears stuck in a permanent hip swivel. Her shimmying version of O Mister Carpenter is a charming show-stopper and, in my book, the movie's highlight.

Tracy, of course, specialized in these machine-gun roles. Here he's totally convincing, but not very likable, as the high-powered con man never at a loss for words or an under- handed scheme. As an actor, his average looks and lack of leading-man charisma add up to an odd commodity for glamour-obsessed Hollywood. Still, he's such a whirlwind of activity, you hardly notice. As for Velez, if she's an example of Mexican womanhood, then I say let's open the borders.

Add such colorful supporting players as Palette, Pangborn, and Morgan, plus lots of pre- Code innuendo, all whipped into a crowd pleasing mix by ace director LaCava, and you've got an amusing dish, even 80 years later. And, oh yes, as to the movie's big mystery—is the rotund Palette actually a harem-guarding eunuch in disguise? Just check out that deep froggy voice for a pre-Code answer.