| Hold Everything | |
|---|---|
 theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Roy Del Ruth |
| Written by | Robert Lord |
| Based on | play byBuddy G. DeSylva,Ray Henderson, andJohn McGowan |
| Starring | Winnie Lightner Joe E. Brown |
| Cinematography | Devereaux Jennings(Technicolor) |
| Edited by | William Holmes |
| Music by | Joseph Burke Ray Henderson |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 78 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $491,000[1] |
| Box office | $1,333,000[1] |
Hold Everything is a 1930 Americanpre-Code film. This musical comedy film was photographed entirely in earlytwo-color Technicolor. The first all Technicolor musical comedy film was "On With the Show" in 1929. "Hold Everything" was adapted from the DeSylva-Brown-HendersonBroadwaymusical of the same name that had served as a vehicle forBert Lahr and starredWinnie Lightner andJoe E. Brown as the comedy duo. The romantic subplot was played byGeorges Carpentier andSally O'Neil. Only three songs from the stage show remained: "You're the Cream in My Coffee", "To Know You Is To Love You", and "Don't Hold Everything". New songs were written for the film byAl Dubin andJoe Burke, including one that became a hit in 1930: "When The Little Red Roses Get The Blues For You". The songs in the film were played byAbe Lyman and his orchestra.
Brown plays Gink Schiner, a third-rate fighter who is at the same training camp as Georges La Verne (played by Georges Carpentier), a contender for the heavyweight championship. Although he needs to be concentrating all of his energies on the upcoming bout, Georges keeps getting distracted: Norine Lloyd, a society dame, has a distinct interest in him, but the interest is strictly one-sided. Georges prefers Sue, an old buddy and confidante. Gink has woman trouble of his own, as his flirtations do not sit at all well with Toots (played by Winnie Lightner), his erstwhile girlfriend.
More trouble arrives when Larkin, manager of current heavyweight champ Bob Morgan, appears at the camp with the goal of fixing the fight. He is sent packing, after which he attempts to slip aMickey Finn to the challenger—a plan which goes awry when Gink switches the drinks. Meanwhile, Gink, who is fighting in a preliminary in advance of the big fight, actually wins. Things don't look so bright for Georges, who initially gets the worst of it in his encounter with Morgan, but who eventually comes out on top.
In 1930, this was the first film shown at the newly openedWarner Bros. Hollywood Theatre, a luxuriousNew York City movie palace specifically designed to showcase its then-revolutionaryVitaphonesound films. The theatre later became alegitimateBroadwayvenue, theMark Hellinger Theatre, and is now the home of theTimes Square Church.[2]
According to Warner Bros records the film earned $1,018,000 domestically and $315,000 foreign.[1]
The sound discs survive, but the visuals are lost. TheGeorge Eastman Museum 2015 bookThe Dawn of Technicolor, 1915-1935 mistakenly reported that the Library of Congress possesses a black and white print, but that is not true. No color print is known to exist as of 2024.[3]