| Hollywood Party | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by |
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| Written by | |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | James Wong Howe |
| Edited by | George Boemler |
| Music by | |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Loew's Inc. |
Release date |
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Running time | 75 minutes (original)[citation needed] 68 minutes (existing) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Hollywood Party is a 1934 Americanpre-Codemusical film produced and distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). The film starsLaurel and Hardy,Jimmy Durante,Lupe Vélez,Jack Pearl,Charles Butterworth,Polly Moran, andThe Three Stooges (in their final appearance for MGM, written byArthur Kober).[1]Mickey Mouse (voiced by an uncreditedWalt Disney) introduces Disney'sTechnicolor cartoonThe Hot Choc-late Soldiers, with music byNacio Herb Brown and lyrics byArthur Freed.
Jungle movie star "Schnarzan" (satirizingTarzan), is advised by his manager that he needs new lions for his pictures, as his old ones are "worn out". Schnarzan's rival Liondora, who also makes jungle pictures, is determined to buy the new lions himself. An international explorer, Baron Munchausen, intervenes and buys the lions for his friend Schnarzan. Schnarzan celebrates his victory by throwing a huge Hollywood party.
Laurel and Hardy arrive about three quarters into the picture, as the owners of the lions. The baron has given them a bad check for the lions they provided, and they show up at Schnarzan's party to collect their fee in person. Instead, they get into an egg-breaking battle with the fiery Lupe Velez. When Laurel and Hardy never do get paid, they loose the lions on the party. A nightmarish riot ensues, and Schnarzan awakens to find he is just plain Jimmy Durante, who had a crazy dream.
Hollywood Party was originally intended as an all-star attraction, like the studio's successfulThe Hollywood Revue of 1929 produced byHarry Rapf. During production, the movie was known asThe Hollywood Revue of 1933 andStar Spangled Banquet.[2] Rapf's 1933 revue would starJean Harlow,Joan Crawford,Marie Dressler, andLee Tracy, supported by studio comediansJimmy Durante,Lupe Vélez,Charles Butterworth, andJack Pearl. After a series of expensive rewrites and revisions, with numerous directors taking a hand in the filming, only the comedians remained, withPolly Moran,George Givot, andTed Healy and his(Three) Stooges augmenting the cast.Laurel and Hardy were borrowed from producerHal Roach to appear in the final section of the film. The revue format was abandoned, and the film became a farcical comedy with music.
Production proceeded on a haphazard course, with many hands taking turns at the helm. It has been asserted thatRichard Boleslavski directed much of the film, with various scenes directed byAllan Dwan,Edmund Goulding,Russell Mack,Roy Rowland,Sam Wood, and finallyCharles Reisner.[3]George Stevens directed the Laurel and Hardy sequence[4] and Dave Gould directed the "Feelin' High" dance number with choreography by Georgie Hale. Seymour Felix and Eddie Prinz directed final musical retakes.[5] Around the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer backlot, the choreographers of the dance sequences were competing with those staging the MGM movieDancing Lady, vying to see who could create the most elaborate dance number.[6]
The movie had many sequences cut or reshot after several references proved too esoteric for international audiences. A sequence that had featuredThelma Todd (impersonatingMae West),Lupe Vélez,Jimmy Durante, andZaSu Pitts playing bridge was deleted after it was lost on British viewers not yet familiar with the game.[7] Additional episodes that featured actorsHerman Bing,Johnny Weissmuller,Jackie Cooper, andMax Baer were cut from the movie. Famed songwritersRodgers and Hart contributed most of the music.[8]Gus Kahn wrote "Moonlight Serenade" for the 1933Busby Berkeley movieFootlight Parade. However, when that song was cut from theWarner Bros. picture, it was placed a year later inHollywood Party and sung byEddie Quillan.[9]
Bob Lynch of MGM's Philadelphia branch was well aware of the film's flimsy structure, and advertised it to local showmen as "a musical travesty".[10]Motion Picture Herald's review withheld critical comment in favor of ways to sell the film: "Names, laughs, and a novel and nutty idea will be the basis of a wide open opportunity for the showman to do some lively selling of this conglomeration of amusing material. And that is the tack to take in the selling, billing it as a comedy riot. The wordriot is used in its specific anddictionary [emphasis theirs] sense: a good deal excitedly happening at the same time."[11]Motion Picture Daily summed it up as "just a lot of hilarious nonsense – but what nonsense – on a background that looks like it cost plenty of money."[12]
"Laurel and Hardy Steal MGM'sHollywood Party", headlinedThe Hollywood Reporter: their sequence "had last night's audience rolling in the aisles and actually sobbing with laughter. That sequence is worth the price of admission and is the highlight in an otherwise dull musical. It is pretty much of a patchwork; the picture hardly rates the time and money that MGM has expended."[13]Film Daily raved, "Hilarious entertainment of novel design packed with laughs, flash, good music, and marquee names. Very different from anything seen before in the way of musical fare... all in all it is a bargain for anybody's money."[14] Other reviews were more guarded. Wanda Hale of theNew York Daily News shrugged, "Look over the cast and take it or leave it. It is only fair to report that many of the customers laughed long and loud at several of the sequences in this cinematic patch-quilt. But there was no rolling in the aisles."[15] Mordaunt Hall ofThe New York Times wrote that it "may have been very funny while it was being made, but as it comes to the screen it is not a little disappointing."[16]Motion Picture Reviews, published by a panel of all-women reviewers advising what films were fit for adolescents and children, hatedHollywood Party: "With such a collection of so-called comedians, it is strange that anything as completely vacuous asHollywood Party could have been produced. It is an indiscriminate hodgepodge of comic sequences and songs framed by the slightest suggestion of a story."[17]
Theater managers who played the film submitted their audiences' reactions toMotion Picture Herald. A few reports were positive: "This is certainly a novelty and our patrons liked it. Most all of the funny guys are in it and they were all working. All I can say is, it satisfied all we got in to see it."[18] "This is a very good picture that failed to do business in our town. [Played] one day to only fair business."[19] But most exhibitors were extremely downbeat: "Just a lot of nothing, half thrown together. One of the poorest excuses for a picture we have ever played. Not even funny except about five minutes with Laurel & Hardy, and my patrons want more than a five-minute show for their money."[20] "An A No. 1 flop. Nothing to it. Don't book this one if you wish to please patrons. Business terrible."[21] "Never have I seen a worse, mixed-up mess than this picture was. Picture not liked and the panning was almost unanimous. More squawks on this one than I have had for a long time. For once I agreed with them."[22] "I stood in the lobby all night and apologized to the customers as they came out."[23]
The studio regardedHollywood Party as such an embarrassment that producer Harry Rapf took his name off the film, none of the directors claimed screen credit, and the creative and technical personnel were actually hidden from the public. These credits were traditionally listed at the beginning of every MGM film, on successive title cards, but not in this case: the names of the production personnel were crowded onto a single panel, and only disclosedafter the end title.
The film was a box office disaster, posting a loss of $500,000 inDepression dollars,[24] the equivalent of almost $12,000,000 today. It was producer Harry Rapf's last attempt to stage an expensive revue – or any expensive project at all. The failure ofHollywood Party resulted in Rapf being demoted to MGM's short-subjects department. After one of his shorts won a "Best Short Subject"Academy Award (How to Sleep starringRobert Benchley), Rapf returned to low-budget feature productions, which he produced until his death in 1949.
Hollywood Party did recoup some of its losses later. Hal Roach had discontinued his releasing arrangement with MGM in 1938, so MGM would have no further Laurel and Hardy comedies to offer exhibitors. The studio filled the void with a reissue ofHollywood Party in 1939. With its crazy-quilt approach, the film could now pass for ascrewball comedy, and its cast of Jimmy Durante, Lupe Vélez, and The Three Stooges now had more name value.[25]
