The Busby Berkeley film "Bright Lights" (1st National / Warner Bros, 1935) is about a traveling burlesque troupe, "Schlemmer's Parisian Belles." It stars Joe E. Brown and Ann Dvorak as a married team on the show, Joe as a comic specializing in a drunk act and Ann as a singer. The script was by Burt Kalmar and Harry Ruby. Also featured are Patricia Ellis, Arthur Treacher and William Demarest. The film played second run between live shows at the Follies in 1936.
We start with Joe late to catch a train to the next stop on the tour. He makes it, of course, throwing his suitcase onto the rear of the caboose and then jumping on. When we get a shot of the theatre they're playing next in an unnamed town, we see the entrance to the Follies Theatre, 337 S. Main St. Much of the signage in the shot is the actual Follies signage.
Theatre #1: A burlesque house in an unnamed city.
One of the stars on the runway. No clues yet as to where we are. The performer is Patricia Ellis, playing a runaway heiress who (of course) tries to become anonymous by joining the show. She's spotted by a PR guy who takes our three leads to Broadway to star in Anderson's Frolics, a Ziegfeld-like show.
A balcony view. No, the theatre we're in wasn't normally a burlesque house.
Aaah. Look past the girls and the configuration of the house left boxes tells you (if you know the downtown L.A. Theatres) that we're at the Grand Opera House, 110 S. Main St. It opened in 1884 and was known as the Orpheum from 1894 until 1903. At the time of the filming it was a Spanish language film house called the Teatro Mexico.
Another view to house left. Note that nice semicircular opening at the center for the entrance to one of the main floor boxes. The ladies are carrying powder puffs. The number is "Powder My Back For Me."
Ann Dvorak singing on the Grand Opera House stage. Brown is in the box starting to heckle her.
Feet latched into the railing, he's pretending to fall onto the main floor.
Another shot from onstage. Note the lights at the proscenium on the left.
A bit of a view toward the ceiling.
Another look upward with Brown ready to topple over. He finished the act by grabbing a rope and swinging down, crashing into a drop onstage, and sliding down.
See the page about the Grand Opera House on the Los Angeles Theatres site. It was demolished for a parking lot in 1936.
Theatre #2: On Broadway for "Anderson's Frolics."
The setting is the Tivoli Theatre in New York. Presumably it was a set on the 1st National lot in Burbank.
Henry O'Neill is Broadway producer J.C. Anderson, here during a rehearsal for Anderson's Frolics. Note the tantalizing glimpse of the ornate box fronts covered with drop cloths.
Brown checking out the upper house right box for his drunk act. He and his wife, along with runaway heiress Patricia Ellis, have been brought east to star in the show. PR guy Dan Wheeler, played by William Gargan, figures that the heiress angle can be exploited to sell some tickets.
A look offstage right during a rehearsal. The backstage stairs, while potentially useful for staging scenes, indicate that it's not a real theatre.
Gargan conferring with O'Neill about the show. It's decided that they want to use Brown but not Ann Dvorak. He's to partner with rising star Ellis.
Brown and Dorak onstage during a rehearsal. The set has a counterweight system -- at least upstage.
A look at the boxes opening night.
Brown in the upper box starting the drunk heckler act. But this time it's Patricia Ellis onstage, not his wife.
Ready to start leaning toward the audience.
More insults directed toward Ellis onstage. He does the act three times, each time with somewhat different gags.
A look across at the wall offstage left, showing that the set has no counterweight system downstage. Brown and Ellis are taking a bow at the end of the act. He's become more and more infatuated with her the more they work together. Dvorak watches from the wings, realizing she's lost him. She leaves New York and goes back to work touring with "Schlemmer's Parisian Belles."
Theatre #3: A burlesque house in Akron:
Looking toward the stage as Dvorak is ready to come on to sing a number. Brown has sent her a letter letting her know he wants a divorce and intends to marry
Ellis. Only after his butler posts the letter does he realize Ellis has
just been playing and intends to marry someone else. He wants to get to
Akron to see Dvorak before the letter gets there.
With this shot it's obvious that the theatre they're using for the Akron theatre is the Follies Theatre, 337 S. Main St. Dvorak is onstage. Not knowing that she has already received the letter, Brown races to the theatre and gets into the box to surprise her by doing the old act.
We get a nice look up above the boxes as he starts the drunk act gags.
Ready to fall. He then grabs a rope to swing down to the stage. But a stagehand warns "It's not rigged for that. He'll kill himself!" This time when he crashes into the drop it falls to the stage, with the batten hitting him on the head. But he survives and all ends well for the reunited couple.
See the page about the Follies Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for many photos as well as a history of the building. It opened in 1904 as the Belasco and was demolished in 1974.
An October 1935 Times article about shooting on Main St. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding it for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page.
The ballyhoo at the entrance of the Follies Theatre in 1936. The signage below the boxoffice window notes that the screen portion of the program is Joe E. Brown in "Bright Lights," shot at the theatre the year before. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor BifRay Rock for finding the Life photo to include in his Noirish post #40990.
A lobby card featuring Ann Dvorak, Joe E. Brown and Patricia Ellis. The image is on IMDb.
On IMDb: "Bright Lights" The film is not commercially available on DVD. Contact me for a possible source.
No comments:
Post a Comment