Something to Sing About (1937)

There aren’t many actors who can go from menacing gangster to top-hatted crooner, but James Cagney was one of them, and he does it quite amiably in this comedy. With the unwieldy name of “Thaddeus McGillicuddy”, he is a band-leader in New York who is offered a contract in Hollywood but after a bit of stunt fisticuffs goes quite spectacularly wrong, he throws in that towel and heads off on a vacation with his fiancée “Rita” (Evelyn Daw). Unbeknownst to him, though, the cameras were running all through his lively studio-trashing exhibition, the film was released and now he’s a star! Reunited with the studio bosses, he - using the slightly more user-friendly pseudonym of “Terry Rooney”, is offered a lucrative deal - but only on the condition that he isn’t married. Well, now he is, and he likes being married - so they are going to have to come up with some cunning wheezes to get around this obstacle to everyone’s satisfaction. That might have worked but for the machinations of his latest co-star “Steffie” (Mona Barrie) who thinks this upstart young actor might just have the popularity for her to capitalise on and for the fact that “Rita” soon tires of these games and goes back to the band. Will he choose his love or the bright lights? Can he manage to have them both? Cagney stands out here, but there is some engaging support from Daw, Barrie and from studio boss “Regan” (Gene Lockhart) and it’s this latter characterisation that allows it to poke fun at the controlling and manipulative studio structure that ordered everything in these people’s lives from the colour of their ties to the names of their wives. Ever present is the gossip columnist quite happy to celebrate that old adage that bad news is good news and good news is no news. Philip Ahn also raises a smile with his pidgin English routine designed for audience consumption whilst he has English as good as anyone else on the set! It is a little bit too long, but showcases a star with many strings to his bow delivering some dancing and some comedy timing all whilst displaying a charming glint in is eye, too,