This 1937 Fox musical comedy starts quickly, and I mean that literally: The 20th Century Fox fanfare cuts off suddenly as we cut to a shot of New York City at night and the credits begin. Now, it's possible this is just some kind of DVD authoring error, but I prefer to think this is how the movie actually played back then and that it is meant to suggest the fast-talking, hectic world of Broadway, radio, and show business in general in the 1930s. Speaking of fast-talking, Wake Up and Live stars legendary columnist and man about town Walter Winchell, and he's the reason I wanted to see the movie. However, while Winchell's 'feud' with bandleader and fellow radio personality Ben Bernie provides a backdrop for the story, the screenplay really focuses on Jack Haley and Alice Faye. More on our would-be happy screen couple in a moment. First, back to Winchell. As a fan of old-time newspapers as well as old-time broadcast media, I'm always fascinated to see the man on screen, even when it's a fictionalized version. Neal Gabler's biography gave him a little bit of a resurgence some years back, yet I think Walter Winchell is a mostly forgotten figure today. If you did read Gabler's book or if you know much about the columnist, you will be amused at his character in Wake Up and Live. He's a generally swell guy with unimpeachable integrity. When a shady agent played by Walter Catlett tries to buy a favorable mention in his Chatter column and radio broadcast, Winchell grabs the money and deposits it in a baby milk fund charity box, then tells off the scoundrel. The feud with Bernie, though charged with one-liner insults, is seen as harmless showbiz stuff, and even then I think it's Bernie who delivers the majority of the digs. There's not much hint of the feared columnist who used his influence to terrorize many notable personalities in his heyday. Unfortunately there is only one scene in which we see Winchell doing a radio segment of any length, one punctuated with him saying 'FLASH!' and items about things like 'blessed events.' It's also disappointing that we don't see more of his assistants, played by Patsy Kelly and Ned Sparks. However, I do think we get enough of this trio to satisfy, and if you're like me, you're going to give any movie that presents Kelly and Sparks as a romantic couple an automatic watch. Seeing Sparks deadpan that Catlett isn't two-faced because if he were he wouldn't wear that one is worth the price of admission. The heart of the movie is a love story between Haley and Faye. Jack plays Kelly's brother, a singer who comes to town with his partner (Grace Bradley) hoping to get some good publicity from Winchell. In a great scene with character actors John Sheehan and a young--OK, younger than usual--William Demarest, the singer discovers he has mic fright and can't perform on the radio. So his partner, encouraged by a leering Catlett ditches him to go solo, and Haley winds up crushing on radio star Alice Huntley (Faye).
( Patsy Kelly & Ned Sparks) Through a set of zany circumstances I needn't detail here, Haley becomes a radio sensation known as 'The Phantom Troubadour' when he sings live on the air without having any idea he is doing so. Given this plot detail, it's amusing to learn that Haley himself was dubbed during his songs in the film. As the Phantom becomes the talk of the town, Winchell and Bernie race to identify him--and get the credit for identifying him--while Faye helps him overcome his anxiety. It's a fun story that moves briskly, and the radio setting provides an excuse to stage a bunch of musical numbers, though, come to think of it, I am not sure how well some of the dance routines could be appreciated by a family sitting in front of the radio. There are also some funny non-musical sequences, such as the one in which Haley hitches rides in a succession of ill-fated vehicles while trying to get back into the city. Bernie and Winchell's barbs are enjoyable, and in addition to the character actors I've already mentioned, look for familiar faces like Joan Davis, Rochester Anderson, Warren Hymer, and George Chandler. Even Lynn Bari gets a credit as a chorus girl, though I must admit I missed her. Wake Up and Live is directed by Sidney Lanfield and credited as based on the book by Dorothea Brande. Apparently, that work was a self-help book that sold an immense number of copies in 1936. I have no idea how this film is an adaptation. There is a song of that name and a few lines of dialogue that reference waking up and becoming what you want to be, but it seems that someone just snapped up the rights and tried to cash in on the popularity of the book. Well, I have no complaints. It may not be a self-help movie, but it is a sharp musical comedy with a great cast, one of the more entertaining Fox Cinema Classics DVDs I've seen. Rick Brooks is the proprietor of Cultureshark, a blog in which he uses an often irreverent approach to express his reverence for the classics and the un-classics.