Pick a Star (1937)

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Film collectors take note: Hal Roach's Pick a Star is not a Laurel and Hardy picture, though the popular comic duo does make a brace of amusing cameo appearances halfway through the film. A remake of Buster Keaton's Free and Easy, this is the story of how small-town gas-station owner Joe Jenkins… More Film collectors take note: Hal Roach's Pick a Star is not a Laurel and Hardy picture, though the popular comic duo does make a brace of amusing cameo appearances halfway through the film. A remake of Buster Keaton's Free and Easy, this is the story of how small-town gas-station owner Joe Jenkins (Jack Haley) tries to help his sweetheart Cecilia Moore (Rosina Lawrence) realize her ambition to become a movie star. At the behest of travelling entrepreneur Stone (Russell Hicks), Jenkins organizes a talent contest, the first prize being a trip to Hollywood and a screen test. When Stone turns out to be a crook and skips town with the proceeds of the contest, Cecilia is heartbroken, but Joe promises to go to Hollywood himself and make the right connections to assure her rise to stardom. Alas, the best Joe can manage in Tinseltown is a busboy job at the Colonial Club, a fact he tries to conceal from Cecilia and her wisecracking sister Nellie (Patsy Kelly) when they unexpectedly arrive in California as guests of movie-matinee idol Rinaldo Lopez (Mischa Auer). In desperation, Joe pretends to be a nightclub entertainer, but when this ruse is revealed, Cecilia angrily walks out on him, accompanying Rinaldo first to his movie studio and then to his apartment. Naturally Rinaldo has seduction on his mind, but innocent Cecilia doesn't realize this until Joe storms into the apartment with blood in his eye. Ashamed for his lascivious behavior, Rinaldo arranges for Cecilia to have a screen test for producer Klawheimer (Charles Halton). At the last moment, Cecilia suffers an attack of "camera fright," but Joe gently coaches her through her test, and there's a happy ending for all concerned -- even for sister Nellie, who's been relentlessly cynical about the storyline from first scene to last. Cast as "movie stars," Laurel and Hardy show up briefly in the movie-studio scenes to participate in a reciprocal-destruction sequence with their old screen nemesis Walter Long, and to perform an amusing musical routine with "dueling" harmonicas. Pick a Star has been reissued as Movie Struck, while the Laurel & Hardy scenes were released separately to TV as the ersatz two-reeler A Day at the Studio. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 10 min.
Directed By: Edward Sedgwick
Genres: Comedy

On DVD: Jan 27, 1993

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Cast

            Patsy Kelly as Nellie Moore

            Jack Haley as Joe Jenkins

            Rosina Lawrence as Cecilia Moore

            Mischa Auer as Rinaldo Lopez

            Lyda Roberti as Daqmar

            Charles Halton as Malheimer

            Tom Dugan as Dimitri Hogan

            Russell Hicks as J. Aubrey Stone

            Cully Richards as Master of Ceremonies

            Spencer Charters as Judge Pike

            Sam Adams as Sheriff

            Robert Gleckler as Nightclub Steward

            Joyce Compton as Ernie's Bride

            Johnny Arthur as Ernie

            James Finlayson as Laurel and Hardy's Director

            Walter Long as Mexican Tough Guy

            Wesley Barry as Assistant Director

            John Hyams as Mr. McGregor

            Leila McIntyre as Mrs. McGregor

            Benny Burt as Tony

            Stan Laurel as Himself

            Oliver Hardy as Himself

            Charles A. Bachman
            
            Brooks Benedict as Eddie

            Howard Brooks as Other Judge

            James Burke as Detective Nolan

            Ray Cooke as Assistants to Finlayson

            Wilma Cox as Oscar's Wife

            Jack Egan as Orchestra Conductor

            Otto H. Fries
            
            Mary Gordon as Undertaker's Wife

            Eddie Hart as Benny the Chauffeur

            Si Jenks as Old-Timer

            Eddie Kane as Albert Headwaiter

            Cornelius Keefe as Dress Extra

            Felix Knight
            
            Sam Lufkin as Mexican hit with a chair

            Murdock MacQuarrie as Undertaker

            Wilbur Mack as Door Greeter

            Charles McMurphy
            
            Alice Moore as Miss Centerville

            James C. Morton as Bartender

            Jack Norton as Oscar the Souse

            Sid Saylor as Street Sweeper

            Charles Sullivan as Juicer

            May Wallace as Joe Jenkins' Landlady

            Barbara Weeks as Hostess

            Frank O'Connor as Studio Guard

            Eddie Clayton as Bellboy

            Blair Davies as Pilot

            Ralph Malone
            
            Charlie Hall
            
See full cast

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