New Faces of 1937 | |
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File:New Faces of 1937.jpg | |
Directed by | Leigh Jason |
Written by | Story: George Bradshaw ("Shoestring") Sketch: David Freedman ("A Day at the Brokers") Adaptation: Harold Kussell Harry Clork Howard J. Green Screenplay: Nat Perrin Philip G. Epstein Irving Brecher |
Produced by | Edward Small |
Starring | Joe Penner Milton Berle Harry Parke Harriet Hilliard William Brady Jerome Cowan Thelma Leeds Lorraine Krueger |
Cinematography | J. Roy Hunt |
Edited by | George Crone |
Music by | Roy Webb |
Production company | |
Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures (1937) (USA) (theatrical) C&C Television Corporation (1955) (USA) (TV) RKO Home Video (USA) (video) (laserdisc) |
Release dates | USA: 2 July 1937 |
Running time | 100 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $728,000[1] |
Box office | $775,000[1] |
New Faces of 1937, aka Young People (USA - working title) is a black and white 1937 American musical film. It's plot is similar to The Producers (1967).
A crooked theatrical producer deliberately sets about creating a unsuccessful show after selling more than 100% of it to investors.
Singer Rene Stone, who appears in the film, was discovered by Edward Small singing while cleaning dishes in a Manhattan restaurant.[2]
The film was meant to be the first in a series of musical revues designed to introduce new RKO talent, but it was not a success. Film writers Richard B. Jewell and Vernon Harbin wrote that:
Containing not a single memorable musical number or inspired comedy routine, this tedious mish-mash caused the studio embarrassment a-plenty. Theatre owners and audiences displayed such hostility towards the Edward Small production in general, and Penner and Parkyakaras in particular, that RKO cancelled plans to make a New Faces of 1938.[3]
The film recorded a loss of $258,000.[1] Reviews were mixed.[4][5]