Pick a Star (1937) starring Jack Haley, Rosina Lawrence, Pasty Kelly
Pick a Star is a Jack Haley/Patsy Kelly romantic comedy. Laurel and Hardy, and several other Hal Roach Studio actors, make short appearances.
Right now on Amazon Prime, there’s a movie that they’ve titled “Laurel and Hardy in Movie Struck“. That’s pretty close to false advertising. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy do appear — for about 5 minutes. Now, it’s a funny five minutes. The heroines are backstage at the Hal Roach movie studio, watching a scene being filmed. Stan and Ollie enter a Western saloon as the bandits, and get into a very funny break-the-bottle-over-the-head duel with Walter Long. Afterward, they demonstrate that the breakaway bottles don’t hurt …. And the heroine tries it, hitting them both on the head with real bottles! That’s it. That’s the Laurel and Hardy contribution to the movie. They show up again towards the end, with Stan annoying Oliver with a horn and a harmonica. Another funny scene, by the way. Roughly 10 minutes of screen time out of 69 minutes.
The actual movie …
The actual movie is “Pick a Star“. And it’s an enjoyable romantic comedy. It stars Jack Haley, who’s determined that Rosina Lawrence gets the shot at Hollywood stardom that was stolen from her. He goes out to Hollywood to find a job, so he can bring her out there. But, the only job he gets is a busboy. In a contrived coincidence, Rosina and her pal Patsy Kelly get free planes tickets to Hollywood. They fly out there with Mischa Auer, who has designs on Rosina.
He actually takes them to the Hal Roach studios, where they see multiple stars in the middle of filming different scenes. Eventually, Rosina mistakes Mischa’s romantic advances for a marriage proposal, which he denies. Jack shows up to the rescue, and after a short fight, he & Mischa have a heart-to-heart talk. This results in Mischa’s character setting up a screen test for Rosina’s character. Which she’s failing, until Joe’s encouragement …. And a little imagination.
Cast of characters
- Patsy Kelly (Merrily We Live) … Nellie Moore. Cecilia’s best friend, voice of reason. A funny lady as well.
- Jack Haley (The Wizard of Oz, One Body Too Many) … Joe Jenkins. Our protagonist, who’s determined to get Cecilia the screen test she deserves. Cecilia’s love interest, whose interests he puts above his own.
- Rosina Lawrence (Way Out West) … Cecilia Moore. the lovely young lady that Lopez clearly has designs on. The girl that Joe is in love with.
- Mischa Auer (My Man Godfrey) … Rinaldo Lopez. The Hollywood star, who’s not an unmitigated cad. But has no intention of getting married to anyone — ever.
- Lyda Roberti (Million Dollar Legs) … Dagmar. Hal Roach star, filming an “opera” scene
- Stan Laurel (Sons of the Desert) … Stan Laurel. He and Oliver have extended cameos, supposedly showing them at work on the Hal Roach lot. But they both stay in character the whole time.
- Oliver Hardy (Bogus Bandits) … Oliver Hardy. Likewise, staying in character. They’re both hilariously funny.
- Charles Halton (To Be or Not to Be, Dr. Cyclops) … Mr. Klawheimer. The studio head, who both “promotes” Joe to studio chauffeur (after nearly running him over), and gives Cecilia her screen test (at Rinaldo’s request).
- James Finlayson (The Hoose-Gow) … Director of the fictional Laurel and Hardy movie within a movie.
- Walter Long (The Live Ghost) … Bandit. The protagonist in the movie within a movie, starring Laurel and Hardy. Very funny as well!
Trivia
- Walter Long’s final appearance with Laurel & Hardy as their tough guy nemesis.
- The film was reissued as Movie Struck by Astor Pictures in 1954.
- One of he few times James Finlayson appeared on screen without his famous mustache. He was clean shaven off the set.