Playmates (1941)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

David Butler

Writers:

James V. Kern (story) &
M.M. Musselman (story) ...

Release Date:

26 December 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

Lulu Monahan (Patsy Kelly), the press agent for John Barrymore (Himself),is attempting to get a sponsor for a radio program...

Plot Keywords:

Press Agent | Actor | Bandleader | Singer | Publicity

Cast

Kay Kyser	...	Kay Kyser
John Barrymore	...	John Barrymore
Lupe Velez	...	Carmen del Toro
Ginny Simms	...	Ginny Simms
May Robson	...	Grandma Kyser
Patsy Kelly	...	Lulu Monahan
Peter Lind Hayes	...	Peter Lindsay
Kay Kyser Band	...	Themselves
Harry Babbitt	...	Harry Babbitt
M.A. Bogue	...	Ish Kabibble (as Ish Kabibble)
Sully Mason	...	Sully Mason

Runtime:

96 min (copyright length) | USA:95 min (Turner library print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:TV-G (TV rating) | USA:Approved (PCA #7570)

Filming Locations:

Pasadena, California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

This film contains the only screen footage of John Barrymore reciting Hamlet's famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy.

Quotes:

Mrs. Penelope Pennypacker: [to John Barrymore] Do sit down.
Grandma Kyser: My, my! Have an accident?
John Barrymore: No, thanks. I just had one.
[hollers as he sits down]
Mrs. Penelope Pennypacker: Oh, he must have sprained his back! I hope I have some liniments in the house!
Grandma Kyser: Have you ever tried rubbing alcohol?
John Barrymore: Not since prohibition.

Movie Connections:

References Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)

Soundtrack:

Thank Your Lucky Stars and Stripes

Swing and Shakespeare; Kyser and Barrymore don't mix.

I would have had a much more positive view of this movie if I didn't know and admire John Barrymore.

On the surface of it, this is as good as any of the rest of Kay Kyser's ouevre. If you like him (he is, admittedly, an acquired taste), you will probably like this movie. Lupe Velez and Patsy Kelly add their talents to the usual mix of corn and Swing supplied by Kay, Harry Babbitt, and Ish Kabibble (the true inventor of the Beatle haircut).

What keeps me from truly enjoying this film is the presence of the great John Barrymore in a role more suited to Edgar Kennedy. In his last screen appearance, Barrymore grimaces and cavorts like a Stooge and is obviously reading his lines from cards because he can't remember them anymore. Whether or not the tears in his eyes and on his cheeks are real as he mumbles through Hamlet's soliloquy one last time, mine were real enough.

If you don't reverence Barrymore, and you are a student of the Kollege of Musical Knowledge, this will be your cup of tea. If either of the above isn't true, give it a miss.