David Allen
"Ronald Reagan: Centennial Collection" (2011) is the most complete collection yet of Reagan's movies, but 2 more should be added.His very first movie, in which he had only a tiny part as a radio interviewer trying to get time with a Hollywood movie star (and failing), was "Hollywood Hotel" (1937) starring Dick Powell, which movie was famous for the signature song "Hooray For Hollywood."Reagan came to Hollywood in the middle 1930's after a short career as a radio announcer and sports broadcaster in Iowa after his graduation in 1932 from Eureka College in Illinois.Radio was just coming into its own in the middle 1930's and was very interesting as a subject to movie audiences. People wanted to see what radio was about "behind the scenes." Many late 1930's Hollywood movies showed that, and sold a lot of tickets because of it.Many "radio" movies were made in the late 1930's. Bob Hope's signature song title "Thanks For The Memory" was from a radio movie titled "The Big Broadcast Of 1938" and Hope himself became a Hollywood star only after he achieved radio stardom in the late 1930's.Ronald Reagan was a former radio pro who got beginning actor work because of his radio experience. He could be useful for "radio movies," and was hired.Hollywood film studios made many movies about the then glamorous radio business and the world of radio celebrities.Reagan was a handsome, articulate young man who had studied dramatics in college (he majored in Sociology but participated in many school plays in lead roles), and actually had experience as a radio broadcaster.The latter credential got him a contract with Warner Brothers, and his first role in "Hollywood Hotel" (1937) showed Reagan doing what he had done in Iowa....radio interviewing. His radio interview experience got him "in the door" to the world of Hollywood acting for big studios.His "Hollywood Hotel" (1937) role (uncredited but important for any interested in his movie actor career) is important to include in any history of Reagan's movie actor work.Reagan also starred in a movie re-make of one of Broadway's longest running plays, "The Voice Of The Turtle," (1947) which was a good movie well done, and re-released at a later time with the title "One For The Book."Re-makes of important Broadway plays were often done in Hollywood over it's history, and most of the resulting movie were good...took advantage of good material easy to turn into a good movie."The Voice Of The Turtle" (1947) starring Ronald Reagan is an example of this, and should be included in any collection showing important movie work he did.Voice Of The Turtle (1947), later released with a different name: "One For The Book", is a very well presented movie with great actor work from stars Ronald Reagan and Eleanor Parker, assisted by Eve Arden, three talented movie stars of the middle 20th Century.The movie is especially interesting and worthwhile because it showcases one of the biggest Broadway (NYC NY USA) stage hits of the middle 1940's, written by John Van Druten....the show played on the Broadway stage non-stop from 1943 through 1947.....5 years.One of those stage play titles one sees when "Longest Running Plays Ever Produced" lists are provided in stage play history books.Most of the show takes place in a single one bedroom apt. (the romantic female lead's NYC upper East Side Manhattan digs) with half a dozen departures for short periods to NYC places young, handsome singles of those 1940's times were part of....chic French restaurants where meals started with Vichisois (cold Leek Soup) and ended with Crepe Suzettes (ultra thin pancakes doused with Grand Marnier orange flavored brandy made up and served table-side by a tuxedoed waiter with a charming smile and foreign accent).....empty theater stages where new plays auditioned new hopeful actresses...NYC elegant night clubs with live orchestras and well dressed, mannerly patrons, all good dancers....The whole show is worth seeing for many reasons, but one is that an entire culture and way of life now long gone, and with it civility, manners, etiquette, and genuine social charm.....is depicted for all to see, marvel at, and lament the passing of.A well done 2004 video documentary titled Broadway The Golden Age interviews NYC actors of fame who worked during the 1940's through the 1970's and recalled how it all went, what it all was about, and most especially decried the fact what they had all be part of was now (in 2004 and after) gone forever, and not replaced by better performing art and memorable, human stagecraft.Voice Of The Turtle (1947) shows in movie form what the stage-play presented to theater goers (I write this in 2012, and if a 20 year old attended the first 1943 presentations in NYC of this show, he or she would be 88 this year!).I join many others in cheering this wonderful and forgotten play and movie, worth getting, worth seeing.----------------- Written by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA movie actor. Visit WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen for more information about Tex Allen. Tex Allen's email address is
[email protected] Tex Allen Movie Credits, Biography, and 2012 photos at WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen. See other Tex Allen written movie reviews....almost 100 titles.... at: "http://imdb.com/user/ur15279309/comments" (paste this address into your URL Browser)
