Hold Everything (1930 film)

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Hold Everything (1930)

Directed by	Roy Del Ruth
Written by	Robert Lord based on the play by Buddy G. DeSylva, Ray Henderson and John McGowan
Starring	Winnie Lightner Joe E. Brown
Music by	Joseph Burke and Ray Henderson
Cinematography	Devereaux Jennings (Technicolor)
Editing by	William Holmes
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	March 20, 1930
Running time	originally listed as 10 reels
Language	English
IMDb profile

Hold Everything 1930 is an All-Talking musical comedy that was photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was adapted from the DeSylva-Brown-Henderson musical of the same name that had served as a vehicle for Bert Lahr and starred Winnie Lightner and Joe E. Brown as the comedy duo. The romantic subplot was played by Georges Carpentier and Sally O'Neill. Only one song from the stage show remained: "You're The Cream In My Coffee." New songs were written for the film by Al Dubin and Joe Burke, including one that became a hit in 1930: "When The Little Red Roses Get The Blues For You." The songs in the film were played by Abe Lyman and his orchestra.

Brown plays Gink Schiner, a third-rate fighter who is at the same training camp as Georges LaVerne (played by Georges Carpentier), a contender for the heavyweight championship. Although he needs to be concentrating all of his energies on the upcoming bout, Georges keeps getting distracted: Norine Lloyd, a society dame, has a distinct interest in him, but the interest is strictly one-sided. Georges prefers Sue, an old buddy and confidante. Gink has woman trouble of his own, as his flirtations do not sit at all well with Toots (played by Winnie Lightner), his erstwhile girl friend. More trouble arrives when Larkin, manager of current heavyweight champ Bob Morgan, appears at the camp with the goal of fixing the fight. He is sent packing, after which he attempts to slip a Mickey Finn to the challenger -- a plan which goes awry when Gink switches the drinks. Meanwhile, Gink, who is fighting in a preliminary in advance of the big fight, actually wins. Things don't look so bright for Georges, who initially gets the worst of it in his encounter with Morgan, but who eventually comes out on top.

When the picture was released in 1930, Bert Lahr, who had created the role of Gink on Broadway, strongly criticized the fact that Joe E. Brown had copied many of Lahr's mannerisms in the film. While the sound to the film, recorded on Vitaphone disks, still survives, it seems as if all film elements have been lost.