Four years and 25 films into his career as an MGM star, Robert Montgomery appeared in Made on Broadway (1933), a satire of the power of publicity. Montgomery plays Jeff Bidwell, a dashing Broadway press agent who has his own private club where he cultivates the rich and powerful. With the help of his selfless ex-wife (Madge Evans), Jeff molds an illiterate, suicidal young woman (Sally Eilers) into a celebrity socialite. After his protégée tries to use him to escape a murder rap, he finally realizes that his ex is the only woman for him.

The movie's double-entendre title became even more explicit in England, where it was called The Girl I Made. It was one of four films Montgomery made for director Harry Beaumont; the others were Our Blushing Brides (1930), Faithless (1932) and When Ladies Meet (1933).

The year 1933 was important in Robert Montgomery's private life because it marked the birth of his daughter, Elizabeth, who would become a star in her on right thanks to the television series Bewitched; and the beginning of his involvement with the newly formed Screen Actors Guild. Two years later he was elected to the first of four terms as SAG president, in which capacity he achieved recognition in 1939 for helping to expose racketeering in the film industry. Through his SAG work, he also would be hailed as a fearless champion of underpaid actors.

Producer: Lucien Hubbard
Director: Harry Beaumont
Screenplay: Courtney Terrett, based on her story "Public Relations"
Cinematography: Norbert Brodine
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons
Editing: William S. Gray
Costume Design: Adrian
Cast: Robert Montgomery (Jeff Bidwell), Sally Eilers (Mona), Madge Evans (Claire Bidwell), Eugene Pallette (Terwilliger), C. Henry Gordon (Mayor Starling), Jean Parker (Adele).
BW-68m.

by Roger Fristoe