By Richard Harland Smith
Have a Heart
Brief Synopsis
A street vendor tries to help a dancing teacher who's lost the use of her legs.
Cast & Crew
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David Butler
Director
Jean Parker
Sally [Moore]
James Dunn
Jimmie [Flaherty]
Una Merkel
Joan
Stuart Erwin
Gus
Willard Robertson
Schauber
Film Details
Genre
Drama
Release Date
Sep
7,
1934
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Distribution Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 21m
Film Length
8 reels
Synopsis
On the eve of her wedding, children's dance instructor Sally Moore entertains her finace, Joe Lacy, and his boisterous male friends in her apartment. Convinced that being photographed before the wedding will bring her bad luck, Sally runs playfully from a would-be cameraman to her balcony and, when the balcony railing gives way, falls to the street below. Sally survives the fall but is told by her physician, Dr. Spear, that because of damage to one of her knees, she must always wear an enormous orthopedic shoe. When Joe first sees Sally in the hideous shoe, he blanches, but assures her that he will do his duty and marry her. Sally, however, refuses Joe's forced charity and ends their engagement. Later, Sally catches the eye of ice cream vendor Jimmie Flaherty, who flirts with her through her apartment window. Unaware of Sally's condition, Jimmie asks her to go dancing the next night and, at the urging of her roommate, beautician Joan, she accepts. Sally then learns from Dr. Spear that a famous Viennese orthopedic surgeon will be coming to town for a brief stay and will do corrective surgery on her leg if she can raise five hundred dollars. At the same time, Jimmie is promoted by his boss, Schauber, to district manager of the Have a Heart ice cream company. Ecstatic, Jimmie borrows a friend's car and picks up Sally, who is standing on the corner wearing a big galosh on her good foot to match her orthopedic shoe. After Sally convinces Jimmie that dancing will bring them bad luck, the couple spends the entire evening driving around town. During their date, the hot-tempered Jimmie fights with a man in white shoes for kicking Sally's dog Mopsy, and Sally lectures him about controlling his anger. Later, Jimmie returns to the Have a Heart warehouse with Mopsy just as a robber is stealing from the company safe. As Mopsy barks at the burglar, Jimmie observes a silver dollar tattoo on the robber's hand, but is unable to stop him from fleeing with four hundred dollars. The next day, Sally sells four dozen dolls she has made to a neighborhood store and puts the money away for her operation. Jimmie then shows up unexpectedly at Sally's apartment and sees Sally's leg. To Sally's joy, however, Jimmie is nonplussed about her disability and assures that he still loves her. At that moment, Schauber arrives with two detectives and accuses Jimmie, who was seen at the warehouse by the night watchman, of the robbery. After Schauber tells him that if the money is returned within twenty-four hours, he will not be prosecuted, Jimmie is jailed. Desperate to free Jimmie, Sally gives Schauber her $400, but makes him promise not to tell Jimmie about the donation. Jimmie is released and learns about Sally's deed from Schauber's secretary, who implies that Sally suspects him of the crime. Unaware of the operation she has sacrificed for him, the prideful Jimmie denounces Sally and ends their romance in a huff. Joan and her lazy, unemployed boyfriend Gus then try to win the operation money in a gambling scheme, but their racehorse runs off the track just before the finish line. On the way out of the racetrack, however, Mopsy attacks a man in white shoes, who Gus discovers has a silver dollar tattoo on his hand. After Gus exposes the man as the robber and is made a police detective, Sally undergoes a successful operation. However, because Jimmie has taken a job on a steamer and is still angry with her, Sally's recuperation stalls. With help from Schauber, Gus and Joan, Sally eventually is reunited with an apologetic, wiser Jimmie and runs from her wheelchair into his arms.
Director
David Butler
Director
Cast
Jean Parker
Sally [Moore]
James Dunn
Jimmie [Flaherty]
Una Merkel
Joan
Stuart Erwin
Gus
Willard Robertson
Schauber
Samuel S. Hinds
Dr. Spear
Paul Page
Joe [Lacy]
Muriel Evans
Helen
Kate Price
Mrs. Kelly
Pepi Sinoff
Mrs. Abrahams
Edward Brophy
Mac
Katherine Clare Ward
Irish woman
Juanita Quigley
Rosy
Ray Cooke
Boy at party
Charles Gregg
Boy at party
Teddy Hart
Boy at party
Robert Homans
Policeman
Russ Clark
Policeman
Jack Stoney
Policeman
Roy Brown
Melman
Brandon Hurst
Bramley
Hector V. Sarno
Organ grinder
Frank Moran
Bruiser
William Wagner
Milk truck driver
Charles Moore
Negro
Burr Carruth
Night watchman
Frank O'connor
Sergeant
J. P. Mcgowan
Detective
Tom Dugan
Trainer
Billy Erwin
Stable boy
Olaf Hytten
Drunk
Tommy Bupp
Boy
Elise Cavanna
Bobby Caldwell
Al Hill
Crew
David Butler
Story
John W. Considine Jr.
Producer
B. G. Desylva
Story
Cedric Gibbons
Art Director
James Wong Howe
Photography
Ben Lewis
Film Editor
Florence Ryerson
Addl dial and cont
Ad Schaumer
Assistant Director
Douglas Shearer
Recording Director
Jack Virgil
Synchronization
Edwin B. Willis
Art Director Associate
Edgar Allan Woolf
Addl dial and cont
Joseph Wright
Art Director Associate
Film Details
Genre
Drama
Release Date
Sep
7,
1934
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Distribution Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 21m
Film Length
8 reels
Articles
Have a Heart -
Jean Parker and James Dunn are the leads in this MGM romance, about a crippled dancer who hides her handicap from a prospective suitor, but the real stars of the show were behind the camera. As was Dunn (then popular for his roles in several Shirley Temple films), director David Butler was borrowed from Fox, where he had helmed the 1930 fantasy Just Imagine. Conceived as a musical, Have a Heart (1934) began with an original story by songwriter Buddy DeSylva, composer of such American standards as "California, Here I Come" and "The Best Things in Life Are Free," and later a cofounder of Capitol Records. "Singing in the Rain" composers Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed were retained to contribute a song, "A Little Ray of Sunshine," but Have a Heart went into general release as a tuneless romantic comedy, with script contributions from the future Wizard of Oz (1939) team of Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf. Cinematographer James Wong Howe was well into a distinguished career with nine Academy Award nominations awaiting him, and Oscars for The Rose Tattoo (1955) and Hud (1963). David Butler later directed Bob Hope and Bing Crosby in their seminal "road picture" Road to Morocco (1942).
By Richard Harland Smith
By Richard Harland Smith
Have a Heart -
Jean Parker and James Dunn are the leads in this MGM romance, about a crippled dancer who hides her handicap from a prospective suitor, but the real stars of the show were behind the camera. As was Dunn (then popular for his roles in several Shirley Temple films), director David Butler was borrowed from Fox, where he had helmed the 1930 fantasy Just Imagine. Conceived as a musical, Have a Heart (1934) began with an original story by songwriter Buddy DeSylva, composer of such American standards as "California, Here I Come" and "The Best Things in Life Are Free," and later a cofounder of Capitol Records. "Singing in the Rain" composers Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed were retained to contribute a song, "A Little Ray of Sunshine," but Have a Heart went into general release as a tuneless romantic comedy, with script contributions from the future Wizard of Oz (1939) team of Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf. Cinematographer James Wong Howe was well into a distinguished career with nine Academy Award nominations awaiting him, and Oscars for The Rose Tattoo (1955) and Hud (1963). David Butler later directed Bob Hope and Bing Crosby in their seminal "road picture" Road to Morocco (1942).
By Richard Harland Smith
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
M-G-M borrowed writer and director David Butler and actor James Dunn from Fox for this production. According to a Hollywood Reporter news item, the "twenty Meglin Kiddies" were cast in the film, but their participation in the final film has not been confirmed. Although the Call Bureau Cast Service lists Douglass Dumbrille in the part of "Schauber," Willard Robertson actually played the role. According to a July 1934 Hollywood Reporter news item, because the project had been promoted as a musical, Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed wrote a song for Jean Parker to sing called "A Little Ray of Sunshine." The song, however, was not heard in the viewed print.
