Stand Up and Cheer!
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Hamilton Macfadden
Warner Baxter
Madge Evans
James Dunn
Sylvia Froos
John Boles
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Lawrence Cromwell, a noted Broadway producer and authority on feminine beauty, is appointed Secretary of Amusement, and assigned the responsibility of raising the spirits of the American people so that they can lick the Depression. At a meeting with his assistant secretaries, Lawrence's eye is caught by Mary Adams, head of the children's division, and they begin dating. Some time later, Lawrence's secretary Fosdick announces that George Bernard Shaw is there to see him, but George turns out to be a shimmy-sham dancer whom Lawrence hires as Fosdick's assistant. In another part of Washington, John Harly meets with fellow businessmen to complain about Lawrence. They have made many business deals that depend on the continuance of the Depression, and they are worried that Lawrence's plans will succeed. To stop Lawrence, Harly initiates a giant smear campaign against him. Back at Amusement Headquarters, Jimmy Dugan and his little daughter Shirley wait to see Lawrence. Shirley wanders off and is brought to Mary, who sends for Jimmy. When Lawrence arrives, Jimmy asks for an exemption to the new law that a child under seven may not work. Lawrence gives his permission and the Dugans perform their act for him. Elsewhere, members of the Senate discuss Lawrence's extravagance, with the result that Senators Danforth and Short are assigned to investigate. They talk with Lawrence and tour the facilities with Eustace Dinwiddie, Lawrence's general scout. Later that day, Lawrence goes aboard Harly's yacht, where Harly unsuccessfully attempts to bribe him into giving up. The next morning, in another meeting with his assistants, Lawrence complains about the department's slow progress, the result of an unseen foe spreading discord. The majority of the assistants stand behind Lawrence, but one, Turner, tells him that the department must be closed. After the meeting, Lawrence tells Mary that he is quitting because he cannot handle the pressures from Congress, reporters and investigators, as well as from the public. She says that he is wrong to quit, but that she loves him and will support him regardless. While Mary then watches an audition for Lawrence, George helps a penguin that talks like Jimmy Durante. That afternoon, Lawrence becomes incensed by a radio report that his incompetence is forcing his resignation, which will be a victory for solid citizens everywhere. Mary comes in to inform him that the children's division is a huge success, but before she can, he tells her that he is sticking to his guns. He warns her that the drastic budget cuts he must make will result in the cancellation of the children's division, but as they are talking, they hear another radio news flash about the Amusement Department's success, which is attributed largely to Mary's division. The president calls Lawrence to congratulate him, and Lawrence humbly tells him about Mary's contribution. After the phone call, Lawrence and Mary are notified that the Depression is officially over, and they participate in a gigantic celebration parade featuring people from all walks of life.
Director
Hamilton Macfadden
Cast
Warner Baxter
Madge Evans
James Dunn
Sylvia Froos
John Boles
Arthur Byron
Shirley Temple
Ralph Morgan
"aunt Jemima"
Frank Mitchell
Jack Durant
Nick Foran
Nigel Bruce
"skins" Miller
Stepin Fetchit
Frank Melton
Lila Lee
Frances Morris
Lurene Tuttle
Dorothy Gulliver
Bess Flowers
Lillian West
Selmer Jackson
Clyde Dilson
Edward Earle
Gayne Whitman
Frank Sheridan
Paul Stanton
Wallis Clark
Arthur Stuart Hull
Si Jenks
Aggie Herring
Phil Tead
Randall Sisters
George K. Arthur
Baby Alice Raetz
Ruth Beckett
Bobby Caldwell
Wilbur Mack
Elspeth Dudgeon
Jessie Perry
Harry Northrup
John Davidson
Harry Dunkinson
Gilbert Clayton
Herbert Prior
Carl Stockdale
Lucien Littlefield
Joe Smith Marba
Carlton E. Griffin
Paul Mcvey
Rolin Ray
Reginald Simpson
Dora Clemant
Peggy Watts
Dorothy Dehn
Ruth Clifford
Arthur Vinton
Sam Hayes
Tina Marshall
Glen Walters
Nora Lane
Dorothy Dayton
Dorothy Thompson
Amy Sureau
Toddy Peterson
Inez Mortensen
Mildred Morris
Laura Morse
Crystal Keate
Margaret Harding
Earlene Heath
Martha Fields
Grace Davies
Zita Baca
Angela Blue
Dorothy Andree
Dorothy White
Zelda Webber
Jean Allen
Deslys Barnes
Mary Jane Carey
Lorena Carr
Audrene Brier
Mary Blackwood
Dixie Dean
Dale Dee
Betty Dotson
Margaret Ehrlich
Celeste Mari Edwards
Eleanor Edwards
Harriette Haddon
Eve Kimberly
Ruth Jennings
Zumetta Garnett
Diane Gardner
Helen Fairweather
Eula Love
Lucille Miller
Anne Nagel
Marjean Roach
Marjean Rogers
Gale Ronn
Marion Shelton
Arthur Loft
Jack Richardson
Dagmar Oakland
Vivian Winston
Crew
Harry Akst
Malcolm Stuart Boylan
Lew Brown
Lew Brown
Lew Brown
Margaret Clancy
Jay Gorney
E. F. Grossman
Rian James
Rita Kaufman
Philip Klein
Arthur Lange
Sammy Lee
Edward T. Lowe Jr.
Hamilton Macfadden
Ray Moore
L. W. O'connell
Ernest Palmer
Russell Patterson
Will Rogers
Winfield Sheehan
Ralph Spence
Gordon Wiles
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Fox Movietone Follies for 1933, Fox Movietone Follies for 1934, Fox Movietone Follies and Fox Follies. According to information in the Twentieth Century-Fox Records of the Legal Department at the UCLA Arts-Special Collections Library, in 1970, Lincoln Perry, known professionally as Stepin Fetchit, filed a three-million dollar suit charging that Twentieth Century-Fox conspired with CBS to invade his privacy and defame his character when CBS aired clips of the films Stand Up and Cheer! (see below) and In Old Kentucky (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3. 2119) on a documentary entitled "Black History: Lost, Stolen or Forgotten." Perry claimed that he was depicted "as a tool of the white man who betrayed the members of his race and [who] earned two million dollars portraying Negroes as inferior human beings." Information pertaining to the disposition of the suit has not been located.
Although Shirley Temple is listed third in the film's opening onscreen cast credits, she is listed seventh in the ending credits. According to Hollywood Reporter news items, Edward Sutherland was originally scheduled to direct the picture, and Lilian Harvey and Winnie Shaw were set for the cast. Sutherland May have been replaced because of illness, while the reasons behind Harvey and Shaw's withdrawals from the film have not been determined. Hollywood Reporter also noted that Dorothy Stone had been tested for a role in the picture. Although a Film Daily news item reported that Florence Desmond had been signed for the film, her participation in the completed picture has not been confirmed. According to the Twentieth Century-Fox Produced Scripts Collection, also at the UCLA Arts-Special Collections Library, actors considered for inclusion in the film were: Will Rogers, Lew Ayres, Spencer Tracy, Sid Silvers, Sally Eilers, Clara Bow, director David Butler, Victor Jory and Janet Gaynor, for whom a special number entitled "My Favorite Doll" was written by Lew Brown, Sammy Lee and Hans Kraly. The Variety review noted that Brown provided the voice of the Jimmy Durante penguin. Stand Up and Cheer! marked the feature film debuts of singer Nick Foran, who later changed his name to Dick Foran, and comedians Frank Mitchell and Jack Durant. According to the Twentieth Century-Fox legal records, the studio rented a Kellett auto-gyro from R. V. H. Mather, and the sequence in which the device was used was filmed on location at Busch Gardens in Pasadena, CA. The legal records note that in 1935, a lawsuit was filed against Fox by Paul Blanton for infringement on a patent for "the art of producing mannikin actors" by painting faces on the legs of dancers. The case was settled out of court for $1,500.
According to a modern interview with Jane Withers, she was asked by Fox to read for a part in this picture, but after her audition, "in walked the most beautiful child I had ever seen-Shirley Temple. My heart sank to my toes. I knew she'd get the part, and I was right." Another modern source asserts that after seeing Temple in a "Frolics of Youth" short entitled Pardon My Pups, songwriter Jay Gorney requested that she audition for Stand Up and Cheer!. In her autobiography, Temple notes that producer Winfield Sheehan gave her a contract with Fox on the second day of filming her "Baby Take a Bow" number. Contemporary reviewers praised Temple's performance, and the Variety reviewer referred to her as a "sure-fire potential kidlet star" and "the unofficial star" of the picture.
