Two Latins from Manhattan
Cast & Crew
Charles Barton
Joan Davis
Jinx Falkenburg
Joan Woodbury
Fortunio Bonanova
Don Beddoe
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Joan Daley, the publicity agent for the Silver Key nightclub in New York, signs Cuban singing sensations Rosita and Marianela to appear at the club. On the night that Joan is to meet the singers at the airport, her roommates, Jinx Terry and Lois Morgan, two aspiring singers, audition for a job at the Rhumba Rhumba Club. When the owner of the club pronounces that their act lacks style and excitement, the two, dejected, return their borrowed costumes to the Kittleman Theatrical Agency. While there, they accidentally trigger a burglar alarm and are arrested by the police and taken to headquarters. When Lois and Jinx notify Joan of their predicament, she rushes to the courthouse to defend them and enters just in time to hear Kittleman explain that he loaned the costumes to Jinx and Lois. Joan takes the girls home, but her trip to the courthouse has delayed her arrival at the airport. When Rosita and Marianela land, they are met by Armando Rivero, who claims that he has been delegated to meet them. After Armando drives away with the Cubans, Joan reaches the airport and learns that the singers have gone, but have asked that their luggage be delivered to the Essex House hotel. Joan proceeds to the hotel and is handed a note by the desk clerk, signed "Mr. X," directing her to cancel the singers' engagements. When Joan's boss, Don Barlow, arrives at the hotel to meet his new stars, Joan, desperate, conceives of the idea of having her singing roommates impersonate the missing Cubans. After procuring the costumes from the Cubans' suitcases, Joan hires Felipe Rudolfo MacIntyre to coach her roommates in their dance routines. Fooled by the girls's Latin accents, Barlow becomes smitten by his new stars. When Armando appears at the apartment and greets Jinx and Lois as his sisters Rosita and Marianela, Joan whisks Barlow back to the club. After Joan and Barlow leave, the girls question Armando, who insists that he is their brother and offers to be their accompanist. Later, at the club, Jose Cordoba, a customer, claims that the women pictured on the lobby card are not Rosita and Marianela, but Armando convinces him to retract his statement. The girls's performance wins the applause of the audience, and the next day, the newspapers laud them with rave reviews. After they sign a lucrative contract for product endorsements, Tommy Curtis, Lois' boyfriend, comes to the apartment and charges that Joan's Latin stars are really from Brooklyn. After coyly denying Tommy's accusations, the girls prance off to be honored at the American Trade Commission banquet. From the banquet, they go to the club, and in their dressing room, they are confronted by the real Rosita and Marianela. When the stage manager informs Joan that the police are backstage and want to talk to Rosita and Marianela, Joan confesses her ruse to Barlow and the others. Claiming to be from the immigration department, the police charge the Cubans with entering the country illegally. Cordoba then arrives backstage and identifies himself as a Cuban nightclub owner, who hired Armando to kidnap the singers and filed the immigration charges because the singers broke their contract with him to come to America. When Cordoba offers Rosita and Marianela a new contract and a raise, they agree to return to Cuba with him. Joan then explains the situation to the audience, who enthusiastically embrace Lois and Jinx as American singers. All ends happily as Tommy arrives at the club to see Lois, and the audience joins the singers in a conga line.
Director
Charles Barton
Cast
Joan Davis
Jinx Falkenburg
Joan Woodbury
Fortunio Bonanova
Don Beddoe
Marquita Madero
Carmen Morales
Lloyd Bridges
Sig Arno
Boyd Davis
Antonio Moreno
Rafael Storm
John Dilson
Dick Elliott
Tim Ryan
Chuck Morrison
Jack Cheatham
Tyler Brooke
Don Brodie
Ed Bruce
Ed Fetherston
Tony Merrill
Lester Dorr
Ernie Adams
Bruce Bennett
Ralph Dunn
Stanley Brown
Eddie Kane
Mel Ruick
Crew
Lionel Banks
Abby Berlin
Irving Briskin
Sammy Cahn
Saul Chaplin
Albert Duffy
Jack Haines
Wallace Macdonald
Arthur Seid
M. W. Stoloff
John Stumar
Bob Troup
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Girls from Panama. According to a pre-production news item in Hollywood Reporter, Lois Andrews was cast in a major role in the film, but had to withdraw after she discovered she was pregnant. The film marked top model Jinx Falkenburg's first important screen part. Joan Davis was borrowed from Twentieth-Century Fox to appear in this picture.
