As the 1934 "Scandals" wraps up, George White prepares to head out of town for a vacation. He promises he won't start thinking about the 1935 "Scandals" until he's been laying on the beach for at least 15 minutes. But no sooner has he gotten out at a five minute rest stop somewhere down south, he finds he's in the territory of "Elmer White's Scandals" which happens to take the poster from the 1934 movie and simply cross "George" off the title. Ironically, the female star of this rural "Scandals" is Alice Faye who played the female lead in the 1934 film. George meets Elmer (Ned Sparks, the Walter Matthau of the 30's) who is not only ticket seller and taker, but usher and stage door man, not to mention mayor of the small town and head of the sewer department as well. (Hysterically, in the first scene, every door White and his companion Lyda Roberti go through has them being greeted by Sparks.)
Acting as if he had never seen her before, George is entranced by Alice and offers her the lead in his new "Scandals". Before you know it, pretty much the entire town (including Sparks) is a part of the new cast, and Alice and her old beau (James Dunn) are at each other's throats, acting as if they had never been unspoiled country folk with a loving Aunt Jane (Emma Dunn) who really may not be anybody's biological aunt, just adopted the whole town. In addition to these three is "Ukeilele Ike" Cliff Edwards who is first seen strumming to "It's an Old Southern Custom" which goes from simple dance number in Elmer's "Scandals" to a big production number in George's Broadway version. With Faye and Dunn at each other's throats, George has no choice but to fire them, but when Aunt Jane shows up, he must get them back in a hurry, otherwise hurt a sweet old lady.
While this definitely features some lavish production numbers, it is not as elaborate as the first entry, and certainly lacking in controversy and scandal, mostly thanks to the advent of the production code. Gone, however, are the racist undertones of the first film which included the outrageous "That's Why Darkies Were Born", showing black-faced chorus girls in "pickaninny" gear and little black-faced children coming out from under the dress of a huge mammy. The only black presence here is a harmonica group playing a brief number in the small town sequences.
In place of the earlier film's big hit ("Oh, You Nasty Man") is "Oh, you Rascal You", not as memorable, even if the staging is equally as elaborate, although some of the chorus girls are not quite in step. Edwards scores with a comical number, "I Was Born Too Late" where he fantasizes about being the Romeo to Juliet, Mark Anthony to Cleopatra and Louis XVI to Madame DuBarry. The surprise of the film, however, is the first film appearance of Eleanor Powell, performing a tap number and dating Dunn while he's on the outs with Faye. "Hunkadola" spoofs the trends of the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers dances, even spoofing the titles of "The Carioca" and "The Continental". This may not be a classic in the musical genre, but it helped push Alice Faye to the forefront of movie musical star, and as history would prove, the best was yet to come.
Acting as if he had never seen her before, George is entranced by Alice and offers her the lead in his new "Scandals". Before you know it, pretty much the entire town (including Sparks) is a part of the new cast, and Alice and her old beau (James Dunn) are at each other's throats, acting as if they had never been unspoiled country folk with a loving Aunt Jane (Emma Dunn) who really may not be anybody's biological aunt, just adopted the whole town. In addition to these three is "Ukeilele Ike" Cliff Edwards who is first seen strumming to "It's an Old Southern Custom" which goes from simple dance number in Elmer's "Scandals" to a big production number in George's Broadway version. With Faye and Dunn at each other's throats, George has no choice but to fire them, but when Aunt Jane shows up, he must get them back in a hurry, otherwise hurt a sweet old lady.
While this definitely features some lavish production numbers, it is not as elaborate as the first entry, and certainly lacking in controversy and scandal, mostly thanks to the advent of the production code. Gone, however, are the racist undertones of the first film which included the outrageous "That's Why Darkies Were Born", showing black-faced chorus girls in "pickaninny" gear and little black-faced children coming out from under the dress of a huge mammy. The only black presence here is a harmonica group playing a brief number in the small town sequences.
In place of the earlier film's big hit ("Oh, You Nasty Man") is "Oh, you Rascal You", not as memorable, even if the staging is equally as elaborate, although some of the chorus girls are not quite in step. Edwards scores with a comical number, "I Was Born Too Late" where he fantasizes about being the Romeo to Juliet, Mark Anthony to Cleopatra and Louis XVI to Madame DuBarry. The surprise of the film, however, is the first film appearance of Eleanor Powell, performing a tap number and dating Dunn while he's on the outs with Faye. "Hunkadola" spoofs the trends of the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers dances, even spoofing the titles of "The Carioca" and "The Continental". This may not be a classic in the musical genre, but it helped push Alice Faye to the forefront of movie musical star, and as history would prove, the best was yet to come.