Alcoholic reporter Bruce Foster is on the road to ruin when he partners with advertising man "Perk" Perkins to form a successful advertising agency. Foster makes the business a success, but ... Read allAlcoholic reporter Bruce Foster is on the road to ruin when he partners with advertising man "Perk" Perkins to form a successful advertising agency. Foster makes the business a success, but his personal life suffers.Alcoholic reporter Bruce Foster is on the road to ruin when he partners with advertising man "Perk" Perkins to form a successful advertising agency. Foster makes the business a success, but his personal life suffers.
- Red Moran, City Desk Editor
- (as Charles Wilson)
- Adrienne's Maid
- (uncredited)
- Girl
- (uncredited)
- Peggy's Song Publisher Escort
- (uncredited)
- Adrienne Deane's Secretary
- (uncredited)
- Deane Co. Chemist
- (uncredited)
- Deane Co. Receptionist
- (uncredited)
- Perkins Co. Worker
- (uncredited)
- Moran's Assistant
- (uncredited)
- Chili, a Bartender
- (uncredited)
- Charlie, Deane Co. Chemist
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaCostars Richard Dix and David Landau both died on September 20th (Dix in 1949, Landau in 1935), both aged 56.
- GoofsAt the beginning of the film, the newspaper that Bruce Foster (Richard Dix) works for, and later fired from, is called "The Reflector." It's referred to by name in the dialogue and the masthead appears in one shot. Later in the film, however, in a scene between Foster and Zimmer (the newspaper's editor, played by David Landau), the publication is referred to as "The Chronicle."
- Quotes
Bruce Foster: You're young. You have your whole life ahead of you. You know where you're going. Or, maybe you're a searcher. You're pursuing a career. You're busy. You're mired in decadence and sloth, just killing time, numbing your brain.
[pause]
Bruce Foster: When are you going to marry? Start a family?
Peggy Wilson: Someday.
Bruce Foster: Someday? *Some*day? *Some*day may be too late.
This is where things get somewhat outrageous. On another bender Dix is drinking next to a couple of ad men. He comes up with the slogan they've been looking for and ... gets a partnership in the ad firm??? Allan Dinehart plays the other partner who hired him, and it is weird seeing him be the rather dull voice of morality after watching him play shady flamboyant characters over at Warner Bros. Dix plays the guy who will sell anything to anybody using fear as a motivation - "Buy a home before you lose a job!". The movie makes this out as a scandalous thing, but I scratch my head over this one. Foster is not lying to anybody. He is just using proven ad techniques. He gets homeless and hungry Peggy a job as an artist at the firm. He gives a no strings loan of five hundred dollars - a princely sum in 1933 - to an employee whose wife keeps having babies. Doesn't the employee understand how to make this stop? In other words, Foster is personally a generous guy with lots of humanity. He just has this personal motto of "no marriage ties", and as a result, a tragedy ensues.
So if Foster is honest with women - to the extent he is capable - about not wanting to marry, and the worst thing you can say about him is that he expects the consumer and the producer of products to be responsible, how is he insufferable? Mainly because he makes ridiculous headstrong decisions and is the most obnoxious drunk in the history of the world. Dix' drunk routine here is awful. I'm actually surprised RKO would put Dix in this very pedestrian B programmer since he was one of their biggest stars at the time.
The best thing about the film - to me - is the last scene. Is it real or a drunken delusion of what Foster wants to happen? Watch and see what you think.
- AlsExGal
- Nov 5, 2020
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Ad-Man
- Filming locations
- Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, New York, USA(passenger line passing under bridge)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 12 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1