Cantor & Co. in “Show Business” (1944)

Released 80 years ago: Show Business (1944).

Funny to observe that this backstage story is an RKO picture, for it has all the earmarks of an MGM confection. Eddie Cantor and George Murphy play a burlesque comedy team that joins forces (romantically and professionally) with a female team consisting of Constance Moore and Joan Davis in order to ascend the ladder to vaudeville. They succeed, but they only get to enjoy it for a second before an ex played by Nancy Kelly arrives to gum up the works, breaking up the act, as well as one of the romances. Eddie and Joan soldier on in the trenches as a team, Constance becomes big as a solo, and George becomes a bottom feeder. But that can’t possibly be how it ends, can it?

As you can see, Cantor’s no longer the star, properly speaking, but one of four, indicating that his box office fortunes had fallen by this point. Still, the script draws heavily from Cantor’s real life story, and the show features lots of nostalgic numbers, including many tunes associated with Cantor. Other old troupers in the cast include Eddie Borden, Buster Brodie, and Ann Codee. Cantor would later reteam with Joan Davis for If You Knew Susie in 1948, his last screen vehicle.

For more about vaudeville and Eddie Cantorconsult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous.