Re: THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1936 (Paramount, 1936)

[Charles Hopkins <ch@xxxxxxxx>]

At 08:05 AM 6/20/2001 -0700, Jorge Finkielman wrote:
>   Que tal:
>
>   In May, 1936, Paramount Pictures released in Buenos
> Aires their production titled THE BIG BROADCAST OF
> 1936. It was an unremarkable film, but still a
> profitable product for the studio since it featured a
> number of, then, well known American radio
> personalities.
>
>   Nobady ever cared for those people. The ONLY reason
> to watch this movie was that Carlos Gardel in his last
> appearance. In it, he performs two songs, APURE
> DELANTERO BUEY and AMARGURA. [...]
>
>     Although in reissue, for many years, this film 
> is
> lost. Exists, but Gardel have been removed from all
> prints, probably for racist reasons. His scenes do
> exist and those who have the chance to reinstate them
> have never done it. [...]
>
>   So, as I usually say: Restore Carlos Gardel scenes
> in THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1936. Without him, the film is
> worthless.

As regular readers of this listserv know, this is not the first time Mr.
Finkielman has offered the opinion that without the missing Carlos Gardel
scenes The Big Broadcast of 1936 is "worthless." I agree with
him that it is an unremarkable film - much the weakest entry in the
generally superior Big Broadcast series. However, I strongly disagree
with his confident assertion that "nobody ever cared for" the
many other well-known radio and musical performers who appear in the
film, and that the _only_ reason anyone would ever want to watch the
movie today is because it contains Gardel's last performance on
film.  

For the record, here is a partial listing of some of the long forgotten
performers who appeared in The Big Broadcast of 1936 along with Carlos
Gardel:

Bing Crosby
Ethel Merman (LeRoy Prinz received a well-deserved Oscar nomination for
his choreography of her "It's the Animal in Me" number)
Jack Oakie
George Burns & Gracie Allen
The Nicholas Brothers
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
Vienna Boys Choir
Ray Noble
Charlie Ruggles
Mary Boland

Whether Mr. Finkielman believes it or not, most of these performers are
just as important to North American audiences today as Carlos Gardel is
to audiences in Argentina. 

As for the missing Gardel sequences in The Big Broadcast of 1936, I
completely agree with Mr. Finkielman that if they survive they should be
preserved. But I take exception to his offhand supposition that if these
sequences do not appear in contemporary prints it is probably for
"racist" reasons. As nearly as I can gather, these scenes only
appeared in Cazadores de estrellas, the version of the film released in
Latin America (information from the AFI Catalog). It would be highly
unusual for Paramount or any North American studio to have retained
scenes from a version of a film that was only seen outside the U.S. Most
likely, the negative for Cazadores de estrellas including the Gardel
sequences was sent to Paramount's Latin American distributor where,
unfortunately, it may simply have been lost. (This is a supposition on my
part, but unless Mr. Finkielman has proof that the Gardel scenes survive
in the U.S. he should not assume that they have been suppressed because
of racism or, more likely, ignorance of Gardel's position in Latin
American
culture.)           

Personally, I have no special affection for tango music and until Mr.
Finkielman began contributing to this listserv I  knew very little
about Carlos Gardel. But I would never dream of denegrating Gardel as a
performer just because I do not share a background in the culture of
which he was a part, nor would I assert that "nobody" cares for
him just because he never became well-known in the U.S. (As Mr.
Finkielman has demonstrated, he did not care to perform in English and
does not seem to have made any special attempt to reach out to
English-speaking audiences.) Since this listserv has an international
readership, I think we should all remember that just because we may find
it difficult to appreciate artists from a different cultural tradition it
does not automatically follow that every subscriber shares our lack of
enthusiasm for them.

Charles Hopkins

Senior Motion Picture Archivist

UCLA Film and Television Archive

1015 No. Cahuenga Blvd.

Hollywood CA  90038

ch@xxxxxxxx

phone (323) 462-4921, ext. 21; fax (323) 461-6317