Hollywood Party

HOLLYWOOD PARTY

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CREDITS

1934, 66 minutes, B&W with Technicolor Sequence.
Producers, Harry Barris, Harry Rapf and Howard Dietz; Directors, Richard Boleslawski, Allan Dwan, George Stevens and Roy Rowland; Screenplay, Howard Dietz and Arthur Kober; Dance Direction, Seymour Felix, George Hale and Dave Gould; Cinematography, James Wong Howe; Editor, George Boemier.

CAST

Jimmy, Jimmy Durante; Themselves, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy; Harvey Clemp, Charles Butterworth; Henrietta, Polly Moran; Lupe, Lupe Velez; Frances Williams, Frances Williams; Baron Munchausen, Jack Pearl; Bob, Eddie Quillan; Linda, June Clyde; Duke, George Givot; Mrs. Jean Durante; Shirley Ross; Ted Healy & His Orchestra; The Three Stooges.

SONGS

I've Had My Moments by Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson; Feelin' High by Howard Dietz and Walter Donaldson; Hollywood Party; Hello; Reincarnation by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

"A mad Russian throws a party which ends in disaster."
- John Walker (ed.), Halliwell's Film Guide

NOTES

"Jimmy Durante, playing a character called Schnarzan, had a fairly amusing scene in Hollywood Party doing battle with a lion; and Walt Disney supplied a Mickey Mouse cartoon (in color). . .no gatecrashers for this one."
- Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical

"A big short. . .averagely passable screen divertissement."
- Variety

"The picture hardly rates the time or money that MGM has expended."
- The Hollywood Reporter

"Who were the hosts? The picture doesn't carry producer or director credits; the entire extravaganza is hit-or-miss casual, as if the brass at MGM didn't want to admit having committed themselves to make the thing, and the big MGM stars never show up."
- Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights At The Movies

The movie was in production for over a year before being released in a heavily truncated version; eight directors worked on the film at one point or another (it was released uncredited), and eleven Rodgers and Hart songs were dropped from the final version, including Blue Moon.

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