Series: All Star Feature Director: Gus Meins Producer: Hal Roach Screenplay: Harold Law, Hal Yates, Pat C. Flick Photography: Norbert Brodine Editor: Ray Snyder Sound: Warren B. Delaplain Stars: Patsy Kelly, Lyda Robertyi, Lynne Overman, Robert Armstrong, Rosina Lawrence, Don Alvarado Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Released: 23 April 1937 Length: 7 reels Production No.: F-16 Filming dates: Rating: 2/10

Nobody's Baby

Available on DVD:

The Avalon Boys, a singing quartet, are performing a song at a radio station when Kitty Reilly (Patsy Kelly) arrives in an elevator to apply to be in the show. As she is filling in the application form, Lena Marchetti (Lyda Roberti) emerges from the elevator to sign up and thinks Kitty is in charge. The two of them are told to wait whilst a pianist is finishing off his number. With time for just one more artist, the next applicant is called. Kitty jumps up and Lena goes with her. Lena starts singing to the music provided by the band, whilst Kitty does a tap-dance routine. Kitty is pulled out of the routine by the executives and told to wait outside. When Kitty gets back to her apartment she confides in her landlady (Florence Roberts) that she needs more time to pay her outstanding rent. The landlady tells Kitty that she has allowed a new lady to share her kitchen, thus lowering the rent for Kitty. Initially Kitty is happy, but you can guess who the other lady is, can't you? As they attempt to share the kitchen at the same time things get a little tight (awkward) and Kitty burns her hand on Lena's frying pan, gets caught in a mop and then spills a tin of carnation milk all over the place. After the carnage in the kitchen, Kitty receives a letter notifying her that she has been accepted for application for enrollment as a nurse. She arrives at the hospital with her suitcase and causes an immediate distraction when her alarm clock goes off during the initiation speech given by the head nurse. Things get worse when Kitty discovers that Lena is going to be her roommate for the next three years!

During their training, Lena's first job is to demonstrate on Kitty how to make a patient comfortable in bed. She does so very enthusiastically to say the least. Later, Lena catches a bus without paying the fare. When challenged by the conductor it's Kitty to the rescue once more. After Lena talks Kitty's ears off for the next hour the bus comes to the end of the line and the girls have to get off, leaving them stranded in the middle of nowhere. During the trek back through a small country lane they come upon an abandoned car and sit down on the side of it. Moments later a couple of men, Scoops Hanford (reporter for the Moirning Star) and Det. Lt. Littleworth, who are being chased with gunshots jump in and pull away, with the girls still attached to the side. They are pulled aboard and by the time the car ride is over Lena and the detective have already fallen in love; and not to be outdone, Hanford gets his hands on Kitty too. That evening the two men take the girls to the Tropicano nightclub. Whilst the foursome sit at a table, the emcee introduces the main act of the evening: Yvonne (Rosina Lawrence) and her husband Tony Cortez (Don Alvarado), a married dancing couple who take to the floor for their routine. Afterwards backstage however things turn ugly as Yvonne and Tony argue over their marital situation. He doesn't want people to know they are married because he thinks it would spoil their act, before throwing it back in Yvonne's face after all he has done for her. She slaps him and storms out. Detective Littleworth and Scoops follow her but Yvonne eludes them in a taxi. Meanwhile, Lena and Kitty are left alone in the nightclub to pay the bill, which they can't do. What Kitty doesn't know is that the head waiter is willing to overlook their predicament and excuse the girls from paying - all until Kitty opens her mouth to complain about their poor treatment. They are put to work in the kitchen as a result.

Months later and Kitty and Lena are working as nurses in the baby unit at the hospital when they discover Yvonne as new mother to one of the babies. After Yvonne sings a lullaby to her newborn, the girls are seen coming out of a sleep in the doorway to the room. Yvonne has not told her husband about the baby so Kitty and Lena promise to keep it a secret. When Yvonne leaves the hospital she pays the girls a visit at their apartment. She leaves the baby there as she heads off to inform her husband of the news. The girls have to go to work so they take the baby with them to the hospital but the matron siezes it from them and tries to reunite it with the 'mother' whom she believes is still in the hospital. Kitty manages to fool the nurse into giving the baby to her by pretending to be a patient. Meanwhile, Hanford and Littleworth turn up at the hospital looking for the girls, who take turns in masquerading as the mother to the baby. The men are captured and detained by the staff when they are caught impersonating the girls. That evening Yvonne returns to her former nightclub but her husband Tony throws his toys out of his pram again when she suggests they tell people they are married. To make matters worse Kitty and Lena return Yvonne's baby to her. Lena, and then Kitty forcibly introduce the baby to Tony who initially dismisses it but when he realises it is his he changes his tune. Tony proudly introduces both his baby and his wife to the audience before dancing with Yvonne on the dancefloor. Hanford and Littleworth barge in, stop the show and announce there will be a wedding before they both force engagment rings onto Kitty and Lena's fingers. The girls are outraged and announce "we are too young to die". And so ends one of the most dreadful movies ever made by Hal Roach.

Favourite bit Seeing a slight bit of Rosina Lawrence's arse cheek during a dance routine.

Trivia • Copyrighted April 6, 1937. • This was the third film that Patsy Kelly made with Lyda Roberti. • The magazine Lena is reading is called "All Dressed Up In Rhythm". • When Lena tries to get past Kitty after getting up off the floor in her apartment she says "Oh don't bother to get out out my way"... her next line sounds like "fuck me!" Listen to it and tell me I'm hearing things! It's at 8 minutes, 50 seconds into the DVD. Though this has been aggressively refuted by some after I offered it up for discussion. • Kitty's address is shown as Apt. 208, 1416 Burnham Ave., New York City, N.Y. It is seen on the letter she receives from the Board of Regents. • The hospital Kitty seeks employment in is the Wilson Meredith Hospital. This is actually the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. • When Kitty arrives at the hospital and is listening to the nurse on the stage, that is Fay Holderness sitting down on the right. She later appears in the hospital handing Kitty a baby. • The song, "Nobody's Baby" is performed by The Rhythm Rascals in the nightclub on 29 minutes. • Yvonne is in room 312 at the hospital. My opinion • Painfully fucking awful.

	Patsy Kelly Kitty Reilly
	Lyda Roberti Lena Marchetti
	Lynne Overman Detective Lieutenant Emory Littleworth
	Robert Armstrong Scoops Hanford
	Rosina Lawrence Yvonne Cortez
	Don Alvarado Tony Cortez
	Tom Dugan Bus conductor
	Orrin Burke Maurice, nightclub owner
	Dora Clement Miss Margaret McKenzie
	Laura Treadwell Mrs. Hamilton
	Ottola Nesmith Head nurse
	Florence Roberts Mrs. Mason, landlady
	Si Wills Nightclub emcee
	Herbert Rawlinson Joe, radio audition executive
	Pat Lane Radio audition judge
	Richard Kipling Radio audition judge
	Jimmy Grier Himself
	The Rhythm Rascals Themselves
	Chill Wills Amateur Hour lead quartet singer (The Avalon Boys)
	Don Brookins Amateur Hour lead quartet singer (The Avalon Boys)
	Art Green Amateur Hour lead quartet singer (The Avalon Boys)
	Walter Trask Amateur Hour lead quartet singer (The Avalon Boys)
	The Avalon Boys Amateur Hour lead quartet singers
	Fay Holderness Nurse
	Jack Hill Man waiting for bus
	Ellinor Vanderveer Tropicana nightclub patron
	John Picorri Auditioning pianist
	Daisy Bufford Black woman in taxi
	Alexander Pollard Head waiter
	Wilma Cox Nurse
	Rafael Storm Nightclub waiter
	Phyllis Crane Student nurse
	Chick Chandler Elevator operator
	Lois Wilde Switchboard operator
	June Mishi Mrs. Smith (Japanese woman)
	Joan Woodbury Replacement dancer
	Nelson McDowell Second preacher
	Joe Forte Intern
	Colonel Robinson Hospital doctor
	Caryl Lincoln Nurse
	William Henry Phen Yvonne's baby, Tony
	Polly Chase [?]

CREDITS (click image to enlarge)

POSTERS (click any image to enlarge)

LOBBY CARDS (click any image to enlarge)

SHOT ON THE BACK LOT (click any image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements: James L. Neibaur (help and identifications) Richard Finegan (identification of Phyllis Crane) Randy Skretvedt (identification of Art Green and Don Brookins) Jeffrey Castel De Oro (identification of the Cedars of Lebanon Hopsital) Brent Seguine (identification of Pat Lane and Richard Kipling) Jorge Finkielman (posters and lobby cards) Jesse Brisson (identification of Polly Chase) The appearance of Fay Holderness as a nurse is my own observation. This page was last updated on: 05 October 2023