Next Week-End

Series: All Stars

Director: Eddie Dunn

Producer: Hal Roach

Dialogue:

Photography: Francis Corby

Editor: William Terhune

Sound: Harry Baker

Stars: Douglas Wakefield, Billy Nelson, Nena Quartero, Dorothy Granger, Billy Gilbert, Don Barclay, Will Stanton

Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Released: 07 April 1934

Length: 2 reels

Production No.: B-5

Filming dates:

Rating: 1/10

Next Week-End

A group of posh snobs sitting around a dinner table all remarking to one another what wonderful weather they have been having lately until the drunken host gets to his feet and protests about how all the parties they keep having are all the same. He stumbles over to the radio and turns it on to hear Eddie Dunn hosting a 'whoopee program from the Paradise Room with the Happy Hour Supper Club'. The first guest is Dorothy Granger, with ample cleavage on offer, who breaks out into song whilst the bored guests listen on without much enthusiasm. The diners of the Paradise Room then begin dancing (with Don Barclay getting slapped by his girlfriend) and everybody looking fed up. In comes the intoxicated Will Stanton, fresh from the house party he was hosting and makes a right proper nuisance of himself.
He starts by destroying a guest's top hat, covers a girl's legs with a jacket, slaps a lady on the back as she sits at the table and then starts banging his fork on the table loudly. This leads to an outbreak of hysterics from the diners who all start rubbing each other's heads and exposing the men's wigs. The drunk enters the rest room where he starts accidentally washing another man's face. It gets worse... the black attendant lends a 'hand' to help the drunk out but ends up getting racially insulted (well 'racial' by today's standards at least) when he asks "how did I get my hands so dirty?" after mistaking the black man's hand for his own (see image left). A second black attendant assists with some soap as the drunk tries to wash 'his' own black hand. The two attendants find it all amusing.

As the drunk continues to make a complete prat of himself in the wash room, causing the two attendants to start smacking one another due to a misunderstanding caused by him, the friction between Don Barclay and his annoying girlfriend continues, with him getting slapped again for taking her comb. The drunk stumbles out onto the dancefloor holding an oversized bottle of soap which he spills all over the floor. People start slipping over on it - first Don Barclay and his girlfriend, followed by all the other couples! There are legs everywhere: on the ground, twisted up, in the air and everybody laughing their heads off. Not just legs either! Dorothy Granger gets floored and almost falls out of her incredibly tight dress (see favourite bit).
Finally the doorman (Harry Bowen) storms over to the drunk and screams "you are responsible for all this!" The drunk squirts a bottle of soda water into the doorman's face (and he just stands there letting it happen like a dumb sh*t). This begins a chain reaction with all the other guests who start squirting each other with water bottles. Childish. Billy Nelson ends up shooting himself in the face with a bottle, whilst Billy Gilbert is questioned by one lady as to why he thinks it is all so funny before he accidentally squirts all over her face (I probably could have worded that better). The drunk, having caused all the chaos, decides to leave the joint whilst the whole dancefloor is now full of everybody squirting water at each other. The two black dudes in the wash room are still going at it, their shirts ripped to shreds before both collapsing on the floor. The drunk returns home to his dinner party where one of the guests asks if he found any of the laughs he was looking for? He gets squirted in the face as the film finally ends... and not before time.

Harry Bowen and Will Stanton in Next Week-End (1934)

Favourite bit
The star of the show is easily Dorothy Granger's cleavage. There are times when I wondered how "they" stayed in there?

Trivia
• Copyrighted February 13, 1934.
• At least one source gives a release date of February 24, 1934.
• Eddie Dunn's broadcast is on Radio KON.
• The song Dorothy Granger sings is "Press Your Lips To Mine".
• The top billed star Douglas Wakefield first shows up after 5 minutes. He also has very little screen time compared to Will Stanton, who is pretty much the centre of attention in all of the sequences. Strange billing system.
• Wakefield has a line where he says "like us Americans do." Er.... Duggie? You were British.
• Don Barclay receives a total of three slaps from his girlfriend throughout the film. Watch carefully on the third slap as Don hands her back her comb - he pushes her breast with his arm. It's quite noticeable.

My opinion
• One of the most lacklustre, most boring, uninspiring, unfunny, poorly directed, disorganised pieces of crap I have ever had to endure.

	Douglas Wakefield Nightclub patron
	Billy Nelson Nightclub patron
	Nena Quartero Nightclub patron
	Dorothy Granger Dorothy Granger
	Billy Gilbert Nightclub patron
	Don Barclay Nightclub patron who keeps getting slapped
	Kay McCoy Nightclub patron
	Will Stanton The drunk
	Eddie Dunn Eddie Dunn, nightclub host
	Charlie Hall Waiter
	James C. Morton Nightclub patron
	Bobby Burns Nightclub patron
	John J. Richardson Nightclub patron
	Ernie Alexander Nightclub patron
	Russell Custer Nightclub patron
	Harry Bowen Nightclub doorman
	Estelle Etterre Dinner guest
	Gus Kerner Dinner guest
	Sydney Jarvis Dinner guest
	Mary Emery Dinner guest
	John Alban Nightclub patron
	Hugh Saxon Nightclub patron
	Almeda Fowler Nightclub patron
	Betty Danko Nightclub patron
	Gordon Douglas Nightclub patron
	Floyd Shackelford Wash room attendant
	Bill Dill Wash room user
	UNIDENTIFIED Dinner guest #1
	UNIDENTIFIED Dinner guest #2
	UNIDENTIFIED Nightclub patron #1
	UNIDENTIFIED Nightclub patron #2
	UNIDENTIFIED Nightclub patron #3
	UNIDENTIFIED Nightclub patron #4
	UNIDENTIFIED Nightclub patron #5
	UNIDENTIFIED Nightclub patron #6
	UNIDENTIFIED Cigarette girl
	UNIDENTIFIED Hat check girl
	UNIDENTIFIED Wash room attendant #2

CREDITS (click image to enlarge)

STILLS
(click any image to enlarge)

RISQUE
(click any image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements:
Dave Stevenson (help with print)
Richard Finegan (5 stills; help with cast IDs)
Jesse Brisson (identification of John Alban, Betty Danko, Hugh Saxon, Kay McCoy, Mary Emery, Gus Kerner, John J. Richardson,
Ernie Alexander, Russell Custer, Gordon Douglas, Floyd Shackelford, Almeda Fowler, Bill Dill and others)
Richard W. Bann (identifications)

Last updated on: 29 August 2024