Broadway Babies


Broadway Babies, aka Broadway Daddies and Ragazze d'America, is a 1929 all-talking Pre-Code black and white American musical drama film produced and distributed by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers. The film was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starred Alice White and Charles Delaney. This was White's first sound film with dialogue. As a copyright renewed work from 1929, the film entered the American public domain on January 1, 2025.

Plot

Chorus girl Delight "Dee" Foster is in love with stage manager Billy Buvanny and he also loves her. They plan to marry until bootlegger Perc Gessant steps in. Dee is led to believe that Billy is in love with another girl, so she agrees to play around with Gessant when he becomes interested in her. When Gessant proposes marriage, Dee accepts. As they are about to be married, rival gangsters shoot Gessant and he ends up dying. Dee is reconciled with Billy and they become engaged.

Cast

Broadway Babies was one of the many movie musicals with a Broadway setting that were made at the dawn of the "talkie" era. Such films were called "backstagers", a vogue that evolved during the emergence of sound pictures and from the success of The Jazz Singer and The Singing Fool, both also Warner Bros.' films. Broadway Babies was also one of a number of similar vehicles created for Alice White; it was White's first all-sound as well as her most successful picture. The film was adapted from "Broadway Musketeers", a story by Jay Gelzer.

Music

Three songs were written for White to perform in Broadway Babies: "Wishing and Waiting for Love" with lyrics by Grant Clarke and music by Harry Akst; "Jig, Jig, Jigaloo", lyrics by Al Bryan, music by George W. Meyer; and "Broadway Baby Dolls", also by Bryan and Meyer. Incidental music included "Give [My Regards to Broadway]", "Vesti La Giubba", and "Bridal Chorus ".

Preservation

As was common in the era, a silent version was also prepared for theatres not yet equipped for talkies. Only the sound version survives, as a 16mm reduction positive in the Library of Congress collection, although it has been preserved and is shown occasionally on Turner Classic Movies. The film's trailer also survives incomplete. The film was released on DVD by Warner Archive in 2017.