OMG! Gossip time! Well, 1930s gossip so I guess blow your wig for the low down of this off the cob movie.
Alvin Roberts (vaguely based on famed gossip columnist Walter Winchell) has put his newspaper on the map by printing private information about the wealthy and elite. Most notably he reports on scandalous pregnancies, referring to them as “blessed events”. Despite people suing the paper and lining up to complain, the editor loves what this has done for circulation and encourages Alvin to continue. Alvin becomes a celebrity in his own right with people blowing up the phones to sue him and young journalists admire him.
Al gets most of his dirt through trickery and observation, all skills his crush, fellow journalist Gladys, find disgusting. For example, a radio singer named Dorothy begs him not to print a story about her and he uses her begging to get the story out of her, promises not to print it, then PRINTS IT ANYWAY (he feels guilty later, but it’s not like he prints a retraction and refuses to speak to her). Gladys warns him that one of these days his stories will get him hurt and she’s correct. He crosses paths with both a gangster and a crooner, both of whom threaten his life and livelihood. Turns out that Dorothy’s boyfriend is the gangster who is ready kill Al for exposing her secret. Al also has a weird vendetta against the crooner (a man named Bunny Harmon who is played by Dick Powell) which the gangster uses to lure Al to a convenient killing spot. I won’t give away the ending but as this is a movie from 1932, I’m sure you cats will figure it out.
Alvin doesn’t appear to be the best writer. He set up clipped little passages that remind me of telegraph messages. He also doesn’t know how to type, at one point expressing he needs the x key to “x out” a misspelled word. Then again, the ability to type is being lost left and right these days, so maybe he was just a glimpse at the future of America. He’s willing to put himself in danger and ruin lives for the slop he writes. He’s proud that something he created is so talked of. The movie also addresses how gossip effects women in trouble more than the men who put them there. Nothing changes.
Side note: There’s a joke in here about how television will never take off. Ha!
