Teenage orphan Jenny Yates becomes starstruck when a revival of an old Victorian melodrama passes through her small New England town, to the disapproval of her stern grandfather, Uriah. Stowing away in the car of Philip Greene, a wealthy young man working with the theater troupe, Jenny talks her way into the play's lead role. But director Archie Fisher doesn't tell her that the new version of the play is meant as a spoof.
Acting
Anne Shirley's rapid-fire chatterbox energy carries every scene.
Direction
George Nichols Jr. keeps the farce tight at 68 minutes.
Director
George Nichols Jr.
Anne Shirley
Jenny Yates
Phillips Holmes
Philip 'Phil' Greene Jr.
Edward Ellis
Uriah Lowell
Erik Rhodes
Archie Fisher
Margaret Hamilton
Emily 'Tippie' Tipton
Granville Bates
Philip Greene Sr.
Allen Vincent
Mr. Harrison
Lucille Ball
Lillian Temple
George Offerman, Jr.
Michael Arbuckle
Maxine Jennings
Herself
Margaret Armstrong
Herself (uncredited)
William Gould
Laughing Audience Member (uncredited)
Wilfred Lucas
Himself (uncredited)
Mary MacLaren
Woman Jenny Talks to in Audience (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Anne Shirley's final film under her birth name Dawn O'Day; she legally changed it to her character's name from 'Anne of Green Gables' (1934) after this production.
The film's theatre-within-a-theatre structure gently satirizes the Victorian melodramas that 1930s audiences were already nostalgic for — meta before meta was cool.
US
