Show Girl in Hollywood (1930)

(On Cable TV, August 2020) There are two reasons to watch Show Girl in Hollywood, and both of them are historical. The first is a demonstration of how some classic stories have deeper roots than we can imagine. Even in 1930, here was a story about a young girl trying to make it in the movies, beating the first version of A Star is Born by a good seven years. Considering that it was such an early example, it’s no surprise if the plot beats are rough and obvious – saying that it’s cliché from beginning to end is evaluating the film against its countless imitators. (Digging into the film’s history, I see that it was preceded by an even earlier example of the form – 1928’s Show Girl.) Still, and this brings us to the second reason to watch Show Girl in Hollywood, there’s some charm in looking at how 1930s Hollywood looked, or portrayed itself as looking – The film being from Warner Brothers, it now travels ninety years in the future to reach us and show us a “vitaphone” premiere at the dawn of the sound era. Still, there isn’t much more than historical interest for modern viewers of this almost-forgotten film: there isn’t much humour or wit, the characters are featureless and the story has been done several times since then. But at least this is a ninety-year-old film that still talks about the evergreen pursuit of fame.