Side Show

Side Show is a 1931 American pre-Code musical comedy drama film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Winnie Lightner, Charles Butterworth, Evalyn Knapp and Donald Cook. It was produced and released by Warner Bros. The film was based on a story by William K. Wells. Although it was planned and filmed as a full-scale musical, most of the songs were cut from the film before release due to the public tiring of musicals. Plot Pat (Winnie Lightner) does everything she can to keep the struggling Colonel Gowdy Big City Shows traveling circus afloat, despite an alcoholic though well-meaning Colonel Gowdy (Guy Kibbee) and disgruntled unpaid workers. She sings and dances, and even does a high dive into a shallow pool of water when the "Great Santini" quits just before a performance. One of her few comforts is her love for barker Joe Palmer (Donald Cook). He, however, seems less enthused about the relationship and regularly takes money from her. To add to her troubles, her younger sister Irene (Evalyn Knapp), whom she is having educated to become a lady, visits her during school vacation and wants to stay with the circus. Irene and Tom fall in love. When Pat finds out, she sends Irene back to school, fires Tom, and tells Gowdy she is quitting the circus. Tom and Irene come to their senses, and Tom asks Pat to marry him. Cast Winnie Lightner as Pat. (The film's director, Roy Del Ruth, later fell in love with Lightner and married her in 1934.) Charles Butterworth as Sidney, a circus worker who loves Pat and keeps spouting odd, illogical sentences Evalyn Knapp as Irene Donald Cook as Joe Palmer Guy Kibbee as Pop "Colonel" Gowdy Matthew Betz as Tom Whalen Fred Kelsey as Sheriff Hornsby Tom Ricketts as Tom Allison Vince Barnett as "The Great Santini" (uncredited)