The Star Maker

The Star Maker is a 1939 American musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth, written by Frank Butler, Don Hartman and Arthur Caesar, and starring Bing Crosby, Louise Campbell, Linda Ware, Ned Sparks, Laura Hope Crews, Janet Waldo and Walter Damrosch. Filming started in Hollywood on April 17, 1939 and was finished in June. The film was released on August 25, 1939, by Paramount Pictures, and had its New York premiere on August 30, 1939. It was the only film in which Crosby played a happily married man. Plot Loosely based on the life of vaudevillian Gus Edwards, the film follows the career of aspiring song writer Larry Earl (Crosby) who gives up his job as a night clerk and marries Mary (Louise Campbell). He is anxious to get his songs published and buys a piano which they can ill afford. He sees children performing in the street and has an idea to develop and produce their talent on stage. Initially he cannot obtain any bookings but Mary persuades an agent to give her husband a chance. The one night try-out is a success and he forms "Larry Earl Kiddie Productions" which in due course has 14 productions running in various towns. Larry Earl opens a Broadway musical called School Days, the crowning point of his career, but halfway through the first performance it is closed down by the Children's Welfare Society as they will not allow children under 12 years of age to work past 10 p.m. All of Earl's productions have to be closed down too. Earl had developed the career of Jane Gray (Linda Ware) and he transfers her contract to Walter Damrosch and she performs for him at Carnegie Hall. Later Earl realizes that he can still use children on radio and the film closes with him singing with a children's chorus on a radio show. Cast Bing Crosby as Larry Earl Louise Campbell as Mary Linda Ware as Jane Gray Ned Sparks as 'Speed' King Laura Hope Crews as Carlotta Salvini Janet Waldo as Stella Walter Damrosch as Walter Damrosch Thurston Hall as Mr. Proctor Clara Blandick as Miss Esther Jones Oscar O'Shea as Mr. Flannigan John Gallaudet as Duke Ben Welden as Joe Gimlick Emory Parnell as Mr. Olson Dorothy Vaughan as Mrs. Riley Bodil Rosing as Mrs. Swanson Paul Stanton as Mr.