''Queen of the Night Clubs'' is a 1929 American Pre-Code musical drama film produced and directed by Bryan Foy, distributed by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

, and starred legendary nightclub hostess

Texas Guinan Mary Louise Cecilia "Texas" Guinan (January 12, 1884 – November 5, 1933) was an American actress, producer and entrepreneur. Born in Texas to Irish immigrant parents, Guinan decided at an early age to become an entertainer. After becoming a st ...

. The picture, which featured appearances by

Eddie Foy, Jr. Edwin Fitzgerald Jr. (February 4, 1905 – July 15, 1983), known professionally as Eddie Foy Jr., was an American stage, film, and television actor. Early life Edwin Fitzgerald Jr. was born on February 4, 1905, in New Rochelle, New York, the ...

, Lila Lee, and

George Raft George Raft (born George Ranft; September 26, 1901 – November 24, 1980) was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is ...

, is now considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

. A still existing vintage movie trailer of this film displays no clip of the feature.

Plot

After working as a hostess for Nick and Andy, Tex Malone leaves their employ and opens a club of her own. Looking for talent to book for the floor show, Tex hires Bee Walters and thereby breaks up Bee's act with Eddie Parr. Andy spitefully kills Tex's friend, Holland, and young Eddie is arrested for the crime on circumstantial evidence. Tex then learns from Eddie's father, Phil, that Eddie is her long-lost son. At the trial, Tex comes to Eddie's defense and persuades one member of the jury that there is reasonable doubt of Eddie's guilt. The jury repairs to Tex's club, where Tex discovers a piece of evidence that conclusively links Andy with the murder. Eddie is freed, and Tex and Phil get together for a second honeymoon.

Cast

as Texas Malone * John Davidson as Don Holland * Lila Lee as Bea Walters * Arthur Housman as Andy Quinland *

as Eddie Parr *

Jack Norworth John Godfrey Knauff (January 5, 1879 – September 1, 1959), known professionally as Jack Norworth, was an American songwriter, singer and vaudeville performer. Biography Norworth is credited as writer of a number of Tin Pan Alley hits. He wr ...

as Phil Parr *

as Gigola *Jimmy Phillips as Nick *

William B. Davidson William Beatman Davidson (June 16, 1888 – September 28, 1947) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 300 films between 1915 and 1947. Early life Davidson was born in Dobbs Ferry, New York. He attended Columbia University, w ...

as Assistant District Attorney * John Miljan as Lawyer Grant *

Lee Shumway Lee Shumway (March 4, 1884 – January 4, 1959), born Leonard Charles Shumway, was an American actor. He appeared in more than 400 films between 1909 and 1953. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and died in Los Angeles, California. Select ...

as Crandall * Joseph Depew as Roy *

Charlotte Merriam Charlotte Merriam (April 5, 1903 – July 10, 1972) was an American motion picture actress. Career Bessie Charlotte Merriam was the daughter of army colonel Henry Clay Merriam (1879-1955) and born in Fort Sheridan, Illinois. Her film care ...

as Girl

Production

The film starred the legendary bar hostess and silent film actress

as "Texas Malone", a character obviously based upon herself. Warner Bros signed Guinan to make the film on August 15, 1928. Jack Norwood, John Davidson and Eddie Foy were signed to support her. Filming started in September 1928. Guinan had recently toured Los Angeles. According to

's obituary, Raft made his movie debut in the film as a dancer, but his scenes were cut from the final film. However ''Variety'' did a review which said "nite club scene introduces George Raft, the hot' stepper, as the m. c.and band leader, being brought down for one of his rip-snorting hoofing specialties." Filming started September 1928. It finished by November.

Reception

The film was generally reviewed as mediocre by critics.

Mordaunt Hall Mordaunt Hall (1 November 1878 – 2 July 1973) was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for ''The New York Times'', working from October 1924 to September 1934.The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called it "a somewhat entertaining thriller", though he found the ending "amateurishly forced". '' Variety'' wrote, "Tex hasn't much to do, but does what she has pretty well... Texas Guinan and "Queen of the Night Clubs" is a double-barreled, come-on at the gate. The' ballyboo potentialities are limitless. Peasants will go for it like unexpurgated literature. " ''

Film Daily ''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, informatio ...

'' called it "dull and uninteresting", writing, "This film was built solely to give Tex Guinan a chance to show how she runs her Broadway night club, but it has been done so often and so much better in other films of night club life that it carries no kick." John Mosher of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' expressed disappointment, writing, "Rather to our surprise and much to our regret, Miss Guinan doesn't carry the picture with as much verve as it might seem that she would."

Box office

According to Warner Bros the film earned $459,000 domestically and $13,000 foreign.

Preservation status

*No film elements are known to exist. The complete soundtrack (except the first reel), however, survives on

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one th ...

disks. 1957 MOVIES FROM AAP Warner Bros Features & Cartoons SALES BOOK DIRECTED AT TV
/ref> *A clip from this film featuring Guinan and Raft was incorporated into '' Winner Take All'' (1932), an early

James Cagney James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor, dancer and film director. On stage and in film, Cagney was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He ...

vehicle. *Brief footage of Guinan, yelling "Hello, suckers!" in a restaurant (or perhaps her nightclub), appears in the 1980s

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

series ''Yesteryear...1927'' hosted by

Dick Cavett Richard Alva Cavett (; born November 19, 1936) is an American television personality and former talk show host. He appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States for five decades, from the 1960s through the 2000s. In ...

. This documentary series had Cavett cover a given year out of each decade from 1917 to 1969. Since this episode of ''Yesteryear'' was about 1927, the footage of Guinan could be newsreel footage from 1927 or extant 1929 footage from ''Queen of the Night Clubs'' (the same footage in ''Winner Take All'').

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Queen Of The Night Clubs 1929 films Lost American films Films directed by Bryan Foy 1920s musical drama films Warner Bros. films American black-and-white films American musical drama films 1929 drama films Lost musical drama films 1920s English-language films 1920s American films