''Hold Everything'' is a 1930 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

film. This musical comedy film was photographed entirely in early two-color Technicolor. The first all Technicolor musical comedy film was "On With the Show" in 1929. "Hold Everything" was adapted from the DeSylva-Brown-Henderson Broadway

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

of the same name that had served as a vehicle for

Bert Lahr Irving Lahrheim (August 13, 1895 – December 4, 1967), known professionally as Bert Lahr, was an American stage and screen actor and comedian. He was best known for his role as the Cowardly Lion, as well as his counterpart Kansas farmworker "Z ...

and starred Winnie Lightner and Joe E. Brown as the comedy duo. The romantic subplot was played by

Georges Carpentier Georges Carpentier (; 12 January 1894 – 28 October 1975) was a French boxer, actor and World War I pilot. A precocious pugilist, Carpentier fought in numerous categories. He fought mainly as a light heavyweight and heavyweight in a career lasti ...

and Sally O'Neil. Only three songs from the stage show remained: " You're the Cream in My Coffee", "To Know You Is To Love You", and "Don't Hold Everything". New songs were written for the film by

Al Dubin Alexander Dubin (June 10, 1891 – February 11, 1945) was an American lyricist. He is best known for his collaborations with the composer Harry Warren. Life Al Dubin came from a Russian Jewish family that immigrated to the United States from Sw ...

and Joe Burke, including one that became a hit in 1930: "When The Little Red Roses Get The Blues For You". The songs in the film were played by

Abe Lyman Abe Lyman (born Abraham Simon; August 4, 1897 – October 23, 1957) was a bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including '' Your Hit Parade''. Biography Bo ...

and his orchestra.

Plot

Brown plays Gink Schiner, a third-rate fighter who is at the same training camp as Georges La Verne (played by Georges Carpentier), a contender for the heavyweight championship. Although he needs to be concentrating all of his energies on the upcoming bout, Georges keeps getting distracted: Norine Lloyd, a society dame, has a distinct interest in him, but the interest is strictly one-sided. Georges prefers Sue, an old buddy and confidante. Gink has woman trouble of his own, as his flirtations do not sit at all well with Toots (played by Winnie Lightner), his erstwhile girlfriend. More trouble arrives when Larkin, manager of current heavyweight champ Bob Morgan, appears at the camp with the goal of fixing the fight. He is sent packing, after which he attempts to slip a Mickey Finn to the challenger—a plan which goes awry when Gink switches the drinks. Meanwhile, Gink, who is fighting in a preliminary in advance of the big fight, actually wins. Things don't look so bright for Georges, who initially gets the worst of it in his encounter with Morgan, but who eventually comes out on top.

Cast

* Joe E. Brown as Gink Schiner * Winnie Lightner as Toots Breen * Sally O'Neil as Sue Burke *

as Georges La Verne *

Edmund Breese Edmund Breese (June 18, 1871 – April 6, 1936) was an American stage and film actor of the silent era. Biography Breese was born in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Renshaw Breese and Josephine Busby. The Opera House in Eureka Sprin ...

as Pop O'Keefe *

Bert Roach Egbert Roach (August 21, 1891 – February 16, 1971) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 320 films between 1914 and 1951. He was born in Washington, D.C., and died in Los Angeles, California, age 79. Selected filmography * ...

as Nosey Bartlett * Dorothy Revier as Norine Lloyd * Jack Curtis as Murph Levy *Tony Stabenau as Bob Morgan * Lew Harvey as Dan Larkin *

as Orchestra Leader

Release

In 1930, this was the first film shown at the newly opened Warner Bros. Hollywood Theatre, a luxurious

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

movie palace specifically designed to showcase its then-revolutionary

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 Pictures, First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc sys ...

sound films A sound film is a Film, motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, bu ...

. The theatre later became a legitimate Broadway

venue A venue is the location at which an event takes place. It may refer to: Locations * Venue (law), the place a case is heard * Financial trading venue, a place or system where financial transactions can occur * Music venue, place used for a conce ...

, the Mark Hellinger Theatre, and is now the home of the Times Square Church.

Box office

According to Warner Bros records the film earned $1,018,000 domestically and $315,000 foreign.

Preservation status

The sound discs survive, but the visuals are lost. The

George Eastman Museum The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as George Eastman House and the International Museum of Photography and Film, is a photography museum in Rochester, New York. Opened to the public in 1949, is the oldest museum dedicated to photography ...

2015 book ''The Dawn of Technicolor, 1915-1935'' mistakenly reported that the Library of Congress possesses a black and white print, but that is not true. No color print is known to exist as of 2024.''The Dawn of Technicolor, 1915–1935'', c.2015

References

External links

* {{Roy Del Ruth 1930 films 1930s color films 1930s sports comedy films American boxing films Warner Bros. films 1930s English-language films Films directed by Roy Del Ruth 1930s rediscovered films American musical comedy films 1930 musical comedy films Early color films Films with screenplays by Robert Lord (screenwriter) American sports comedy films Rediscovered American films 1930s American films English-language musical comedy films English-language sports comedy films