I mentioned yesterday that there are two movies on TCM on May 21 that were both on my DVR waiting to be watched for the obligatory blog post. The second of those movies is Mr. Dodd Takes the Air. It airs tomorrow, May 21, at 8:30 AM.
Mr. Dodd is played by Kenny Baker, who was apparently a radio star in the mid-1930s before being tapped for an attempt at movie stardom. Mr. Claude Dodd is a young electrician in one of those Hollywood small towns, this one called Pewamo. The town has an annual strawberry festival, and the festival includes singing. Everyone in town knows Claude is a good baritone singer, so this year's emcee of the festival, "Sniffer" Sears, has Claude do a song.
Also attending the festival this year is a man named Hiram Doremus, who is the president of a company that makes mattresses. (Doremus looks and acts like someone who was written with Guy Kibbee in mind, but this is a character actor named Ferris Taylor.) He finds that Claude's singing is just the thing to put Mrs. Doremus to sleep, and Mr. Doremus means that in a good way, since he makes mattresses for a living. The mattress company also sponsors a radio show, since this was 1937 and lots of companies sponsored such shows, TV not really being a thing yet. So Doremus wants Mr. Dodd to come to New York to try one spot on the radio show and see how it goes over.
Unfortunately, before Mr. Dodd can get to New York, he develops a case of bronchitis, with the town's doctor (a bit part for Harry Davenport) treats. The only problem is that Dodd shouldn't use his voice for 48 hours after the treatment, and that will put him close to the time when he's supposed to go on air, it he can get past the secretary, Miss Day (Jane Wyman). As you can guess, Dodd does get on air. But this is where the second problem comes in. The treatment Dodd get back in Pewamo turned him from a baritone into a tenor (no, it wasn't that sort of treatment, thank you very much). Dodd is convinced he won't get a job.
But when Miss Day goes to see Dodd in the network's coffee shop later that evening, it's in part to tell him that telegrams are coming in from people all over the country who love this new singer who came out of nowhere. The two also start a romantic relationship, and if it weren't for the fact that we're only a half hour into the movie, you could be forgiven for thinking they live happily after after.
This is where the movie really gets wacky. Dodd isn't just an electrician, but also a would-be electrical engineer. He's been working on a device that is designed to reduce static from radio broadcasts, a cheap device you can attach to an inexpensive model of radio and make it sound like a top of the line model, because apparently they didn't have good speakers back in those days. Certainly not stereo or Dolby surround sound. A second woman, Jessica Stafford (Gertrude Michael) finds out about the invention, and plays the part of a gold-digger so that he real boyfriend (John Eldredge) can steal the invention.
And if you didn't think this plot twist was nuts enough, we get a third woman for Mr. Dodd, opera singer Madame Mono (Alice Brady). But this is all supposed to be a light musical romantic comedy, so you'd be right if you expect Dodd will wind up with the good girl in the final reel. It is just, once again, a question of how we get there.
I think I had two big problems with Mr. Dodd Takes the Air. One is that Kenny Baker isn't exactly an actor who can carry a movie. You get the impression that when Warner Bros. decided to make this one, they had their other crooner, Dick Powell in mind. But Powell was trying to get more mature or demanding roles. There's also the issue that Dodd is written as a terrible stereotype of the small town hick, somebody it's hard to believe could possibly be so naïve. I found it irritatingly obnoxious.
If you like the crooning style of music, however, you'll probably find Mr. Dodd Takes the Air pleasant enough, if not anything great.
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