Jack Oakie

In Chaplin's satire on Nazi Germany, dictator Adenoid Hynkel has a double... a poor Jewish barber... who one day is mistaken for Hynkel.

A war-veteran-turned-truck driver attempts to avenge the crippling and robbing of his father at the hands of an amoral produce scofflaw. (imdb)

Jerry Webster and Carol Templeton are both in the advertising business, but for different agencies. Annoyed by Jerry's methods of using alcohol and women to ensure contracts for his agency, Carol tries to get him thrown out of his profession.(imdb)

Wealthy John Glidden wants to give his money away to strangers rather than have his relatives fight over it. We see the effect the gifts have on many different sorts of individuals. (imdb)

An ambitious newspaper reporter (Dick Powell), eager to scoop the competition, wishes he could know the news before it happens. A mysterious old man (John Philliber) grants the reporter that power, even as he cautions against using it... (imdb)

A small country on the verge of bankruptcy is persuaded to enter the Olympics. Either a masterpiece of absurdity or a triumph of satire, depending on your mood, but it's quite possibly the funniest movie ever made, and even funnier with subsequent viewings. (imdb)

Jack Thornton has trouble winning enough at cards for the stake he needs to get to the Alaska gold fields. His luck changes when he pays $250 for Buck, a sled dog that is part wolf to keep him from being shot by an arrogant Englishman also headed for the Yukon. En route to the Yukon with Shorty Houlihan -- who spent time in jail for opening someone else's letter with a map of where gold is to be found -- Jack rescues a woman whose husband was the addressee of that letter.

This star-laden version of Lewis Carroll's novel combines elements of both the title novel and Carroll's sequel, Through the Looking Glass.

The story deals with the college rivalry of a piccolo player and an All-American halfback on the football team who both love the same co-ed. After graduation they carry their their feud and collegiate ideas over into the department store business. (Film debut of radio-comedian Joe "Wanna buy a duck" Penner and singer Lanny Ross.) (imdb)

Jim Hawkins and Wahoo Jones are stagecoach robbers who head to Texas to find Sam McGee, their partner. Once there, low on funds, they join the Texas Rangers, come across Sam, and decide to run their game by sending Sam inside information. Meanwhile, though, in pacifying rebellious Indians, Jim and Wahoo start to take on the code of the Rangers, and the daughter of the Ranger's major sets her sights on Jim. Can there be honor among thieves, or are Jim, Wahoo, and Sam on a collision course? (imdb)

Tender romantic comedy about an aspiring musician who arrives in New York in search of fame & fortune. He soon meets a taxi dancer, moves in with her, and before too long a romance develops. (imdb)

The pilots of a Royal Air Force squadron in World War I face not only physical but mental dangers in their struggle to survive while fighting the enemy. (imdb)

A musical, based on Earl Carroll's long-running Broadway revue Earl Carroll's Vanities, combined with a murder mystery. Songs featured in the film by Arthur Johnston and Sam Coslow include "Cocktails for Two" sung by Brisson, "Marahuana" sung by Michael, "Where Do They Come From (and Where Do They Go)" sung by Carlisle, and "Ebony Rhapsody" by Ellington. (Answers.com)

A 19th century con artist rises from medicine shows to Wall Street. (TCM.com)

A hired gun falls for a Texas Ranger's wife. (TCM.com)

After WWI two men go into radio. Failure leads the wife of one to borrow money from another; she goes on, after separation, to stardom. A coast-to-coast radio program is set up to bring everyone back together. (imdb)

Shirley's last film on her 20th Century Fox contract (aged 12). Her parents (Oakie, Greenwood) decide to retire from show biz so she can have a normal life. They are unwelcome in the small town until a storm lets the family show their stuff. Clips from earlier films fill in Shirley's background. (imdb)

Stupid football player is kidnapped by gangsters. Lunatics abound: former footballer now dancer, professor interested in magic, gangster who makes horse noises when excited. (imdb)

The Ames Company makes every effort to keep Uncle Cedric away from any decisions or work. This is in the best interests for him and the company. Trouble starts when he hires a schemer named Joe as his personal assistant and then a gal named Minnie who loves fashion. He buys Minnie a dress shop where Colleen is the bookkeeper and scandal soon follows. When Donald goes to shut down the shop, he doesn't as he is infatuated by Colleen... (imdb)

The film tells the story of vaudeville performers in San Francisco, during the period of the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition when Alexander Graham Bell made the first transcontinental phone call from New York City to San Francisco. The movie introduced the song "You'll Never Know", which was sung by Alice Faye and won an Academy Award for best original song. (wikipedia.org)

Songwriters Calhoun and Harrigan get Katie and Lily Blane to introduce a new one. Lily goes to England, and Katy joins her after the boys give a new song to Nora Bayes. All are reunited when the boys, now in the army, show up in England. (imdb)

In 1866, a new gold discovery and an inconclusive conference force the U.S. Army to build a road and fort in territory ceded by previous treaty to the Sioux...to the disgust of frontier scout Jim Bridger, whose Cheyenne wife led him to see the conflict from both sides. The powder-keg situation needs only a spark to bring war, and violent bigots like Lieut. Rob Dancy are all too likely to provide this. (imdb)

The wisp of a storyline involves two-bit radio station owner Spud (Jack Oakie), who doubles as the station's sole announcer while his comic partner Smiley (Henry Wadsworth) serves as the house crooner. On the verge of bankruptcy, Spud is receptive to the wacky notions of George Burns and Gracie Allen, who've just invented a television device which can pick up and transmit any signal, any time, anywhere. (allmovie.com)

Jo March and her husband Professor Bhaer operate the Plumfield School for poor boys. When Dan, a tough street kid, comes to the school, he wins Jo's heart despite his hard edge, and she defends him when he is falsely accused. Dan's foster father, Major Burdle, is a swindler in cahoots with another crook called Willie the Fox. When the Plumfield School becomes in danger of foreclosure, the two con men cook up a scheme to save the home. (imdb)

With his sidekick Rusty, Jeff Harper sails to paradisaical tropical isle Ahmi-Oni to bargain on behalf of his cattle baron father for land owned by transplanted Irishman Dennis O'Brien. But Jeff falls in love with O'Brien's daughter, Eileen, and even his father can't break them up after he arrives and himself falls under the spell of island splendor. (imdb)

Wonder Pictures' seedy publicity man Lanny Morgan has put the studio's biggest star, Annabel Allison, in one crazy stunt after another. His latest scheme has Annabel pretending to be a maid in order to research her next screen role. Her disastrous attempts at cooking and cleaning, and her involvement with two fugitives hiding out at her employers' house provide her with more material than she really wanted. (imdb)

A college professor and the school's star football player are both rivals for the same beautiful coed. (imdb)

Marine, James Murfin, is unaware of Icelandic customs. When he flirts with Katina her Icelandic family take his actions as a proposal of marriage to Katina. Desperately wanting out, James gets his buddy to help him. Good Luck! (imdb)

Vaudeville performers, Dailey and Grable, have marital difficulties when he hits the "Big Time", which are compounded by his drinking problem. (imdb)

Dress designer Joan Wood, who's heavily in debt, has created costumes for a Broadway show that is exported to Argentina. With the money she wants to pay her debts, but there was a mistake: she is receiving the money in Buenos Aires, not in New York. Her friend Wally Wendell, whose grandfather does not approve of his relationship with her, wants him to marry a girl he hasn't seen for some years named Constance Cook, whose grandfather is the owner of a ship traveling to Buenos Aires and Constance (imdb)

Another of Paramount's efforts to transform Metropolitan Opera diva Gladys Swarthout into a popular movie star, Champagne Waltz casts Swarthout as Elsa Strauss, the daughter of a celebrated Viennese composer (Fritz Leiber). American bandleader Buzzy Bellew (Fred MacMurray) and his aggregation invade Vienna with their own special repertoire of melodies, and before long the Austrian capital has abandoned waltzes in favor of jazz. (allrovi.com)

Joan Fry, a society woman, falls in love with Chuck Riley, the white-leader of a powerful gang in Chinatown, and he quickly drags her down into the depths with him. But seeing her so much in love with him causes him to realize he isl in love with her, and he determines to lift her up again. "Boston" Charley, the rival gang-leader, has other plans. (imdb)

A Broadway playboy inherits an almost bankrupt girls' school and tries to save it by a big show. (imdb)

A bandleader tries to romance a dancer by sending her boyfriend, a musician, out of town. However, things get complicated when he finds out that a gangster has designs on her too. (imdb)

Wrestling trainer puts himself in charge of a singer's love life when the singer is jilted by a rich girl. (imdb)

The various residents and occupants of a resort hotel await the outcome of a horse race at a nearby track, as it will affect each of their lives in different ways. (imdb)

Naïve insurance agent 'Cyclone' Case falls in love with Sylvia Martine, whose father has a dispute with gangster Mike Slade. When Sylvia is kidnapped by Slade and his gang, 'Cyclone' decides to save her and wanders straight into a gang war without even realizing it. (imdb)

Former burlesque producer moves into legitimate theatre and does well until he marries a socialite. After his divorce his former top singer returns from London to help out. (imdb)

In the first entry of this series, the show open with a troupe of dancing chorus girls getting a salute from crossed-eyed Ben Turpin. Then the master of ceremonies, Fredric March, brings on the various acts, starting with a pre-teen Mitzi Green), dressed as an adult and singing "Was That the Human Thing to Do?" , followed by Ginger Rogers and Jack Oakie singing-and-dancing to "The Girl Who Used to be You. (imdb)

Comedian Lloyd Hamilton escorts a group of beauty contest winners to various Hollywood night spots. (imdb)

A human story of a girl who was... just human - by Vina Delmar author of "Bad Girl" (imdb)

Barnstorming pilots Speed Condon, Bill Adams, and Eddie Smith travel the country with their manager, Alec Dugan, performing at fairs and air shows and hawking rides for the locals. But when Speed's rambunctious flying results in tragedy, he gives up flying in despair and guilt. Alec tracks him down and hopes to get him back on his feet and back in the air. (imdb)

Story of a Hollywood studio during the transition from silents to talkies. (imdb)

Joe and Casey trouble-shoot for the phone company. They try to prove that Joes's girl Ethel's boss Dan is a crook but are trapped by criminals and left in a burning building. (imdb)

This short plugs the new tunes written by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel for the movie "College Rhythm" and shows the audience how they were written and rehearsed. Naturally it also advertises the movie. (imdb)

Jack Oakie and Jack Haley are songwriters are enroute from New York to Hollywood to make their fame and fortune; Ginger Rogers, a lunchwagon proprieter, joins them. (imdb)

Movie star Annabel Allison has further comic adventures with her wacky publicity agent. (imdb)

Two Bowery vaudevillians compete to be the first to produce shows on Broadway. They might be friends were they not so convinced that each has stolen ideas from the others. This bouncy musical chronicles their rivalry and the success they find after they finally team up. Unfortunately the success is short-lived when one of them suddenly departs to work for a beautiful woman. This time the feud erupts with a vengeance. Fortunately, their paths again cross and a happy ending follows. (allmovie.com)

Chester Carr, owner of a dude ranch in the Rockies, caters to guests seeking the thrill of the Wild West. Among his guests are the wealthy Spruce Meadows and his daughter Susan. But the West isn't wild anymore and most of Carr's guests are bored and about to leave. He is in despair when a caravan carrying a broke-down-and-out troupe of actors---Jennifer, Judd, Mrs. Merridew and her daughter, Alice---crashes down the hill and wrecks the hotel sign. (imdb)

The early Paramount talkie The Dummy represented a collaboration of sorts between screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, who adapted the play on which the film was based, and Mankiewicz' brother Joseph, who wrote the subtitles for the film's silent version. The title character is office-boy Barney, played by Mickey Bennett. (allmovie.com)

A Florida-bound train is filled with romance and intrigue in this comedy. Among the passengers is a millionaire bon vivant carrying $1 million in diamonds. He is fully aware that a gang of would-be jewel thieves have followed him and so pretends to be an invalid with an ice bag perpetually stuck to his head. Of course, the bag actually contains the diamonds. He puts some fakes in a different place to keep the thieves entertained. (allmovie.com)

In this musical, a nightclub singer (Lily Pons) secretly aspires to sing at the Met. To help her, her agent (Jack Oakie) decides to dress her up as "Ooga-Hunga, the Bird Girl" and send her off on a merry chase of an influential opera lover (Eric Blore) who has gone on an African safari. When he sees her, he is truly agog and at last she fulfills her lifelong goal. Songs include: "You're Like a Song," "I Hit a New High," "Let's Give Love Another Chance," and "This Never Happened Before". (allmovie.com)

Aspiring lyricist Fred Stevens leaves Schenectady for New York City, with hopes of making it big in the songwriting business. (imdb)

Swashbuckler about the adventures of pirate Jean Lafitte after he helped save New Orleans from a British invasion during the War of 1812. (imdb)

A goodly portion of this boxing drama was filmed on location at the real-life Madison Square Garden. Jack Oakie stars as Eddie Burke, a wise-guy pugilist whose talent is unevenly matched by his ego. Despite his character flaws, Eddie knows the meaning of loyalty. When his manager Doc Williams (William Collier Sr.) is offered the opportunity to stage a match at Madison Square Garden, but only if he gets rid of his stable of fighters, Eddie fabricates an alibi and stages a walkout on Doc. (allmovie.com)

Bearing no relation to the popular torch song of the same name, The Man I Love is a prizefight picture, courtesy of Paramount production exec David O. Selznick. Richard Arlen stars as Dum-Dum Brooks, a tank-town boxer who journeys to New York in hopes of cracking the Big Time. Along for the ride is Dum-Dum's long-suffering but ever-faithful wife Celia (Mary Brian). After licking Champ Mahoney (Charles Sullivan) in an exhibition bout, Dum-Dum is given a chance to win the title for real. (allmovie.com)

The Merry Monahans is one of the higher-budgeted Universal musicals of the 1940s, even though the storyline is strictly grade-B material. During the first two decades of the 20th century the film concerns a family vaudeville troupe headed by patriarch Pete Monahan (Jack Oakie). Because of his love affair with the bottle, Pete manages to get himself and his family blacklisted from every major vaude house in the country. (allmovie.com)

An actor who plays a detective in films soon finds himself out of his depth when he tries to investigate a real crime. (imdb)

Searchlight Doyle, lightweight boxing champion of the United States Navy, is shanghaied into the fleet of Sainte Cassette, an island republic, as a replacement for a wealthy slacker who must serve his country to receive a $2 million inheritance, a scheme concocted by attorney Gabriel Grabowski. All his shipmates, except Hyacinth Nitouche, assume that he is indeed the wastrel he purports to be.

Marco Perkins is a garage mechanic and a would-be-prizefighter who gets a place on the ritzy country club's polo team because he is the town's most proficient mallet-wielder, having learned to play polo while serving in the U.S. army. His hobnobbing with the town-elite and social upper-crust at the polo-matches gives him an inflated idea of his social position, and he decides he is is moving on up. (imdb)

A homeless and destitute violinist joins a combo to bring it success, but has problems with her love life. (imdb)

A singer is involved with two women in his life, one a "good" girl and one a "bad" one." (imdb)

Nikki Martin, a parisian opera star, takes off in search of adventure and true-love leaving her arranged husband to be at the alter (imdb)

Ellen Saunders is an heiress on a cruise to Europe being pursued by a day laborer mistaken for a prominent mining engineer. During the cruise, he foils two crooks try to get rid of her. (imdb)

Following three flops in a row, Broadway stage producer Willard Samson is told by wealthy divorcée Donna Davis that she will finance a show but only if she is the star. The fact she can neither sing, act nor dance does not deter Samson. His press agent, Ken Douglas, lives in a theatrical boarding house run by his friend from vaudeville, Larry Martin, where he meets Jeanie Maxwell, singing teacher and aspiring songwriter from, of course, Altoona, Pa., who has come to New York to sell her songs. (imdb)

A chorus girl (Nancy Carroll) inherits a men's college where her ex-boyfriend (Stanley Smith) is a star football player. She tries to sabotage his career until she gets school spirit. (imdb)

After their annual free concert at Chicago's Dearborn Settlement, Benny Goodman and his band are packing up to move on to their next engagement at a military camp, when a kid, Tony Birch, steals Goodman's clarinet. Goodman and Popsie pursue him to a tenement flat where he has led them to hear his brother, Johnny Birch, play the trombone. Goodman offers him a job, over Popsie's protest, with the band. (imdb)

A vaudeville performer returns from the dead to help his wife and daughter, who are being dominated by a greedy banker.

On a layover in Hawaii two conniving Navy seamen borrow money to lay down bets that their ship will win the upcoming gunnery practice trophy, having found out that the current gunnery champ has just transferred aboard their ship. What they haven't learned, however, is that the marksman's enlistment is up before the contest is supposed to take place. (imdb)

A plain-Jane math professor (Joan Davis) at a small midwestern college is talked into journeying to New York on behalf of a colleague who has written a steamy bestseller under an assumed name.

Nora and her uncle get railroaded into spending the night at a broken-down hotel in Canada. After Nora falls for the handsome owner, she convinces her uncle to invest in the inn and modernize it. After the hotel opens, Nora's uncle faces financial ruin and her romance hit a snag in the form of pretty reporter.

Jack Oakie stars as seedy sideshow barker Nicky, who uses everyone he meets to get ahead. Nicky isn't even above exploiting his singing sweetheart Lily (Dorothy Dell) to suit his purposes, but this time it is he who ends up the loser – at least until he gets wise to himself.

A songwriter uses the songs one of his pupils writes while sleeping for his own contract.

When his father dies, rodeo star Dan Bennett returns to his ranch but hires on as a ranch hand. A horse known as the White Outlaw is the leader of a herd of wild horses and Dan's obsession now is to capture and tame that horse. Foreman Christine Johnson learns of his true identity and that he plans to sell the ranch after taming the horse. Her objective now becomes to keep him from selling and she starts by releasing the White Outlaw he has just captured.

A vaudevillian (Jack Oakie) who staunchly believes that radio is a threat to his livelihood eventually develops an appreciation of the airwaves.

A Navy boxer meets a dance-hall hostess who tries to sober him up for his fight.

Football coach Dan Curtis is eager for his small college team to win at all costs. However, he has a change of heart when a player is severely injured by playing when he should have been resting. Finally, Dan's school confronts its arch rival and Dan must decide how badly he wants the boys to win.