Comet Over Broadway

Comet Over Broadway with Kay Francis. Eve Appleton (Kay Francis) stars in the local community theater and dreams of becoming a professional actress. When a well known actor visits her small town for some R&R, she approaches him for some career guidance. He just sees an opportunity to make some time with a small town gal, even though she is married and has a baby. When Eve sneaks out of the house to meet the actor (infidelity not intended on her part, but definitely intended on the actor's part), her husband follows her and punches the actor in jealous anger. Unfortunately, that one punch kills the actor and husband Bill is sentenced to life in prison. Their lawyer and family friend, Joe (Donald Crisp), convinces Eve that she is really to blame for putting her acting aspirations above her duty to husband and child. Eve vows to to make amends and dedicate her life to freeing Bill, BY FOLLOWING HER DREAM OF BEING A FAMOUS ACTRESS. She reasons that this is the way to make money to finance appeals, etc.

Eve takes her baby on the road and begins her steady rise from carnival shows to burlesque shows to vaudeville shows. At this point she realizes that she can't move her career forward while dragging along her baby girl so she leaves her with a vaudeville friend who is retiring. Eve proceeds to a touring act, almost breaks into Broadway, then launches a successful stage career in the West End of London. About this time lawyer friend Joe informs her that the time is right, and if she can come up with $10,000 before the current governor leaves office (some sort of shenanigans there) then husband Bill can be free. She gets the money from her successful Broadway debut and then regretfully leaves the life (and producer) she loves to be Bill-the-auto-mechanic's wife.

This movie is most famous for being the role that Bette Davis refused to play, causing Warner Brothers to suspend her.

Familiar faces: Melville Cooper as the murdered actor's valet.

Susan Hayward is supposed to be in this movie. Is this her?