Letter of Introduction

Letter of Introduction with Adolphe Menjou and Edgar Bergen.  Kay Martin and Edgar Bergen (Edgar Bergen) risk going into an apartment fire, Bergen to rescue Charlie McCarthy and Martin to get a mysterious "letter of introduction" which she claims is going to open up a new life for her.  It turns out to be a letter to famous actor John Mannering (Adolphe Menjou) informing him that Kay is his daughter.  Mannering doesn't want the publicity of revealing a daughter so he and Kay decide to keep the basis of their relationship secret, although he is happy to help her with her acting aspirations.  Since Mannering has a reputation with the ladies everyone assumes that Kay is a new romantic conquest.  He secures a plum role for her on Broadway but must agree to be in the show as well.  His stage confidence has been shot by a decade of film-making and he falls apart on opening night.

This movie is also supposed to portray the real-life rise to fame of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, from the obscurity of vaudeville to having a successful radio program.  It is the first movie where Edgar Bergen played an actual character and not just a specialty role, and it also introduced the character of Mortimer Snerd.

TiVo recorded this movie for me from the World Harvest Television channel and they really butchered the editing to put commercials in.  Still, they showed it and nobody else has, so they have my gratitude.  I think they also gave me Love on a Budget.  I liked Letter of Introduction so much that I may try to rent it one day to see the scenes that were missing.

Familiar faces: Ann Sheridan and Eve Arden.

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