British postcard in the Famous Film Stars series by Valentine's, no. 7123A. Eddie Cantor in The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932). Caption: Eddie Cantor, whose real name is Izzy Iskowitch, was born 31st January 1893 in New York. Beginning life as a newsboy, he ultimately appeared in Vaudeville and has risen to great fame as a star. A few of his successes are Whoopee, Palmy Days, The Kid from Spain and Roman Scandals.
British postcard in the Film Shots series by Film Weekly. Photo: United Artists. The Goldwyn Girls in The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932).
The only bullfighter from the USA
The Kid from Spain was shot at the Samuel Goldwyn Studios in West Hollywood at the beginning of 1932. Two years before shooting began, Eddie Cantor talked to Samuel Goldwyn about one of his film ideas.
Cantor suggested playing a googly-eyed Jewish lout from Brooklyn who became the best bullfighter in the world. Cantor's friend Sidney Franklin, the only bullfighter from the USA at the time, was the godfather of this idea.
Eddie Williams and his friend Ricardo are about to graduate when they are expelled from university because they broke into the girls' dormitory in a drunken stupor. Ricardo persuades Eddie to accompany him to his home in Mexico to meet his girlfriend Anita Gomez.
Eddie waits for his friend outside a bank that is being robbed. The robbers think he is the driver of the getaway car and force him to drive off. In their hideout, they refrain from killing him and allow him to travel to Mexico. While Eddie waits at the border, Ricardo has already arrived in his home town. There he learns from Anita's father Alonzo that Anita is engaged to the bullfighter Pancho, who saved her mother from a gang of bandits.
Alonzo can convince Ricardo that Pancho is the better choice. Ricardo finds Eddie, who has managed to cross the border and helps him disguise himself to escape the policeman Crawford who chases him. Ricardo tells Crawford that Eddie, the famous bullfighter Don Sebastian II, takes part in an important fight the following Sunday. Crawford sees through the charade and promises to watch the battle.
British postcard in the Film Weekly Stars series. Photo: United Artists. Robert Young and Eddie Cantor in The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932).
A special train to the south of the country to promote the film
Filming of The Kid from Spain (1932), would start at the beginning of May under the direction of Albert S. Rogell. Due to differences with Goldwyn over the story, Rogell withdrew from the project. Enter Leo McCarey.
Eddie Cantor starred as Eddie Williams, Robert Young was miscast as his Mexican college buddy Ricardo, and Polish comic actress Lyda Roberti and Ruth Hall were their love interests, Rosalie and Anita.
In the supporting cast were John Miljan as the evil matador Pancho, Noah Beery, Sr. as Alonzo Gomez, and J. Carrol Naish as Pancho's grimy sidekick Pedro. The stock company of the Goldwyn Girls included Betty Grable, Paulette Goddard, Toby Wing, and the debuting Jane Wyman.
Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby wrote the songs 'But We Must Rise', 'In the Moonlight', 'Look What You've Done' and 'What a Perfect Combination'. Busby Berkeley was the choreographer of the musical numbers. He was supported by Fred Zinnemann. The film also highlights the early talents of 28-year-old cinematographer Greg Toland. His camerawork shows expertise in both framing and focus, soon making him one of Hollywood's most sought-after cinematographers.
The production costs were over one million dollars (2024: approx. 22.5 million dollars). Goldwyn borrowed the money for the production from the Bank of America, which provided a seven-figure sum for a film for the first time. While United Artists took over cinema distribution, Samuel Goldwyn had reserved distribution for New York. He also sent a special train to the south of the country to promote the film and the musical Whoopee! (Thornton Freeland, 1930) in areas that either did not have a film projector or whose cinema operators did not have a rental agreement with United Artists.
British postcard in the Film Weekly Stars series. Photo: United Artists. Eddie Cantor in The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932).
Rolling his eyes and clapping his hands
The Kid from Spain was a huge success. With rentals gross of $2.6 million, it was number one at the American box office in 1932.
Ron Oliver at IMDb: "'Follies' star Eddie Cantor prances his way through this naughty pre-Code comedy. Rolling his eyes and clapping his hands, he uses every trick at his disposal to amuse and he succeeds quite nicely.
Cantor never slows down, but, like a mischievous little boy, he seems forever looking for new trouble to explore. His climactic scene in the bullfighting arena remains his best-remembered movie moment."
In his review at AllMovie, Craig Butler refers to a blackface sequence in the film: "While the blackface is somehow more palatable with Cantor than it is when done by Al Jolson, it still disconcerts and disturbs modern audiences, and tends to temporarily stop one's enjoyment of the film. Fortunately, director Leo McCarey keeps things moving at a snappy enough pace that the film is able to recover, and Cantor's appealing personality does help.
He's aided by the unique Lyda Roberti, who's strange but a treat, especially in her duets with Cantor. And the Busby Berkeley touches - a water ballet (in high heels) and a finale with multiple overhead shots, including one in which the girls put together a jigsaw puzzle that forms a bull's head -- are quite welcome."
British postcard in the Film Weekly Stars series. Photo: United Artists. Ruth Hall, Eddie Cantor and Lyda Roberti in The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932).
Sources: Ron Oliver (IMDb), Craig Butler (AllMovie), Wikipedia (English, German and Dutch), and IMDb.
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