Make 'Em Laugh (The Funny Business of America)
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Released March 16, 1934
Featuring Ted Healy (Solo)
Featuring Ted Healy (Solo)
MGM
75.4 min. (Feature Film)
75.4 min. (Feature Film)
New inmate Armand Lescalle tells fellow convicts of his family's prosperous shrimp fishing business, and is then killed in an attempted mass prison break. Bill Drexel, Gabby Stone and Tiny Smith (Robert Young, Ted Healy & Nat Pendleton) don't join the break, and because they were short-timers, are paroled for good behavior. Bill decides they should head for the bayou of Louisiana, and work a money angle on Armand's rich family. They soon find the bayou is poverty stricken. The Lescalles are broke and about to lose their shrimping business to Chinese racketeers, who are using sabotage and murder to take control of the bayou. Drexel falls in love with Armand's sister Sarah (Jean Parker), and the three ex-convicts take on the Chinese thugs to save the Lescalles and their neighbors. Things are complicated further when Drexel's ex-wife shows up, and the Chinese are found to be running an illegal Mexican immigrant smuggling operation in the Gulf.
Ted Healy and Nat Pendleton had good chemistry, and the two supporting actors steal this movie from the stars with their comedic patter. MGM paired Healy and Pendleton several more times over the next few years, with equally funny results.
Avg. Rating: 
[6.33/10]
[6.33/10]
Robert Young
Bill Drexel
Jean Parker
Sarah Lescalle
Ted Healy
William 'Gabby' Stone
Nat Pendleton
Alfred 'Tiny' Smith
Maude Eburne
Minnie Lescalle
C. Henry Gordon
Sam Kee
George J. Lewis
Armand Lescalle
Raymond Hatton
Capt. Herbert Orkney
Joseph Cawthorn
Mr. Julius Ambrose
Irene Franklin
Suzanne
Ruth Channing
Ruby Drexel
Bob Burns
Slim, inmate
Walter Long
Buck, inmate
Harry Wilson
Inmate
John Larkin
Stableman
Ben Hendricks, Jr.
Mate on barge
Gus Leonard
Cajun
Maurice Brierre
Ettienne
Frank Lackteen
Kee henchman
Chester Gan
Kee henchman
Erville Alderson
Sheriff
Chris-Pin Martin
Raoul
Donald Douglas
Coast Guard officer
Harry Tenbrook
Coast Guard officer
Budd Fine
Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer
Lee Shumway
Coast Guard sailor
Bruce Bennett
Coast Guard sailor
Lee Beggs
Detective Ed
Purnell Pratt
Mr. Lodge
Charles Dunbar
Driver
Unidentified LAZY RIVER 2
Chinese girls
Unidentified LAZY RIVER 3
Inmates
Unidentified LAZY RIVER 4
Cajun singers
Unidentified LAZY RIVER 5
Kee crewmen
Unidentified LAZY RIVER 6
Coast Guard
George B. Seitz
Director
Lucien Hubbard
Producer
Lea David Freeman
Original Play
Lucien Hubbard
Screenplay
Gregg Toland
Photography
William LeVanway
Film Editor
James Curtis Havens
Art Director
Douglas Shearer
Recording Director
William Steinkamp
Sound Mixer
William Axt
Musical Score
E. P. Christie
Music and Lyrics
Ferd V. D. Garretson
Music and Lyrics
Dolly Tree
Wardrobe
Robert A. Golden
Assistant Director
Clyde De Vinna
Rear Screen Cinematographer
Robert Hoag
Rear Screen Cinematographer
Tod Browning
Rear Screen Cinematographer
William E. Snyder
Rear Screen Cinematographer
Cecil Wright
Rear Screen Cinematographer
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