The Cocoanuts (1929)

[drednm]

I'd sooner have more of Zeppo and less of Oscar Shaw.

Hal I agree.... Oscar Shaw must have been Broadway's oldest "juve." He made little headway in films.

Thank god Shaw was dropped from the Marion Davies film Marianne when the talkie version was made. In the silent version (as Stagg) he has zero chemistry with Davies. Lawrence Gray (in the talkie) was a huge step up.

[Jim Roots]

I thought Kenny Baker was the least romantic-looking and least-talented leading man I had ever seen.

Then I saw Oscar Shaw. He made Baker look like George Clooney.

Shaw gets my nomination for Least Convincing Romantic Male Lead.


Jim

[Robert Moulton]

It really wasn't just "Glorifying the American Girl".(Read Doris Eaton's book, "Century Girl". After the stock market crash, Mary could still get work, but what was offered wasn't "Good" enough(Vaudeville tours, for example).

Doesn't the book also mention that Mary and Oscar were a real life item and he ended up coldly giving her the heave ho? And she spent the rest of her life pining for him? And this all occurred before The Cocoanuts? Can someone with the book confirm/correct?

[Richard P. May]

I saw this over the past weekend on DVD.
The person in the cast who drew my attention was Basil Ruysdale, who played detective Hennessey.
His singing of "I want my shirt" toward the end of the film demonstrated that he had a very highly trained voice, so I looked further. I had remembered him as a radio announcer in the 1950s, as well as some supporting roles in a few movies of that period.
According to IMDB he was a leading singer at the Metropolitan Opera in the teens and '20s.
Interesting what trivia one can turn up.

[Ray Faiola]

Yes, old Basil was the voice of Lucky Strikes on several radio programs. I think his best film role was as the Bishop in THE LAST HURRAH.