Rue de Vallee: Block de Wood!

[Jim Roots]

Has there ever been as totally lifeless a leading-man performance as that of Rudy Vallee's in Golddiggers In Paris?

I know he got better over the years -- to the point, in fact, that he went to the opposite extreme and was over-the-top hammy in his Batman TV appearance 30 years after Golddiggers.

But this one particular performance ... My god, the movie was all his, and Dick Powell had shown over and over again how easy it was to explode from the screen in this series of cloned musical comedies. Vallee looks less animated than a zombie, has zero screen presence, has a negative quotient of charisma, and can't even put across his singing with the faintest show of interest.

There is exactly one scene in the entire movie in which he chips his way out of the wood encasing him. Now, why the sight of a pretty girl hanging helplessly from cuffs and pulleys strung up to the ceiling is the only thing that can excite Mr. Vallee is a question best left unanswered.

Can you think of any leading-man performance that comes close to this one for sheer lack of enthusiasm, let alone competence?

Jim
(always enthusiastic, occasionally competent)

[Mike Gebert]

If only Preston Sturges had directed him.

WAIT A MINUTE...

[odinthor]

Though not in a leading man role, Rudy always looks particularly wooden and uncomfortable to me in his number in Glorifying the American Girl. Skip forward almost 40 years, and he's relaxed and fun in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. It would seem that, for some, the ars gets longa if the vita isn't too brevis.

[drednm]

He was equally awful in The Vagabond Lover.

[earlytalkie]

He was funny in the 1949 Fox comedy Mother Is A Freshman where he played a pill-popping stuffed shirt competing with Van Johnson for the affections of Loretta Young. He was also pretty funny sending up his crooner image in the first Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, the one that originally ran 75 minutes and is restored on the DVD. Vallee himself admitted that they were probably "still fumigating theaters that showed The Vagabond Lover". That film, by the way, was a big hit for RKO, although a company memo stated that, while it made a big profit for the studio, the studio brass did not consider it to be a good picture. Mr. Vallee's contract option was not exercised. The saving grace in Vagabond Lover is an appropriately hammy performance by Marie Dressler, as Sally Blane's aunt. The music, (which I like) is a matter of taste.

[Richard Finegan]

Has there ever been as totally lifeless a leading-man performance as that of Rudy Vallee's in Golddiggers In Paris?
...
Can you think of any leading-man performance that comes close to this one for sheer lack of enthusiasm, let alone competence?

Jim

I happen to be a big fan of his, but I've heard others describe George Raft's acting that way.

[Rob]

Years ago I worked at the Hyatt Hotel in San Francisco. During the late 1970s or early 1980s (sorry folks, it was a long time ago) Rudy was appearing in a revival stage version of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" at the Curran Theater. During the run of the play he stayed with us at The Hyatt. After two or three weeks with us, he finally checked out when the production moved on to another city. I remember talking with the Concierge attendant on the floor his suite was on, just after he checked out. She was a young woman, very attractive and sweet, no more than 25 years old. She had no idea of who Rudy Valle was, or anything about his career. To her, he was nothing more than a very strange Old Man. She told me that he had given her a "Bic" Ball Point pen - with his name, "Rudy Vallee" embossed on the side - as a tip for all the service she had given him over that three week period. Lots of dinner reservations at hard-to-score restaurants as well as other miscellaneous services. She gave the 10 cent pen to me and I still have it.

I had to agree with her, he was a VERY strange individual.

[Mike Gebert]

I always liked the story of Frank Sinatra visiting Vallee, looking at all the Vallee photographs and memorabilia on the walls, and saying "Gee, you'd never guess who lived here?"

[didi-5]

If I'd seen Vallee first, and Dick Powell second, I doubt I would have the same affection for early thirties musicals as I do.

He's great in "How To Succeed In Business ...", though!

[The Blackbird]

I always liked the story of Frank Sinatra visiting Vallee, looking at all the Vallee photographs and memorabilia on the walls, and saying "Gee, you'd never guess who lived here?"

What can you say about a man who tried lobbying to get a street named after himself?

[FrankFay]

He's also fun in "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer" - playing a starchy lawyer, but a comic one.

[earlytalkie]

My late Mother once told me that she and my Father went to see Vallee in the early 70s in Chicago. She said he was OK, but did way too many encores and my parents wondered when the hell he was going to get off the stage. She said he certainly seemed to be in love with himself.

[Jim Roots]

My late Mother once told me that she and my Father went to see Vallee in the early 70s in Chicago. She said he was OK, but did way too many encores and my parents wondered when the hell he was going to get off the stage. She said he certainly seemed to be in love with himself.

At least it was a reciprocal romance!

Jim

[ajabrams]

Yes, I agree that Vallee was an eccentric personality but we should also remember that he was responsible for introducing and/or promoting the careers of many great entertainers (Alice Faye, Edgar Bergen, etc., etc.) Also, when he took a vacation in 1937 from his Fleishman's Yeast Radio Program, he insisted that the sponsor hire Louis Armstrong as a replacement. According to Wikipedia, "this was the first instance of an African-American fronting a national radio program." During WWII, he led the Band of the U.S. Coast Guard and gave benefit concerts for veterans' hospitals.

Undoubtedly, the man also had a terrific sense of humor about himself. And he was a wonderfully entertaining vocalist--listen to some of his recordings like, "Buddy Can You Spare A Dime?" and "My Dancing Lady" and you'll hear what I mean.

Was he a "tightwad?" Maybe, but he was a very generous man in many other ways.