Palmy Days is a 1931 American Pre-Code musical comedy film written by Eddie Cantor, Morrie Ryskind, and David Freedman, directed by A. Edward Sutherland, and choreographed by Busby Berkeley (who makes a cameo appearance as a fortune teller). The film stars Eddie Cantor. The famed Goldwyn Girls make appearances during elaborate production numbers set in a gymnasium and a bakery ("Glorifying the American Doughnut"). Betty Grable, Paulette Goddard, Virginia Grey, and Toby Wing are among the bevy of chorines. George Raft had an early role.
Plot
Eddie Simpson's family bakery/restaurant grows into a huge success; thanks to Simpsons's entertainment shows and a fortune-telling booth run by the mysterious Yolando.
When Simpson discovers the fortune-teller is running a racket that cheats people out of their savings; Yolando and his henchman do their best to dispose of him by feeding him into one of the large bakery ovens. However, their efforts fail.
Cast (in credits order) Charlotte Greenwood as Helen Martin Barbara Weeks as Joan Clark Spencer Charters as Mr Clark Paul Page as Steve Charles Middleton as Yolando George Raft as Joe – Yolando's Henchman Harry Woods as Yolando's Henchman Eddie Cantor as Eddie Simpson
Music
Cantor's major musical numbers are "My Baby Said Yes, Yes" and "There's Nothing Too Good For My Baby".
Reception
The film was one of the most popular movies of the year.
New York Times movie critic Mordaunt Hall, described Palmy Days as "a more or less funny diatribe" with "two or three inconsequential melodies and a great deal to gaze, including pretty damsels from the Pacific Coast and effectively photographed groups of dancers."
Product placement
Brand-name products rarely appeared in movies of this period, partly because of the campaign against that practice by the motion picture trade periodical Harrison's Reports. In an editorial, that publication reported the on-screen appearance of an Underwood Typewriter and product of Continental Baking Company.