Stand Up and Cheer!

1/7/2024

This starts off quite promisingly, with a bumbling 'Dinwiddle" (Nigel Bruce) explaining to awaiting reporters just what his job as chief scout for Broadway impresario "Cromwell" (Warner Baxter) actually is. Then, right on cue, his boss arrives by gyro-copter on the White House lawn for a meeting at which the President offers him a $100m budget and one year as "Secretary of Amusement". His task? Cheer up the American populace after the misery of the 1920s. He quickly assembles his own cabinet - including "Mary" (Madge Evans) as his minister for children and sets about making us all smile. Sadly, Baxter and Evans - and their predictably evolving affection - feature but sparingly in what is essentially a compendium of just about every style entertainment act around at the time. An early outin