classicsoncall Breaking into Hollywood should be this easy! Sally Carter (Evelyn Thawl) sneaks into the Superb Pictures studio lot with the help of a make-up artist (Jeffrey Lynn), smuggling her in as part of a tour group. She quickly breaks stride with the rest and winds up as a dancer under the supervision of manic director Nitvitch. You can only take his schtick for so long, but the picture only lasts nineteen minutes, so hang in there. Watch for cameos by legitimate, but not Superb Studio actors, as they make their way through the main gate - Wayne Morris, Dick Foran, Ann Sheridan and Pat O'Brien. The ironic touch in the picture occurs right after Miss Carter has makeup applied along with a blonde wig to look totally unlike her real self, as her makeup artist sings "You're Lovely As You Are".

cricket crockett . . . Warner Bros. Pictures during OUT WHERE THE STARS BEGIN, a 19-minute live action short. For instance, Superb also signed up Error Flynn to play ROBIN HOOD (only in Superb's version, Richard III is going up against Prince John, rather than Richard the Lion-Hearted--the Superb version sounds more exciting than Warner's already!). Another element of Superb's mystique is that you have to be a Chorine yourself in order to be selected to take a studio tour. (This is because Superb tour groups are prone to disappear without a trace, and everyone in show business knows that chorus line singers are totally dispensable.) Ann Sheridan and Pat O'Brien are among the stars making cameo appearances on the Superb lot, where they behave as polite "Ordinary Joes," instead of their normal Prima Dona selves. The plot of OUT THE STARS emphasizes that ANYONE can be a trespasser one moment, and a top-billed star the next at Superb. That's because everyone is friendly and open-minded at Superb, which is run as a meritocracy--without any casting couch shenanigans. Some may say, "Hooray for Hollywood," but I'll confine my comment to, "Hooray for Superb."

Michael_Elliott Out Where the Stars Begin (1938) *** (out of 4) Sally Carter (Evelyn Thawl) arrives in Hollywood hoping to get on the Warner lot for their latest Musical that is about to start shooting. The wannabe actress enters the lot via a tour and soon finds herself on the sound stage and given her one shot to impress with her voice. This certainly isn't the greatest short ever made but it's a pleasant one with some nice performances plus a great look at the Warner back lot. Dick Foran, Wayne Morris, Ann Sheridan and Pat O'Brien all appear early on as their cars pull up to the studio gates. The rest of the film has Thawl doing a little dance and a couple music numbers and for the most part I found them all to be entertaining. I thought she handled herself quite well here and turned in a good performance. Another big key to enjoying this film is that it was shot in 3-strip Technicolor and looks quite good. Just check out that dark green car that O'Brien is riding in.

ccthemovieman-1 Evelyn Thawl as "Sally Carter" was pretty and wholesome-looking and a good dancer as she demonstrates here in this 20-minute short came with the "Angels Have Dirty Faces" DVD. It's always nice to see the beautiful Technicolor back in those rare times when it was filmed in the 1930s."Sally" is trying to break into the movie business as a dancer. She makes a quick friend in the makeup artist (no name given but played by Jeffrey Lynn) who persuades director "Mr. Nitovich" (Fritz Field) to give her shot. The film also belongs to Field as he gives an over- the-top satire performance of a dramatic European film director making his debut in American films. It's a good thing this is short film because "Nitovich," which his abrasive yelling, soon wears out his welcome.Anyway, Thawl performs a ballet and a tap dance number, Lynn sings a song and we see cameo shots of a few stars such as Pat O'Brien and Ann Sheridan.Overall, it's quite corny and dated and, frankly, not something I would more than twice. A sad note: from what I could find, Miss Thawl, who performed mostly on Broadway, lived a very short life....but I have no details of what happened to her.