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The Matinee Idol

The Matinee Idol

Here's a real comedy of the theater, which takes you behind the scenes of a thrilling melodrama and shows you how they acted in the old ten-twenty-thirties. You'll learn how to make love and say nice things to your sweetheart.
Mar 14, 1928 56m
6.3
15 votes

Synopsis

The famous matinee idol and blackface comedian, Don Wilson, heads out of town to escape adulation. There, calling himself Harry Mann, he accidentally joins a traveling acting troupe, and falls in love with Ginger Bolivar, who runs the troupe and stars in their Civil War melodrama. Don's producer sees the play, and thinks it's a comic masterpiece, and just what Don's Broadway show needs. But when Ginger finds out she's been played for a fool, will she forgive Don? Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. in 1997.

Title The Matinee Idol
Companies Columbia Pictures
Countries United States of America
Keywords saber, preserved film, matinee idol
Bessie Love

Bessie Love

Ginger Bolivar
Johnnie Walker

Johnnie Walker

Don Wilson - aka Harry Mann
Ernest Hilliard

Ernest Hilliard

Arnold Wingate
Lionel Belmore

Lionel Belmore

Jasper Bolivar
David Mir

David Mir

Eric Barrymaine
Joe Bordeaux

Joe Bordeaux

Auditoning Actor (uncredited)
Sidney Bracey

Sidney Bracey

Don's Valet (uncredited)
Sidney D'Albrook

Sidney D'Albrook

J. Madison Wilberforce (uncredited)
Mary Gordon

Mary Gordon

Woman in Audience (uncredited)