I guess even butch, straight women need love, and for bakery supervisor, Charlotte Greenwood, this Amazon woman of the bread line is looking for a man she can mold like the dough she's kneading. Poor Eddie Cantor gets the work-out of his life, first with a medicine ball, and later with a mechanical bull, with Greenwood becoming more head over heels in love with him as she realizes the challenge that lies ahead. Literally, Cantor does end up with his heels over head as she gives him an exercise regime he will never forget. "Reach for a pickle instead of a pie!", she tells one of her pretty Goldwyn Girl employees as she heads into the film's first big musical number, "Bend Down Sister!". A few of Greenwood's famous high kicks mix well with the Busby Berkley overhead shots, and when Cantor breaks into his big number, "Yes Yes, My Baby Said Yes Yes!", it is Greenwood in the wedding veil in the finale shot of that number, not the boss's daughter as he had hoped.
Delightfully silly and fast moving, "Palmy Days" was the follow-up vehicle after Cantor's first major Goldwyn film, "Whoopee!", casting him as the sap working for evil phony psychic Charles Middleton (the villain of the "Flash Gordon" serial) and making all sorts of hilarious mistakes as he tries to get out of this racket. A very young George Raft is one of Middleton's henchmen who work Cantor over in order to get the combination to the safe where the bread factory owner has put employee bonuses. When the money is found missing, Cantor is blamed, and a chase with the villains ensues, resulting in a hysterical finale. Cantor even gets into drag, posing as a waitress, and ends up in a pool where Greenwood tries to strip him of his clothes. Hey, Cantor's not the first drag queen I've seen wearing a shower curtain although he probably is the only one who didn't bother to take out the rings.
The film opens with a hysterical gay reference that rivals Jolson's encounter with two men dancing in "Wonder Bar". Later on, insinuations about Cantor himself are tossed about, although his character is clearly heterosexual. Pretty daring, even in the pre-code Hollywood era, and not as offensive as some overly sensitive P.C. advocates would make it out to be. But it's the musical numbers which stand out (only 3, but what's there is top grade), and fans of the Steve Martin film "Pennies From Heaven" will enjoy hearing "Yes Yes, My Baby Said Yes Yes", which was utilized in the 1981 MGM musical. So go ahead, flirt with noodle soup, sniff but don't give in.... Greenwood and Cantor are a hysterical pair together, and "Palmy Days" ranks as one of Cantor's best.
Delightfully silly and fast moving, "Palmy Days" was the follow-up vehicle after Cantor's first major Goldwyn film, "Whoopee!", casting him as the sap working for evil phony psychic Charles Middleton (the villain of the "Flash Gordon" serial) and making all sorts of hilarious mistakes as he tries to get out of this racket. A very young George Raft is one of Middleton's henchmen who work Cantor over in order to get the combination to the safe where the bread factory owner has put employee bonuses. When the money is found missing, Cantor is blamed, and a chase with the villains ensues, resulting in a hysterical finale. Cantor even gets into drag, posing as a waitress, and ends up in a pool where Greenwood tries to strip him of his clothes. Hey, Cantor's not the first drag queen I've seen wearing a shower curtain although he probably is the only one who didn't bother to take out the rings.
The film opens with a hysterical gay reference that rivals Jolson's encounter with two men dancing in "Wonder Bar". Later on, insinuations about Cantor himself are tossed about, although his character is clearly heterosexual. Pretty daring, even in the pre-code Hollywood era, and not as offensive as some overly sensitive P.C. advocates would make it out to be. But it's the musical numbers which stand out (only 3, but what's there is top grade), and fans of the Steve Martin film "Pennies From Heaven" will enjoy hearing "Yes Yes, My Baby Said Yes Yes", which was utilized in the 1981 MGM musical. So go ahead, flirt with noodle soup, sniff but don't give in.... Greenwood and Cantor are a hysterical pair together, and "Palmy Days" ranks as one of Cantor's best.