Are You Listening?

Are You Listening?

73 mins | Drama, Crime | March 21, 1932

WBLA is on the air, presenting the live music, the sudsy dramas and the sell-sell-sell of commercial interludes that keep consumers buying and sponsors smiling. But one sponsor, a producer of plumbing supplies, isn’t happy. So WBLA scriptwriter Bill Grimes is bounced from his job, setting in motion this movie’s turn from comedic to darkly tragic. William Haines, two years removed from being Tinseltown’s top male star, plays Grimes in a melodrama noted for its glimpses of live radio production and for a Depression-era ethos that includes peroxide cuties eager to land a job, a sugar daddy or both.

Are You Listening?

73 mins | Drama, Crime | March 21, 1932

Are You Listening?
WBLA is on the air, presenting the live music, the sudsy dramas and the sell-sell-sell of commercial interludes that keep consumers buying and sponsors smiling. But one sponsor, a producer of plumbing supplies, isn’t happy. So WBLA scriptwriter Bill Grimes is bounced from his job, setting in motion this movie’s turn from comedic to darkly tragic. William Haines, two years removed from being Tinseltown’s top male star, plays Grimes in a melodrama noted for its glimpses of live radio production and for a Depression-era ethos that includes peroxide cuties eager to land a job, a sugar daddy or both.
IMDb rating 6.2
Producers Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Original title Are You Listening?
Directors Harry Beaumont
Writers Dwight Taylor

Cast

William Haines

as Bill Grimes

Madge Evans

as Laura O'Neil

Anita Page

as Larry Barnes

Karen Morley

as Alice Grimes

Neil Hamilton

as Jack Clayton

Wallace Ford

as Larry Barnes

Jean Hersholt

as George Wagner

John Miljan

as Ted Russell

Hank Mann

as Radio station sound effects man

Murray Kinnell

as Mr. Carson

Ethel Griffies

as Mrs. Peters

Charley Grapewin

as Pierce

Hattie McDaniel

as Performer entering radio station

Joan Marsh

as Honey O'Neil