Strike Me Pink (1936)

This is quite a fun, gentle, comedy that sees Eddie Cantor play "Eddie Pink"; a rather feeble dry-cleaner who get's picked upon by the local youth. He sends off for a sort of Charles Atlas course for cowardly lions that will give him courage and before he knows it he is running best pal Butch's mother's "Dreamland" amusement arcade - and has to face up to the local mobsters keen to get in on the act. Add to his troubles his infatuation with charismatic, slightly manipulative "Joyce Lennox" (Ethel Merman) who belts out a couple half decent Harold Arlen numbers along the way and you just know it's going to be heavy going for our timid hero. It's not laugh out loud, and the story is pretty predictable but Cantor and Merman play well together and the film hangs nicely as an enjoyable, if maybe 20 minutes too long, afternoon feature.