Films
In mid-1929, Paramount Pictures signed Kane to make a series of musicals at a salary as much as $8,000 a week (equivalent to over $160,000 in 2009).
Her films were:
- 1929: Nothing But the Truth a comedy starring Richard Dix
- 1929: Sweetie a college musical, which starred Nancy Carroll, Jack Oakie and Stanley Smith
- 1929: Pointed Heels, which starred William Powell and Fay Wray
- 1930: Paramount on Parade, an all-star extravaganza
- 1930: Dangerous Nan McGrew, with Stuart Erwin, Frank Morgan, and Victor Moore
- 1930: Heads Up!, starring Buddy Rogers and Victor Moore
- 1931: A Lesson in Love, a musical short film
It should be noted that although Helen was not the "star" of most of her pictures (with Dangerous Nan McGrew being the one exception) she was so popular that in the case of "Sweetie," her name appeared over the title on the marquee when the movie premiered at the New York Paramount (although Nancy Carroll was the true star). Helen provided all the fun and she and Jack Oakie taught the college kids, "The Prep Step," a big hit along with "He's So Unusual." Another hit from this picture was Nancy Carroll's, "My Sweeter Than Sweet."
In the opening credits of Pointed Heels, Helen's name is equal with William Powell on the same line in large letters just below the title with Fay Wray and the rest in smaller letters underneath. She had equal billing with Buddy Rogers in Heads Up! and it is their faces which appeared in all the ads. And in Dangerous Nan McGrew, Helen received top billing in the film's credits.
Read more about this topic: Helen Kane
Famous quotes containing the word films:
“Does art reflect life? In movies, yes. Because more than any other art form, films have been a mirror held up to society’s porous face.”
—Marjorie Rosen (b. 1942)
“Right now I think censorship is necessary; the things they’re doing and saying in films right now just shouldn’t be allowed. There’s no dignity anymore and I think that’s very important.”
—Mae West (1892–1980)
“Television does not dominate or insist, as movies do. It is not sensational, but taken for granted. Insistence would destroy it, for its message is so dire that it relies on being the background drone that counters silence. For most of us, it is something turned on and off as we would the light. It is a service, not a luxury or a thing of choice.”
—David Thomson, U.S. film historian. America in the Dark: The Impact of Hollywood Films on American Culture, ch. 8, William Morrow (1977)