Helen Broderick

Acting

Helen Broderick

Born 1891-08-11 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Helen Broderick (August 11, 1891 - September 25, 1959) was a wonderfully funny character comedienne with vaudeville and stage experience, a close friend of Jeanne Eagels. The story goes, that at the age of 14 she ran away from home, because her mother, who appeared in operatic comedy, was totally obsessed by the theatre. Paradoxically, all the people she met turned out to be performers, and Helen (who needed to make a living, after all) ended up where she hadn't wanted to end up - on the stage. She started out as a chorus girl in the first Ziegfeld Follies in 1907. Her talent for comedy was discovered quite by accident. In 1911, she was understudy to the actress Ina Claire in the Broadway play 'Jumping Jupiter'. One night, Claire was unable to perform and Helen Broderick stood in as the romantic lead. She soon had the audience in stitches, trampling about the stage like an elephant, rolling her big saucer eyes and attempting to croon 'Cuddle Near Me All Day Long' in her rather unique voice. The romance was no more and instead turned into a popular farce with Helen now permanently installed in the lead role. For a while, Helen partnered her husband, Lester Crawford, in vaudeville. In the 1920's, she enjoyed success on Broadway, most notably in 'Fifty Million Frenchmen' ( a role she took to Hollywood in 1931). Her best parts in the movies were as the perennial friend or chaperone of the heroine (an earlier Eve Arden), delivering acidic wisecracks in her inimitable dead-pan manner. She was particularly amusing in Top Hat (1935) and Swing Time (1936) with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers; and in The Rage of Paris (1938) with Danielle Darrieux.

Acting credits

Top Hat poster
7.3

Showman Jerry Travers is working for producer Horace Hardwick in London. Jerry demonstrates his new dance steps late one night in Horace's hotel room, much to the annoyance of sleeping Dale Tremont below. She goes upstairs to complain and the two are immediately attracted to each other. Complications arise when Dale mistakes Jerry for Horace.

Top Hat

1935

Swing Time poster
6.8

Lucky is tricked into missing his own wedding to Margaret and has to make $25,000 so her father will allow him to marry her. He and business partner Pop go to New York where they run into dancing instructor Penny. She and Lucky form a successful dance partnership, but romance is blighted by his old attachment to Margaret and hers for Ricky.

Swing Time

1936

Stage Door Canteen poster
6.3

A young soldier on a pass in New York City visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where famous stars of theatre and film appear and host a recreational center for servicemen during the war. The soldier meets a pretty young hostess and they enjoy the many entertainers and a growing romance.

Stage Door Canteen

1943

Nice Girl? poster
6.4

Jane is a nice girl and has had her eyes on a young man who seems more interested in his hand-built car than in Jane. She decides to shed her "nice girl" image when an associate of her father comes to town on his way to study Australian Aboriginal tribes.

Nice Girl?

1941

The Life of the Party poster
6.2

A singer finds another heir (Gene Raymond) to marry, to avoid the one (Joe Penner) her mother found.

The Life of the Party

1937

Stand Up and Fight poster
6.0

A southern aristocrat clashes with a driver transporting stolen slaves to freedom.

Stand Up and Fight

1939

No, No, Nanette poster
6.2

Perky young Nanette attempts to save the marriage of her uncle and aunt by untangling Uncle Jimmy from several innocent but ensnaring flirtations. Attempting one such unentanglement, Nanette enlists the help of theatrical producer Bill Trainor, who promptly falls in love with her. The same thing happens when artist Tom Gillespie is called on for help. But soon Uncle Jimmy's flirtations become too numerous, and Nanette's romances with Tom and Bill run into trouble. Will Uncle Jimmy's marriage survive, and will Nanette find happiness with Tom, Bill, or somebody else?

No, No, Nanette

1940

The Rage of Paris poster
5.8

Nicole has no job and is several weeks behind with her rent. Her solution to her problems is to try and snare a rich husband. Enlisting the help of her friend Gloria and the maitre'd at a ritzy New York City hotel, the trio plot to have Gloria catch the eye of Bill Duncan, a millionaire staying at the hotel. The plan works and the two quickly become engaged. Nicole's plan may be thwarted by Bill's friend, Jim Trevor, who's met Nicole before and sees through her plot.

The Rage of Paris

1938

Her Primitive Man poster
7.5

An anthropologist unwittingly takes a man disguised as a "primitive man" back to New York as a specimen.

Her Primitive Man

1944

She's Got Everything poster
5.8

The day after Carol returns from a European trip, she wakes up to find her dead father's creditors hauling everything away. Her aunt wants her to marry a millionaire, but Carol insists on getting a job.

She's Got Everything

1937

Naughty but Nice poster
6.8

Donald Hardwick (Dick Powell) is a stuffed-shirt, classical music professor. His family and small-town music college that he works are of equal mindset. When Don visits his black-sheep aunt in New York in order to find a buyer for his Rhapsody he is exposed to her shocking swing music crowd. His life begins to make dramatic changes after drinking a "lemonade" that turns out to be a Hurricane.

Naughty but Nice

1939

Murder on a Bridle Path poster
5.4

When the body of Violet Feverel is discovered on the Central Park bridle path, Inspector Oscar Piper presumes her death was accidental, until his friend, amateur detective Hildegarde Withers, locates Violet’s horse and discovers it is streaked with blood.

Murder on a Bridle Path

1936

Honeymoon in Bali poster
7.5

Bill Burnett, a resident of Bali, visits New York City, meets and falls in love with Gail Allen, the successful manager of a Fifth Avenue shop, who is determined to remain free and independent. Bill proposes, Gail declines and Bill goes home to Bali. But a young girl, Rosie, and Tony the Window Cleaner, who dispels advice on every floor, soon have Gail thinking maybe she was a bit hasty with her no to Bill's proposal. Ere long she discovers that she does love Bill and can't live without him. She goes down to Bali to give him the good news. He learns that he is soon to marry Noel Van Ness. She goes back to New York City.

Honeymoon in Bali

1939

Love on a Bet poster
7.0

An aspiring theater producer convinces his wealthy uncle to finance a play on the condition that he lives the play’s far-fetched plot: making a cross-country trip with no money.

Love on a Bet

1936

Chip Off the Old Block poster
7.0

The son of a strict Navy officer falls for the daughter of a musical-comedy star.

Chip Off the Old Block

1944

The Bride Walks Out poster
5.4

Carolyn Martin is a fashion model who hastily marries her boyfriend, engineer Michael Martin. But part of the marriage arrangement requires that Carolyn quit her $50-per-week modeling job to be a full-time housewife; the couple will instead live on Michael’s $35-per-week job.

The Bride Walks Out

1936

The Road to Reno poster
3.8

An opera singer travels to Reno to divorce her rancher husband.

The Road to Reno

1938

To Beat the Band poster
10.0

An eccentric heir must marry a widow in order to collect the millions left to him in his aunt's will, so a suicidal neighbor agrees to marry the man's young fiancée before offing himself.

To Beat the Band

1935

Love, Honor and Goodbye poster
5.5

A lawyer's wife walks out on him, then poses as a French nurse to spy on him.

Love, Honor and Goodbye

1945

50 Million Frenchmen poster
6.3

Wealthy Jack bets friend Michael he can woo Lu Lu without money within 2 weeks. Michael hires inept detectives to stop Jack, leading to comedic misadventures as Jack pursues Lu Lu while hiding his penniless state.

50 Million Frenchmen

1931

Service de Luxe poster
6.6

Glamorous and efficient Helen Murphy runs a service that will provide any type of assistance to wealthy customers, but what she's really looking for is a man who can take care of himself.

Service de Luxe

1938

Father Takes a Wife poster
6.8

A famous actress has to win over her ready-made family when she weds a shipping magnate.

Father Takes a Wife

1941

Because of Him poster
6.3

A young woman who wants to break into the theater schemes to become the protege of a famous Broadway star.

Because of Him

1946

3 Is a Family poster
9.0

Based on a play by Phoebe and Henry Ephron, "3 Is a Family" is a 1940s farce. Charlie Ruggles plays a hubby whose bungled business schemes force his wife, Fay Bainter, to enter the workplace. The couple's daughter, Marjorie Reynolds, shows up with her twin babies in tow. Son Arthur Lake arrives with his pregnant wife (Jeff Donnell). And overbearing maiden aunt Helen Broderick also decides to move in. Because his wife is away at work, poor old Charlie Ruggles is not only housekeeper, but nursemaid and servant as well.

3 Is a Family

1944