Make 'Em Laugh (The Funny Business of America)
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Featuring Ted Healy (Solo)
80.33 min. (Feature Film)
Two con men (Jack Benny and Ted Healy) specialize in fixing horse races and boxing matches. Calvin Churchill (Benny) is conscious stricken with patriotism when he hears that the IRS is after back taxes on gambling winnings. Hoping to make amends, and with an IRS investigator (Nat Pendleton) hot on the trail, he and Clip (Healy) head for Desert Springs, CA where Calvin's estranged wife is a tennis instructor at a resort spa. Posing as an entrepreneur and hot air ballooning adventurer, Churchill is dumbfounded to meet an aeronautic industrialist who wants Cal and Clip to pilot his new stratosphere orbiter... and other guests offering thousands in corporate sponsorships for the test flight. The duo find themselves faced with the dilemma of risking their lives for a fortune, or giving themselves up for prosecution.
Although Jack Benny headlines the cast, he plays it straight as the good-hearted and love-sick conman, while Healy and Pendleton provide the laughs.
Jack Benny
Calvin Churchill
Ted Healy
Clip McGurk
Nat Pendleton
Henry Potke
Una Merkel
Alice Lane Churchill
Grant Mitchell
W. R. Gridley
Mary Carlisle
Grace Gridley
Harvey Stephens
Sidney Kendall
Clarence H. Wilson
Amos Whipple
Richard Tucker
IRS Chief
Purnell Pratt
Horace McNab
Larry Wheat
Mr. Tubbs
Al Shean
Mr. Johnson
Howard C. Hickman
Mr. Ruby
Phillips Smalley
Mr. Winterby
Richard Kipling
Mr. Platt
Johnny Arthur
Jones, photographer
Charles Trowbridge
Alfred Drake
Louis Natheaux
Race track clerk
Eddie Tamblyn
Jockey
Ernie Adams
Counterman
Herbert Ashley
Boxing bettor
Matt Roubert
Newsboy
Lee Phelps
Federal investigator
Stanley Andrews
Federal investigator
Tyler Brooke
Hotel clerk
Robert Gordon
Elevator operator
Sherry Hall
Trash scrounger
Jim Thorpe
Indian father
Dean Reisner
Indian brave
Maude Allen
Mrs. Burlington
Ivan Miller
Maloney
Ralph Bushman
Martin, hotel clerk
John 'Skins' Miller
Elmer, masseur
Richard Powell
Fritz, masseur
Red Pearson
Bellboy
James Conaty
Nightclub patron
Dale Van Sickel
Nightclub patron
Jay Eaton
Nightclub patron
Jack Byron
Nightclub patron
Ronald R. Rondell
Nightclub patron
Milton Owen
Cashier
Broderick O'Farrell
Asst. cashier
Shirley Ross
Mary, cigar counter clerk
Isabelle Keith
Guest at money auction
Edmund Mortimer
Guest at money auction
Jean Gunn
Little girl with autograph book
Harold Miller
Man in restaurant
Margaret Seddon
Martha
Sheldon Jett
Passenger on bus
Jim Toney
Curly, house detective
Cyril Ring
Drake's assistant
Sarah Edwards
Old maid
Bill Dooley
Taxi driver
Dennis O'Keefe
Announcer
George Chandler
Reporter
Don Brodie
Reporter
Frank Marlowe
Reporter
Harry Lee
Reporter
William Tannen
Pilot, scene deleted
Olaf Hytten
Tod Brodie, scene deleted
Claude King
Sir Phillips, scene deleted
Unidentified IT'S IN THE AIR 1
Deaf bettor
Unidentified IT'S IN THE AIR 2
Detectives
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Counterman
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Timmy, tennis pro
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Switchboard operators
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Bellhops
Unidentified IT'S IN THE AIR 7
Whipple's secretary
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Indians' customers
Unidentified IT'S IN THE AIR 11
Autograph hounds
Unidentified IT'S IN THE AIR 12
Elevator operator
Unidentified IT'S IN THE AIR 15
Double-decker passengers
Unidentified IT'S IN THE AIR 16
Bus driver
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Motorist
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Balloon crew
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Arizona depot
Unidentified IT'S IN THE AIR 20
Spectators
Charles F. Reisner
Director
Harry Rapf
Producer
Byron Morgan
Story and Screenplay
Lew Lipton
Story and Screenplay
William S. Gray
Film Editor
Charles Edgar Schoenbaum
Photography
Cedric Gibbons
Art Director
Edwin B. Willis
Associate Art Director
Paul Crawley
Associate Art Director
Douglas Shearer
Recording Director
Dolly Tree
Costume Design
William Axt
Musical Score
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