NOBODY"S BABY

 

In March I wrote a blog post on a film called KELLY THE SECOND, which was a full-length feature produced by Hal Roach. NOBODY'S BABY, a 1937 movie made after KELLY THE SECOND, was also produced by Roach and released by MGM. This one has Patsy Kelly and Lyda Roberti, who were paired up for two short subjects from the Roach studio after the death of Patsy's onscreen partner Thelma Todd. 

Roach hoped he could continue the Kelly-Roberti team in features, but NOBODY'S BABY, while amusing at times, isn't nearly as funny or entertaining as any one of the Thelma Todd-Zasu Pitts-Patsy Kelly shorts. Patsy and Lyda Roberti play two mismatched ladies who wind up living and then working together as nurses in training. The duo encounter a bit of romance with a reporter (Robert Armstrong) and a detective (Lynne Overman). They also get involved with the problems of a professional dancing couple who are secretly married. The husband (Don Alvarado) does not want the public to know about their personal situation, while the wife (Rosina Lawrence) leaves her partner before she has a chance to tell him she's pregnant. The lady winds up having her baby in secret, at the hospital where Patsy and Lyda happen to work at. The girls volunteer to take care of the baby, and of course all sorts of misunderstandings and complications ensue. 

In the two-reelers she appeared in with Thelma Todd, Patsy Kelly was usually the cause of all the comic troubles in the plot. Here she's the leader of the duo, with much of the humor (such as it is) deriving from the Polish-born Roberti's mangling and confusion of the English language. When she's not yelling at somebody, Patsy spends most of her time being exasperated over Roberti's actions--the two have an almost Moe Howard-Curly Howard relationship. Like Thelma Todd, Lyda Roberti was an attractive blonde--but here she's a very dopey one, which Thelma was decidedly not. Roberti does her best with what is a one-note role, but her character winds up being a bit annoying. 

Three writers are credited on NOBODY'S BABY, but that certainly didn't help out the gags here--there's nothing in this film that winds up being remotely memorable. The idea of having Patsy and Lyda training as nurses sounds promising, but the script doesn't take full advantage of this. There's a few songs (including one that uses the title of the film) and a sequence that shows the dance team in action, but these numbers feel like padding. The movie was directed by Roach veteran Gus Meins. 

Sadly, Lyda Roberti had something else in common with Thelma Todd--an early death. Roberti died in 1938 of a massive heart attack. Patsy Kelly and Roberti might have been able to make it as a comedy team in features if they had better material than they were given in NOBODY'S BABY. The major "what if" is what would have happened if Thelma Todd had lived, and gotten to be in full-length features with Patsy. Having Lyda Roberti be a dumb blonde was very limiting--Thelma had far more comic versatility.