"Going Nowhere"

When I posted the "El rides a bicycle!" blog in September 2008, I had no idea where the images of El on a two wheeler came from, but now I think I have the answer.

In the May 25th, 1930 issue of the New York Times, there appeared an article on the upcoming film offerings from the major studios and Fox Films were going unveil to the public "Going Nowhere". The flick was to star El, the little blond keg of dynamite Marjorie White, and Lee Tracy. As we can see in this ad from a 1930 Fox Film calendar, the story revolves around the sport of a six-day bicycle race, a sport which originated in London and was popular in the United States from the late 1890's til around the late 1930's.


It would appear that Fox made the movie once before, in 1928, under the name "Homesick". Benjamin Stoloff, who was to be involved in the production of the Brendel version and the 1928 version (as shown in an early advert for the film below) ended up having nothing to do with the finished product as the film was directed by Henry Lehrman. Seeing as the movies would have been released under 3 years apart, I wonder if they have anything to do with each other at all.
The Australian daybill below shows that the cast of the film changed quite a bit and Sammy Cohen may be the only one to survive the final cuts.


Why "Going Nowhere" was never produced can only be speculated but it is one of the many films in the early 30's that El was announced to be appearing in that never materialized. In the coming months I will be featuring more of these "lost" gems.