My Man (1928 film)


My Man is a 1928 black and white part-talkie American comedy-drama musical film directed by Archie Mayo starring Fanny Brice and featuring Guinn "Big Boy" Williams. It was Brice's feature film debut at the age of 37. She was a star in the Ziegfeld Follies before she started acting in motion pictures. At the time Warner Bros. made this film there were still some silent movies in production and being released. My Man used intertitles but included talking sequences, synchronized music, and sound effects using a Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. It was not be until 1929 that talking movies would completely take over, but Warner Bros. had completely stopped making silent movies and switched to sound pictures by the end of that year, either part talking or full talking. Warner Bros. also started making movies in color as well as sound movies.

Plot

Fannie Brand, an industrious girl who supports her brother and sister by working in a theatrical costume house, falls in love with Joe Halsey, a young fellow who earns a precarious living demonstrating an elastic exerciser in a drugstore window. Fannie and Joe set a date to be married, but the wedding is called off when Fannie finds Joe making love to her unprincipled sister, Edna. Fannie auditions for Landau, a theatrical producer, and goes on the Broadway stage. Fannie is a great success, and she and Joe soon find their way back into each other's arms.

Cast

According to Warner Bros. records, the film earned $1,099,000 in the U.S. and $119,000 elsewhere.

Songs

All songs sung by Fanny Brice.

Premiere Vitaphone short subjects

My Man premiered at the Warners' Theatre in Manhattan on December 21, 1928.
TitleYear
Val Harris and Ann Howe in "The Wild Westerner"1928
Irene Franklin, the American Comedienne, with Jerry Jarnagin 1928
Ann Codee and Frank Orth in "Zwei and Furtzich"1928

Film preservation

An incomplete version of this film reportedly survives. In addition to this incomplete copy, the full synchronized soundtrack survives on Vitaphone discs, as well as the soundtrack for the theatrical trailer.