Helen Mack in Kiss and Make-up

The other night I watched Kiss and Make-up (1934), a great little Helen Mack movie. Helen's co-star is the wonderful Edward Everett Horton, a very funny character actor, notorious "sissy type," and the narrator of Fractured Fairy Tales from The Bullwinkle Show. Helen Mack is a secretary for Dr. Maurice Lamar, whose business is beauty. It's not really clear whether it's a cosmetic surgery practice or merely a health and makeup sort of office. The doctor is so busy with his female patients that he fails to notice that Helen is in love with him. Edward Everett Horton's incredibly vain wife (Genevieve Tobin) is made over by the doctor, divorces Horton, takes up with Helen's boss, and makes his life miserable. The doctor marries Edward Everett Horton's ex-wife, and they fly to the Mediterranean for their honeymoon, where the doctor is supposed to address a conference of beauty doctors. Naturally, they take Helen Mack along. And, naturally, the narrator of Fractured Fairy Tales shows up at the same resort. People sing songs. Helen and Edward sing a song called Cornbeef and Cabbage, I Love You, which is quite silly. Dr. Lamar tries to sing a song called Love Divided By Two, but his teeth get in the way. It's hard to sing with a frozen, toothy smile on your face. Comedy ensues. You've seen it all before. And, because Kiss and Make-up takes place in an Art Deco beauty palace, there are lots of scantily clad starlets roaming across the frame. And, of course, the best part is Helen Mack. You have Helen Mack walking. Helen Mack swimming. And basically Helen Mack just being Helen Mack. Kiss and Make-up is now one of my favorite Helen Mack movies, right up there with She (1935) and Fit for a King (1937).