 footlight parade   released  viewed br br the ice cream cone invented new yorkbr br kevin long busy break hit another busby berkeley musical warner bros time ultrafast paced footlight parade starring james cagney juggernaut stage producer chester kent  certain cagney channeling berkeley performance irrepressible kent come new ideas performances every minute joan blondell also excellent acidtongued secretaryturnedlove interest ruby keelerdick powell subplot major time less enjoyable one thing baffled berkeleys performances themselves seemed far extravagant complex performed stage let alone stage would showing film afterwards obviously busby let little thing like story impede putting together overthetop musical numbers possibly conjure liked nearly movie end shamelessly offensive number shanghai lil which one guess stomachturning racially distasteful performances comebr br doug six movies three months got new record anywaythis completes warner bros musical trilogy  preceded nd street gold diggers  would definitely recommend watching three row wonder james cagney channeling busby berkeley playing chester kent movie role written inspired busby hope was seems make sense berkeley kind guy would see elaborate dances everyday occurrences way chester does funny thing cagney really look like leading man traditional sense  squareheaded talked odd new york accent guy quite versatile going venomous gangsters made famous fasttalking producertypes see here could dance basically leading man body character actor rest cast familiar faces joan blondell returns steals show cagneys loyal lusting secretary dick powell ruby keeler play cute couple seem get less screen time before billy barty pops mischievous imp movie typical racy adultoriented musicals precode era opposed s s family oriented excellent climax warner musicals year the shanghai lil number withstanding keeler poor job looking chinesebr br last film dinner eight  next film im angel 