Mickey's Big Broadcast: Kids Playing Radio Stars

If you're looking for a plot that makes sense, look elsewhere. This thing is basically a bunch of kids in a room pretending to be radio legends, and honestly, that's exactly as weird as it sounds. You’ll probably love this if you’re a total sucker for pre-code oddities or just really curious about what a young Mickey Rooney was doing before he became a household name. If you hate watching amateur-style performances or find 1930s variety shows grating, skip it.

The whole premise is just the "gang" setting up a microphone and doing impressions. It’s got that jittery energy that kids have when they’ve been told to act natural but don’t really know how. At times, it feels less like a movie and more like someone filmed a basement talent show.

The Impressions

Watching a kid try to impersonate Cab Calloway is... something. It’s bold, sure, but it mostly makes you wonder how these kids were spending their Saturday afternoons. There’s a frantic, rushed pacing to the whole thing, like they were worried the film reel was going to run out before they finished the bit. 🎤

The transition between acts feels non-existent. One minute you're watching an Al Jolson wannabe, and then suddenly we're onto the next person without a second to breathe. It’s disjointed. It’s messy. It’s barely a movie.

Does it hold up?

It’s a historical footnote, really. You can see the charm, I guess, but it’s not exactly high art. If you compare this to something like The Poor Simp, you start to see how much of a departure this was from the standard studio output. It lacks that polish, which is both its biggest problem and its only real interesting trait.

There's a moment where a kid leans into the mic and just goes for it, and you can tell he's terrified. It feels grounded in a way that modern, over-produced kids' content never is. It’s unrefined. It’s loud. It’s slightly exhausting to sit through in one go. 📻

• The microphones look comically large.
• Mickey Rooney has that same manic grin he kept for sixty years.
• The "broadcast" silence between songs is awkward, not dramatic.

I don't think I'd recommend this to a casual viewer. It’s for the people who dig through dusty archives and like seeing actors before they were famous. It’s definitely not a masterpiece, but it’s a weird little window into a different time. Just don't expect a tight script.