Wake Up and Live 1937

Eddie Kane [Jack Haley] comes to town hoping to break as a singer in a vaudeville duet with Jean Roberts [Grace Bradley]. Unfortunately, he fails an audition at a radio station because he suffers from mic fright. Jean goes off to perform on her own, and Eddie takes a job as an usher at the same station. While there, he overhears a motivational program called Wake Up and Live hosted by Alice Huntley [Alice Faye], and he decides to befriend the host, hoping to use her techniques to conquer his fear of microphones.

One day, while alone in a studio, Eddie sings into what he thinks is a dead mic as a bit of practice, and somehow his performance goes out live over the air. Across the country, audiences are charmed by the voice, but no one knows who the mysterious singer is. A media sensation unfolds as everyone scrambles to identify the so‑called “Phantom Troubadour,” and the intrigue intensifies as rival radio announcers Walter Winchell [Walter Winchell] and Ben Bernie [Ben Bernie]—playing themselves—try to outdo one another to be the first to unmask him.

Unbeknownst to Eddie, he is now the center of attention, and the plot thickens as he follows the growing mystery with a mix of curiosity and naiveté. Meanwhile, Alice realizes she can capitalize on the situation and begins to steer events for profit. She tells the station that she knows who the phantom is and offers to broadcast his voice from her apartment for money, all the while withholding the singer’s true identity and withholding the truth from Eddie. She choreographs a series of increasingly tangled setups in which he sings into a microphone he believes is off, only to discover that it’s live to air, fueling the farce even further.

As the farce unfolds, the audience becomes enthralled by the blend of music, secrecy, and backstage scheming. The escalating cat‑and‑mouse game pulls in the listeners, the announcers, and Eddie himself, who gradually becomes aware of how deeply the ruse has spiraled. Through a mix of wit, misdirection, and musical moments, the story threads together honesty, ambition, and romance. In the end, the truth comes to light, and what began as a spicy broadcast hoax settles into a real connection: Alice and Eddie find genuine feeling for each other, built on the shared experience of fame, risk, and the thrill of a microphone that truly carried their voices.