

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
The lean, mean 30's, when America laughed… to keep from crying!
Genres
Overview
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.
Details
Budget
$0
Revenue
$0
Runtime
107 min
Release Date
1975-08-06
Status
Released
Original Language
English
Vote Count
7
Vote Average
5.7
Laverne Andrews
Self (archive footage)
Maxene Andrews
Self (archive footage)
Patty Andrews
Self (archive footage)
Fred Astaire
Self (archive footage)
Warner Baxter
Self (archive footage)
Wallace Beery
Self (archive footage)
Brooks Benedict
Self (archive footage)
Constance Bennett
Self (archive footage)
Jack Benny
Self (archive footage)
Busby Berkeley
Self (archive footage)
Irving Berlin
Self (archive footage)
Willie Best
Self (archive footage)
Herman Bing
Self (archive footage)
Joan Blondell
Self (archive footage)
Humphrey Bogart
Self (archive footage)
Fanny Brice
Self (archive footage)
Joe E. Brown
Self (archive footage)
James Burke
Self (archive footage)
James Cagney
Self (archive footage)
Eddie Cantor
Self (archive footage)
Hobart Cavanaugh
Self (archive footage)
George Chandler
Self (archive footage)
Charlie Chaplin
Self (archive footage)
Spencer Charters
Self (archive footage)
Winston Churchill
Self (archive footage)
Mae Clarke
Self (archive footage)
Betty Compson
Self (archive footage)
Gary Cooper
Self (archive footage)
Jackie Cooper
Self (archive footage)
Joan Crawford
Self (archive footage)
Bing Crosby
Self (archive footage)
Frankie Darro
Self (archive footage)
William B. Davidson
Self (archive footage)
Cecil B. DeMille
Self (archive footage)
John Dillinger
Self (archive footage)
Walt Disney
Self (archive footage)
Marie Dressler
Self (archive footage)
Tom Dugan
Self (archive footage)
Margaret Dumont
Self (archive footage)
James Dunn
Self (archive footage)
Irene Dunne
Self (archive footage)
Jimmy Durante
Self (archive footage)
Nelson Eddy
Self (archive footage)
Cliff Edwards
Self (archive footage)
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Self (archive footage)
Bill Elliott
Self (archive footage)
Madge Evans
Self (archive footage)
Alice Faye
Self (archive footage)
Stepin Fetchit
Self (archive footage)
W.C. Fields
Self (archive footage)
Errol Flynn
Self (archive footage)
Dick Foran
Self (archive footage)
Gerald Ford
Self (archive footage)
Preston Foster
Self (archive footage)
Kay Francis
Self (archive footage)
Clark Gable
Self (archive footage)
Judy Garland
Self (archive footage)
Janet Gaynor
Self (archive footage)
George Gershwin
Self (archive footage)
Benny Goodman
Self (archive footage)
Cary Grant
Self (archive footage)
Woody Guthrie
Self (archive footage)
Oliver Hardy
Self (archive footage)
Jean Harlow
Self (archive footage)
George 'Gabby' Hayes
Self (archive footage)
Katharine Hepburn
Self (archive footage)
Billie Holiday
Self (archive footage)
Herbert Hoover
Self (archive footage)
J. Edgar Hoover
Self (archive footage)
Bob Hope
Self (archive footage)
William Hopper
Self (archive footage)
Walter Huston
Self (archive footage)
Lyndon B. Johnson
Self (archive footage)
Al Jolson
Self (archive footage)
Boris Karloff
Self (archive footage)
Ruby Keeler
Self (archive footage)
Jacqueline Kennedy
Self (archive footage)
John F. Kennedy
Self (archive footage)
Fiorello LaGuardia
Self (archive footage)
Hedy Lamarr
Self (archive footage)
Stan Laurel
Self (archive footage)
Gypsy Rose Lee
Self (archive footage)
Vivien Leigh
Self (archive footage)
Carole Lombard
Self (archive footage)
Joe Louis
Self (archive footage)
Myrna Loy
Self (archive footage)
Bela Lugosi
Self (archive footage)
Douglas MacArthur
Self (archive footage)
Jeanette MacDonald
Self (archive footage)
Fredric March
Self (archive footage)
Chico Marx
Self (archive footage)
Groucho Marx
Self (archive footage)
Harpo Marx
Self (archive footage)
Ethel Merman
Self (archive footage)
Grant Mitchell
Self (archive footage)
Paul Muni
Self (archive footage)
Harold Nicholas
Self (archive footage)
Fayard Nicholas
Self (archive footage)
Pat Nixon
Self (archive footage)
Richard Nixon
Self (archive footage)
Jesse Owens
Self (archive footage)
Dick Powell
Self (archive footage)
Eleanor Powell
Self (archive footage)
William Powell
Self (archive footage)
Tyrone Power
Self (archive footage)
George Raft
Self (archive footage)
Paul Robeson
Self (archive footage)
Dewey Robinson
Self (archive footage)
Edward G. Robinson
Self (archive footage)
Ginger Rogers
Self (archive footage)
Will Rogers
Self (archive footage)
Mickey Rooney
Self (archive footage)
Eleanor Roosevelt
Self (archive footage)
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Self (archive footage)
James Roosevelt
Self (archive footage)
Cliff Saum
Self (archive footage)
Max Schmeling
Self (archive footage)
Kate Smith
Self (archive footage)
Barbara Stanwyck
Self (archive footage)
James Stewart
Self (archive footage)
Shirley Temple
Self (archive footage)
Spencer Tracy
Self (archive footage)
Harry S. Truman
Self (archive footage)
Rudy Vallee
Self (archive footage)
Ethel Waters
Self (archive footage)
John Wayne
Self (archive footage)
Johnny Weissmüller
Self (archive footage)
Orson Welles
Self (archive footage)
Mae West
Self (archive footage)
Harlow Wilcox
Self (archive footage)
Walter Winchell
Self (archive footage)
Fay Wray
Self (archive footage)
Loretta Young
Self (archive footage)
Tammany Young
Self (archive footage)
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