Meet The Boy Friend (1930)

• Director
  • Norman Taurog
• Star
  • Lillian Roth

  This breezy musical short serves as a showcase for the adorable young Lillian Roth, a gifted performer better remembered for her battle with alcohol than for her talent. Today we're accustomed to hearing celebrities discuss their struggles with substance abuse, but when Roth published her memoir "I'll Cry Tomorrow" in 1954 it was highly unusual and decidedly risky for an entertainer to go public as a problem drinker. (Admittedly, by that point Roth's show business career was all but over and she had little to lose.) The book became a best-seller, and the subsequent film version starring Susan Hayward as Lillian was a hit as well, forever establishing Roth as a troubled but brave woman haunted by personal demons.