With the emergence of "The New Yorker", Benchley was able to stay away from Hollywood work for a number of years. In 1931, he was persuaded to do voice work for RKO Radio Pictures for a film that would eventually be titled "Sky Devils," and he acted in his first feature film, "The Sport Parade" (1932) with Joel McCrea. The work on "The Sport Parade" caused Benchley to miss the fall theatre openings, which embarrassed him (even if the relative success of "The Sport Parade" was often credited to Benchley's role), but the lure of filmmaking did not disappear, since RKO offered him a writing and acting contract for the following year for more money than he was making writing for "The New Yorker".