Musical Monday: Freshman Love (1936)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Freshman Love (1936) – Musical #845

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
William McGann

Starring:
Patricia Ellis, Warren Hull, Frank McHugh, Mary Treen, Joseph Cawthorn, Alma Lloyd, George E. Stone, Henry O’Neill, Anita Kerry, Johnny Arthur, Walter Johnson, Joe Sawyer, Florence Fair, Spec O’Donnell, Dick Purcell (uncredited), Lloyd Bridges (uncredited)

Plot:
The rowing team at Billings College is failing and Coach Hammond’s (McHugh) job is on the line if the team doesn’t improve. The college president’s daughter, Joan Simpkins (Ellis), takes it upon herself to recruit new talent for the rowing team. One is wealthy Bill Wilson (Hull), but when Bill’s dad (Cawthorn) doesn’t want his son to go to Billings, Bill goes under cover to still attend the school.

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Musical Monday: Rock, Pretty Baby (1956)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Rock, Pretty Baby (1956) – Musical #856

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Richard Bartlett

Starring:
Sal Mineo, John Saxon, Luana Patten, Shelley Fabares, Edward Platt, Fay Wray, Rod McKuen, John Wilder, Alan Reed Jr., Douglas Fowley, Bob Courtney, George Winslow, Duncan Richardson, Walter Reed
Themselves: Johnny Grant

Plot:
Jimmy Daley (Saxon) has a rock n’ roll combo with his friends (Mineo, McKuen, Reed Jr., Courtney). While Jimmy has ambitions of hitting it big, his parents (Wray, Platt) have different goals for them. Meanwhile, Jimmy has a contentious relationship with his girlfriend, Joan (Patten).

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Musical Monday: The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) – Musical #855

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Colin Higgins

Starring:
Burt Reynolds, Dolly Parton, Dom DeLuise, Charles Durning, Jim Nabors, Robert Mandan, Lois Nettleton, Noah Beery Jr., Theresa Merritt, Mary Jo Catlett

Plot:
The Chicken Ranch brothel has a long history and has been open for decades and is now under the proprietress of Miss Mona (Parton). The establishment has always been protected by the law, but Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd (Reynolds) and the town face scrutiny when investigative and sensationalist reporter Melvin P. Thorpe (DeLuise) airs on the news that there is a house of ill repute in Texas. Thorpe makes it his mission to get the Chicken Ranch shut down.

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Musical Monday: Cover Girl (1944)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Cover Girl (1944) – Musical #33

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Charles Vidor

Starring:
Rita Hayworth, Gene Kelly, Otto Kruger, Eva Arden, Lee Bowman, Phil Silvers, Leslie Brooks, Jess Barker, Edward Brophy (uncredited), Stanley Clements (uncredited), Thurston Hall (uncredited), Barbara Pepper (uncredited), Milton Kibbee (uncredited)
As themselves: Jinx Falkenburg, Anita Colby,
Other models: Jean Colleran, Francine Counihan, Helen Mueller, Cecilia Meagher, Betty Jane Hess, Dusty Anderson, Eileen McClory, Cornelia B. von Hessert, Karen X. Gaylord, Cheryl Archer, Peggy Lloyd, Betty Jane Graham, Martha Outlaw, Susann Shaw, Rose May Robson

Plot:
Danny (Kelly) runs a nightclub in Brooklyn, NY, with beautiful Rusty Parker (Hayworth) as his lead dancer. Both are ambitious to make it big in show business, and it’s Rusty who hits it big. Vanity magazine is searching for a new face to be the cover model for a special anniversary magazine, and it’s Rusty who wins the contest. While she receives attention around New York City and is offers to appear in Broadway shows, Danny and her friends at her nightclub do not take kindly to her rise in fame.

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Musical Monday: Nob Hill (1945)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Nob Hill (1945) – Musical #854

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Henry Hathaway

Starring:
George Raft, Joan Bennett, Vivian Blaine, Peggy Ann Garner, Alan Reed, Edgar Barrier, B.S. Pully,
Emil Coleman, Mike Mazurki, Rory Calhoun (uncredited), Benson Fong (uncredited), Jean Wong (uncredited)

Plot:
At the turn of the century, Katie Flanagan (Garner) travels from Ireland to San Francisco to live with her uncle. When she arrives at the Gold Coast, the nightclub where he worked, she learns he has died. The club’s proprietor, Tony Angelo (Raft), and star performer, Sally Templeton (Blaine), take Katie under their wing and care for her. Katie also introduces Tony to Nob Hill society heiress, Harriet Carruthers (Bennett), who she met on the ship coming to the United States. Harriett falls for Tony and also convinces him to help back her brother who is running for political office. Tony’s relationship with Harriett and her brother puts him at odds with Sally and peers at the nightclub.

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Musical Monday: A Night at the Opera (1935)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
A Night at the Opera (1935) – Musical #853

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Sam Wood

Starring:
Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Kitty Carlisle, Allen Jones, Walter Woolf King, Sig Ruman, Margaret Dumont, Edward Keane, Billy Gilbert (uncredited)

Plot:
Opera promoter Otis B. Driftwood (Marx) is hoping that wealthy Mrs. Claypool (Dumont) will invest in his opera company. The company’s stars, Rodolfo (King) and Rosa (Carlisle), are at odds because Rodolfo is in love with Rosa and Rosa is in love with tenor, Riccardo (Jones). When the opera company goes to the United States, Riccardo is a stowaway on the boat, with hopes of being with Rosa and the opera company. When the group arrives in the U.S., conflicts arise when Rodolfo feels threatened by the prescience of Riccardo.

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Musical Monday: You Can’t Run Away From It (1956)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

You Can’t Run Away From It, poster, US poster art, from left: June Allyson, Jack Lemmon 1956. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)

This week’s musical:
You Can’t Run Away From It (1956) – Musical #302

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Dick Powell

Starring:
June Allyson, Jack Lemmon, Charles Bickford, Paul Gilbert, Jim Backus, Stubby Kaye, Jacques Scott, Henny Youngman, Allyn Joslyn, Louise Beavers, Jack Albertson, Madge Blake (uncredited), Barrie Chase (uncredited)

Plot:
Ellie Andrews (Allyson), an heiress who marries playboy and racecar driver, Jacques Ballarino (Scott). Ellie’s wealthy Texas rancher father, A. A. Andrews (Bickford) disapproves and tries to keep them apart. When Ellie escapes her father to make her way back to Jacques, she meets reporter Peter Warne (Lemmon), who helps her travels cross country to Houston, in hopes of breaking a big story.

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Musical Monday: Square Dance Jubilee (1949)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about

This week’s musical:
Square Dance Jubilee (1949) – Musical #852

Studio:
Produced by Donald Barry Productions
Distributed by Screen Guild Productions

Director:
Paul Landres

Starring:
Don Barry, Mary Beth Hughes, Wally Vernon, Max Terhune, John Eldredge, Thurston Hall, Chester Clute, Tom Tyler, Tom Kennedy
Themselves: Spade Cooley and His Band, Cowboy Copas, The Broome Brothers, Smiley and Kitty, Johnny Downs, Herman the Hermit, The Elder Lovelies

Plot:
Talent scouts Don Blake (Barry) and Seldom Sam Jenks (Vernon) travel across the west, aiming to have a true western experience, to find musical acts for a television show, Square Dance Jubilee. Along the way, Don and Sam get entangled with western criminals.

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Musical Monday: Montana Moon (1930)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Montana Moon (1930) – Musical #851

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Malcolm St. Clair

Starring:
Joan Crawford, Johnny Mack Brown (billed as John Mack Brown), Dorothy Sebastian, Ricardo Cortez, Benny Rubin, Cliff Edwards, Karl Dane, Lloyd Ingraham, Mary Carlisle (uncredited), Claudia Dell (uncredited)

Plot:
Joan Prescott (Crawford) is a wealthy party girl, whose father (Ingraham) is a cattle rancher in Montana. While on a train trip with the family’s guests, Joan’s sister, Lizzie (Sebastian), confides that she’s in love with Jeff Pelham (Cortez) and asks her sister not to steal this boyfriend, as she has with many others. When Joan realizes Jeff is interested, she hops off the train to help out her sister and meets cowboy Larry Kerrigan (Brown). After a whirlwind romance, Joan brings Larry to meet her rich family and society friends and the two quickly realize Larry doesn’t fit in.

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Musical Monday: Twilight in the Sierras (1950)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Twilight in the Sierras (1950) – Musical #850

Studio:
Republic Pictures

Director:
William Witney

Starring:
Roy Rogers, Trigger, Dale Evans, Estelita Rodriguez, Pat Brady, Fred Kohler Jr., Russ Vincent, George Meeker
Themselves: Riders of the Purple Sage, Foy Willing

Plot:
Roy Rogers is a state parole officer, trying to help convicts recently released from prison a new life. One is Ricardo Chavez (Vincent), who gets conned into returning to crime by creating counterfeit money when his sister (Rodriguez) is kidnapped. Roy and deputized Pat Callahan (Evans) work to uncover the counterfeit ring.

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