Musical Monday: All Ashore (1953)

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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 800. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
All Ashore (1953) – Musical #862

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Richard Quine

Starring:
Mickey Rooney, Dick Haymes, Ray McDonald, Peggy Ryan, Barbara Bates, Jody Lawrance, Fay Roope, Jean Willes, Rice Owen, Patricia Edwards (billed as Patricia Walker), Eddie Parker, Dick Crockett, Frank Krieg, Ben Welden, Gloria Pall, Joan Shawlee

Plot:
Moby Dickerson (Rooney), Joe Carter (Haymes) and Skip Edwards (McDonald) are sailors on leave. Joe and Skip are perpetually broke and use Moby to get by financially. When the three end up on Catalina Island, Skip meets dancer Gay Night (Ryan) and Joe meets Nancy Flynn (Lawrence), Moby is left out as they use him.

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Musical Monday: Sons O’ Guns (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 800. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Sons O’ Guns (1936) – Musical #861

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Lloyd Bacon

Starring:
Joe E. Brown, Joan Blondell, Beverly Roberts, Eric Blore, Craig Reynolds, Winifred Shaw, Joe King, Robert Barrat, G.P. Huntley, Grant Mitchell, Bert Roach, David Worth, David Worth, Mischa Auer

Plot:
Broadway actor Jimmy Canfield (Brown) has no desire to enlist during World War I, and faces criticism from his audiences, his girlfriend Mary (Roberts) and his girlfriend’s father (King). Jimmy says he can’t get mad at anything. While trying to avoid a breach of promise suit with a former suitor, Bernice (Shaw), Jimmy escapes a confrontation by saying he enlisted. While thinking he’s playing a joke, the joke is on him when he actually enlists in the U.S. Army.

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Musical Monday: Hold That Ghost (1941)

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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:
Hold That Ghost (1941) – Musical #859

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Arthur Lubin

Starring:
Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Richard Carlson, Joan Davis, Evelyn Ankers, Mischa Auer, Marc Lawrence, Shemp Howard, Russell Hicks, William B. Davidson, Paul Fix (uncredited), Thurston Hall (uncredited),
Themselves: Ted Lewis, The Andrew Sisters

Plot:
Down-on-their-luck gas station attendants Chuck Murray (Abbott) and Ferdinand Jones (Costello) get mixed up in a shootout with gangster Moose Matteson (Davidson). When Moose is killed, his will says that his money and estate, which includes an old tavern, goes to whoever is with him when he dies. With Murray and Jones inheriting his estate, all of Moose’s gang is after them so they can get the money. Chuck and Ferdinand take a small bus with a group of people Dr. Jackson (Carlson), Norma Lind (Davis) and Camille Brewster (Ankers). When the weather gets bad, they are dropped off at Moose’s tavern, which is a spooky and deserted. Throughout their stay, the group find the house may be haunted.

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Musical Monday: Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow (1959)

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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 800. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow (1959) – Musical #860

Studio:
American International Pictures

Director:
William J. Hole Jr.,

Starring:
Jody Fair, Russ Bender, Henry McCann, Martin Braddock, Elaine DuPont, Leon Tyler, Jack Ging, Nancy Anderson, Dorothy Neumann, Sanita Pelkey, Kirby Smith, Jeanne Tatum, Beverly Scott, Bill St. Johns, Judy Howard, Roy Wright, Harrison Lewis, Paul Blaisdell
Himself: Tommy Ivo

Plot:
A group of teens forms a clean hot rod club, where there are no rumbles or dangerous drag racing. Their clubs are held at a local soda shop, but when it closes, the aunts (Neumann) of one of the members offers them her house, even though it may be haunted.

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Musical Monday: Phantom of the Opera (1943)

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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:
Phantom of the Opera (1943) – Musical #816

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Arthur Lubin

Starring:
Claude Rains, Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster, Edgar Barrier, Leo Carrillo, Jane Farrar, J. Edward Brombeg, Fritz Feld, Hume Cronyn, Nicki Andre

Plot:
Composer Erique Claudin (Raines) is failing in his career. He is a violinist with the Paris Opera, but his career is declining due to an ailment in his hand that’s affecting his work, and he is unable to sell a manuscript he composed. When he’s fired, he is also broke as he has spent all of his earnings to anonymously fund the singing lessons of Christine DBois (Foster), who is the understudy to the primadonna (Farrar). While Erique is smitten with Christine, she has also captured the attention of police detective Raoul Daubert (Barrier) and Paris Opera baritone, Anatole Garron (Eddy). When Erique suffers from an affliction to the face, he hides in the sewers of the Paris Opera House and works to ensure Christine’s success, even if it means murder.

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Musical Monday: Up in the Air (1940)

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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 800. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Up in the Air (1940) – Musical #858

Studio:
Monogram Pictures

Director:
Howard Bretherton

Starring:
Frankie Darro, Marjorie Reynolds, Mantan Moreland, Gordon Jones, Lorna Gray, Tristram Coffin, Clyde Dilson, Dick Elliott, John Holland, Carleton Young, Alex Callam, Maxine Leslie, Ralph Peters

Plot:
When a primadona radio singer, Rita Wilson (Gray), is killed during a rehearsal, police try to figure out who shot her in the locked studio. Radio employees Frankie (Darro) and Jeff (Moreland) the police find the murderer, while also trying to boost new singer, Anne (Reynolds).

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Musical Monday: Freshman Year (1938)

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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 800. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Freshman Year (1938) – Musical #857

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Frank McDonald

Starring:
Constance Moore, William Lundigan, Dixie Dunbar, Mark Daniels (billed as Stanley Hughes), Ernest Truex, Frank Melton, Marc Cramer, Don Defore (uncredited), Alan Ladd (uncredited), Fay McKenzie (uncredited), Arthur O’Connell (uncredited),
Themselves: Tommy Wonder, The Lucky Seven, The Murtagh Sisters, The Diamond Brothers

Plot:
As the school year begins at Carleton College, the freshman class tries to navigate their new collegiate life. Particularly, Bob Potter (Lundigan), Jay Hill (Daniels) and Tex Hodges (Melton). The trio hopes to get asked to pledge with an elite fraternity, but when only Bob is asked, he declines in solidarity with his friends. Bob also developes a money making scheme that backfires. When a student flunks their exam, they can pay $10 to retake it. Bob creates flunk insurance to help with the $10 fee, but when everyone flunks a test, Bob finds himself $800 in the hole. Their girlfriends (Dunbar, Moore) hatch a plan for the student to put on a show to earn the money back.

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Musical Monday: Collegiate (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:
Collegiate (1935) – Musical #836

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Ralph Murphy

Starring:
Joe Penner, Jack Oakie, Ned Sparks, Francis Langford, Betty Grable, Lynne Overman, Henry Kolker
Themselves: Betty Jane Cooper, Bob Crosby, Mack Gordon, Harry Revel

Plot:
Jerry Craig (Oakie) inherits an all-girl school from his aunt and can’t sell the school. They also meet Joe (Penner), who has amnesia but somehow has a great deal of money and is their financial benefactor. To make the school profitable and with the use of Joe’s money, Jerry and his pals (Sparks, Overman) transform the school into a charm school. Jerry also overcomes one road block: Miss Hay (Langford), who was his aunt’s secretary and is protective over the school.

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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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