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:
Mad About Music (1938) – Musical #380

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Norman Taurog

Starring:
Deanna Durbin, Gail Patrick, Herbert Marshall, Arthur Treacher, William Frawley, Marcia Mae Jones, Helen Parrish, Jackie Moran, Elisabeth Risdon, Nana Bryant, Christian Rub, Charles Peck, Jonathan Hale (uncredited), Martha O’Driscoll (uncredited), Franklin Pangborn (uncredited)
Themselves: Sid Grauman, Cappy Barra and His Harmonica Ensemble

Plot:
Teenager Gloria Harkinson (Durbin) is the daughter of famous film star Gwen Taylor (Patrick), but she has to keep this a secret. Gwen’s manager, Dusty (Frawley), feels it would be bad business if fans and publicity knew Gwen was old enough to have a 14-year-old daughter. Because of this, Gloria creates a fictional father, who is an explorer, who sends gifts and outlandish letters from his adventures. The school’s mean girl, Felice (Parrish), doubts that these stories are true and wants to expose Gloria’s lies. In an effort to keep up the façade, Gloria says her father is coming to visit and greets composer, Richard Todd (Marshall), when he gets off the train. While Richard is initially ready to also fess up to the lie, he’s charmed by sweet Gloria and the two form a friendship.

Trivia:
• Deanna Durbin received a special Oscar for both Mad About Music and That Certain Age for “her significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of her youth, and as a juvenile player, setting a high standard of ability and achievement.”
• Remade as “The Toy Tiger” (1956).
• Deanna Durbin, Gail Patrick and Herbert Marshall reprised their roles on a Lux Radio Theater performance of “Mad About Music,” which aired April 18, 1938.
• Working title was “Father Meet Mother.”
• Deanna Durbin’s third film
• Though Durbin plays a 14-year-old girl, she celebrated her 16th birthday while making the film.
• Though they play foes in a few films, Helen Parrish and Deanna Durbin were close friends.

Highlights:
• The opening number of Deanna Durbin and her classmates singing and riding on bikes.
• The whole movie

Notable Songs:
• “I Love to Whistle” performed by Deanna Durbin and the students
• “Chapel Bells” performed by Deanna Durbin
• “Ave Maria” performed by Deanna Durbin
• “Serenade to the Stars” performed by Deanna Durbin

My review:
I don’t mean to sound dramatic, but Deanna Durbin was an actual angel. She possessed a sweetness, warmth and sincerity that shine through in every performance. While only a young teenager, she also always seems to have an understanding beyond her years.

She sings, I cry. She cries, I cry. Durbin is simply wonderful and it’s no wonderful that she saved Universal from bankruptcy with her films, according to film historian Robert Osborne.

“Mad About Music” (1938) was only her third film, and she already seems like a professional with her acting and her astoundingly beautiful singing voice.

In the film, Durbin plays Gloria, a student at an all-girl’s school in Switzerland. Gloria has been sent to school, because her mother is a famous Hollywood film star, Gwen Taylor (Gail Patrick). But Taylor’s manager (William Frawley) doesn’t let Gloria and Gwen reunite often, because he doesn’t want it to get out that she’s an old enough to have a 14-year-old daughter. Since she can’t talk about her mother and her father is dead, Gloria creates a fictional father who is an explorer that sends her souvenirs from African safaris and other adventures. His letters (written by an elderly man in town) are the envy and highlight of the rest of the students, except for Gloria’s enemy, Felice (Helen Parrish), who doesn’t believe any of the stories are true. Fearing she will be exposed, Gloria says her father is coming to visit and picks out the first suitable male who gets off the local train, that ends up being composer Richard Todd, played by Herbert Marshall.

Gloria eventually confesses the ruse to Richard, who is ready to straighten out the misunderstanding with the school officials. When he arrives for a luncheon held in his honor, he realizes he can’t disappoint Gloria or her friends. Gloria and Richard for a friendship, and eventually, he pieces together who Gloria’s real parents are.

With any other film, the mistaken identity/pretending to be someone else plot can be annoying. But “Mad About Music” pulls off what could be an irritating plot and is a sweet, charming and heartfelt film.

For starters, the cast is outstanding. In addition to Deanna Durbin (you know how we feel about her by now), Herbert Marshall is equally charming, but heartfelt. Marshall and Durbin are a pleasant and heartwarming pair. Gail Patrick’s role is small, but she’s wonderful as always. I love that Frawley’s character says she is “a widow from the south,” since Patrick was actually from Alabama.

William Frawley’s character is a bit of a stinker, but Frawley is also always wonderful. Arthur Treacher is hilarious as Herbert Marshall’s man servant, who is befuddled that his boss may have a daughter he didn’t know about. I particularly like a scene where Treacher walks to answer a door, angrily muttering about his duties, and immediately softens at the sight of Durbin. Nana Bryant and Elisabeth Risdon are also fun as the school’s headmasters who get swept up in the excitement of Durbin’s “father” visiting.

For our younger stars, Helen Parrish is excellent as Durbin’s nemesis, a role type she played again in “First Love” (1939). In real life, Parrish and Durbin were close friends. It’s always a highlight to see Marcia Mae Jones, who plays Durbin’s pal in the movie, and I also love to see young Jackie Moran, who has a crush on Durbin’s character.

The film opens with Durbin and her classmates riding bikes and singing “I Love to Whistle,” and it’s thrilling. That momentum is continued throughout the film with humorous scenes (I laughed when Deanna Durbin is writing 100 times on the board “nice young ladies don’t make other young ladies eat photographs”) and beautiful music.

Producer Joe Pasternak knew we were suckers for opening films with young people riding bikes and singing, because he reprised this idea with another young singing star, Jane Powell, in her first film “Song of the Open Road” (1944).

Sometimes it’s difficult to put in to words how much you enjoyed a film. This one made it easy (I think, I hope you can tell I loved it). It has a lot of heart, warmth, humor and charm. I laughed, I cried and was happy when the movie ended. I hope you feel the same if you seek this movie out.

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