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:
If I Had My Way (1940) – Musical #747

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
David Butler

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Gloria Jean, Charles Winninger, El Brendel, Allyn Joslyn, Claire Dodd, Donald Woods, Moroni Olsen, Nana Bryant, Kathryn Adams, Verna Felton (uncredited), Rafael Alcayde (uncredited), Rod Cameron (uncredited)
Specialty Acts: Six Hits and a Miss, Julian Eltinge, Trixie Friganza, Grace La Rue, Eddie Leonard, Blanche Ring, Paul Gordon

Plot:
Construction workers Buzz Blackwell (Crosby), Fred Johnson (Woods) and Axel Swenson (El Brendel), are about to complete their work on the Golden Gate Bridge. When Fred is killed in an accident, Buzz and Axel take Fred’s young daughter Patricia (Jean) to New York City to live with her uncle, Jarvis Johnson (Joslyn). Not wanting to take responsibility, Jarvis Johnson sends Patricia to her great aunt and uncle, Joe and Marian Johnson (Charles Winninger, Nana Bryant), who welcome the child with open arms. While Buzz is ready to move on to another construction project in Arizona, Axel spends all their money while drunkenly buying an unsuccessful restaurant. Buzz works to transform the restaurant into a vaudeville-themed café to help support Patricia.

Trivia:
• Actress, singer Gloria Jean’s second feature film.
• Last film appearance of Julian Eltinge, Trixie Friganza, Grace La Rue and Eddie Leonard.
• One of two films Bing Crosby made at Universal Pictures.
• Charles Winninger and Blanche Ring were married in real life when this film was made. They were married in 1912 and divorced in 1951.

Highlights:
• Gloria Jean’s pet squirrel
• The rhumba and conga lessons in Allyn Joslyn’s apartment.
• Performances of Six Hits and a Miss

Notable Songs:
• “Meet the Sun Halfway” performed by Bing Crosby and Gloria Jean
• “I Haven’t Time to Be a Millionaire” performed by Bing Crosby, Gloria Jean and El Brendel
• “Little Grey Home in the West” performed by Gloria Jean
• “The Pessimistic Character (with the Crab Apple Face)” performed by Bing Crosby, Gloria Jean, Charles Winninger and Nana Bryant
• “I’ve Got Rings On My Fingers” performed by Blanche Ring and Six Hits and a Miss

My review:
“If I Had My Way” (1940) is a sweet film with a lot of heart. If only it didn’t include El Brendel. But if you can ignore him, it’s not a bad musical.

The film breaks your heart off the bat. It opens with three friends Buzz, Fred and Axel, played by Bing Crosby, Donald Woods and El Brendel, watching home movies of their construction projects — from the Hoover Dam to the Golden Gate Bridge. Don’t get too excited to see Donald Woods like I did, because his role of Fred is sadly brief. He’s on the screen for a few moments and then his character dies while working on the night the Golden Gate Bridge is to be complete.

Crosby and El Brendel’s characters of Buzz and Axel are left trying what to get Fred’s daughter, Patricia, to her appropriate family guardians in New York City. But sadly, Fred’s brother and his wife (Joslyn, Dodd) are too selfish to take on the child, played by Gloria Jean. Instead, Patricia goes to stay with her kindly great aunt and uncle, played by Charles Winninger and Nana Bryant.

Before Buzz and Axel can say goodbye to Patricia and travel to another construction project, Axel drunkenly buys a doomed restaurant, but Buzz manages to transform it into a vaudeville-themed night club.

Admittedly, this plot is all over the place. But it’s still a sweet, enjoyable film.

The scene where Crosby has to tell Gloria Jean that her father has died is heartbreaking, but also a very sweet moment between the actors. They do a great job.

It’s almost surprising that this is only Gloria Jean’s second film. Coming off the success of THE UNDER PUP (1939), Jean is well-cast with Crosby. The two have a sweet chemistry and their duet of “Meet the Sun Halfway” is a great. With a beautiful operatic voice, Jean was built up to be another Deanna Durbin. Though she acts and sings well, for some reason she didn’t meet the same level of success. As an aside, Gloria Jean’s character has a pet squirrel (which is forgotten mid-way through the film) but a highlight, just the same.

Bing Crosby is his usual type of jovial character, smoothly crooning toe-tapping tunes. IF I HAD MY WAY was made away from his home studio of Paramount. This is one of two films he made during this period at Universal in a one year agreement he had with the studio. Interestingly, in this film, Crosby isn’t paired with a romantic leading lady

Charles Winninger and Nana Bryant are, per usual, a real delight. I frankly love Winninger and it was interesting to see Bryant in a role that was not a society woman. Instead, Winninger and Bryant are retired actors who aren’t financially stable.

Allyn Joslyn plays his usual jerk role to the hilt and Claire Dodd is sadly not often on screen much. This was towards the end of Dodd’s film career, which ended in 1942.

But the major downside is El Brendel, with his put on Swedish accent that he used for his entire career. When the film starts you wishfully think, “Maybe he won’t be so bad in this one.” At first you’re fooled to think El Brendel won’t be so bad, but he progressively gets worse. Who let this guy handle their bankroll?!

One highlight of this film are seeing vaudeville headliners playing themselves and get a taste of entertainment from bygone days. Julian Eltinge, Trixie Friganza and Grace La Rue play themselves in cameos as they speak with Crosby’s character in his newly acquired café.

We also see a few perform. One downside is that Eddie Leonard’s performance of “Ida” is in black face.

However, Paul Gordon performing on a unicycle and Blanche Ring singing are a highlight, and give an interesting taste of popular entertainment of the vaudeville-era. An interesting tidbit: Blanche Ring, who appears as herself, and Charles Winninger, who plays Patricia’s great uncle, were married in real life until 1951.

Aside from El Brendel’s mugging and “yumpin’ yimminy” lines, IF I HAD MY WAY is largely enjoyable and sweet.

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