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:
Footlight Serenade (1942) – Musical #771

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Gregory Ratoff

Starring:
Betty Grable, John Payne, Victor Mature, Jane Wyman, Phil Silvers, James Gleason, Cobina Wright, June Lang, Frank Orth, Mantan Moreland, Irving Bacon, Charles Tannen, George Dobbs, Hermes Pan (uncredited), Sheila Ryan (uncredited),

Plot:
Tommy Lundy (Mature) is a famous boxer, who is so popular, that Broadway promoter Slap (Silver) contrives a Broadway show around Lundy. Both dancer Pat Lambert (Grable) and her finance Bill Smith (Payne) get a job in the show — tough Pat auditioned and Bill got the job by happenstance for a boxing portion of the show. Tommy immediately makes a play for Pat, making her the understudy for the lead. When Pat and Bill get married, the show’s director (Gleason) asks that they keep it a secret, since Tommy likes Pat.

Trivia:
• Choreographer Hermes Pan appears in the film in an uncredited role as an assistant dance director, and Pan performs a tap number with Betty Grable, “Land on Your Feet.”
• Only the final portion of the number “I’ll Be Marching to a Love Song” was included in film. The entire number was used in the film short, “Hollywood Victory Caravan” (1945). In a 1983 interview, choreographer Hermes Pan said that this was the worst number that he or Betty Grable ever did, according to Pan’s biographer.
• Because of the success of this film, 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck put in Betty Grable’s contract that all of Grable’s feature films had to be filmed in Technicolor, according to the book “The Films of Victor Mature.”
• Victor Mature was trained by Jack Roper for his boxing scene, and insurance policies were taken out on Mature and John Payne for their fight scene, according to “The Films of Victor Mature.”
• Alice Faye was originally slated for the lead, but had to drop out due to pregnancy and was replaced by Betty Grable.
• Betty Grable tore an abdominal muscle during a dance scene and her other dance scenes had to be postponed while she healed, according to “The Films of Victor Mature.”
• Lucille Ball was considered for the role of the secondary female lead, Flo, which eventually went to Jane Wyman.
• Working titles included: Right to the Heart, A Straight Left and Strictly Dynamite. Darryl F. Zanuck also considered calling the film “The Beautiful Hunk,” based on actor Victor Mature’s being called, “that beautiful hunk of a man.”

Highlights:
• The shadow boxing number during the “I Heard the Birdies Sing” number.

Notable Songs:
• “Are You Kiddin’?” performed by Betty Grable
• “Except with You” performed by Cobina Wright
• “I’m Still Crazy for You” performed by John Payne and Betty Grable
• “I Heard the Birdies Sing” performed by Betty Grable
• “Land on Your Feet” danced by Betty Grable and Hermes Pan.

My review:
Do you ever save a movie to watch, not wanting to yet relinquish that first-time-viewing because you know it’s going to be special? I have owned FOOTLIGHT SERENADE (1942) on DVD for several years, but I held off watching it. Betty Grable movies can be hard to come by and I didn’t want to rush the first time viewing.

When I finally watched FOOTLIGHT SERENADE for this review, I wasn’t disappointed. It met (or maybe exceeded?) my expectations of being a great time.

In the film, Victor Mature plays boxer Tommy Lundy, who has a larger than life personality. Tommy is popular in the columns and the nightclubs, and he thinks pretty highly of himself too. Because of his popularity, a Broadway promoter (played by Phil Silvers) hatches the idea of a boxing-themed musical show starting Tommy. While Broadway director, Bruce McKay (James Gleason) thinks the ideal stinks, he can’t deny Tommy’s popularity and the show is underway.

Outside of Tommy’s orbit is dancer Pat Lambert (Betty Grable) who has been engaged to her boyfriend, Bill Smith (John Payne) for years. Pat auditions for Tommy’s show and gets a role in the chorus. Bill, who can’t find a job, is about to head back to his hometown and drops by the stage door to say goodbye to Pat. Luck may have it that Bill also is cast in the show. While Pat’s focus is on Bill, Tommy’s focus is on Pat who he makes the understudy. When Pat ends up with the lead role (when the leading lady, played by Cobina Wright, storms out), Bruce McKay advises Bill and Pat to keep their relationship a secret from Tommy as not to distract from the show. Neither is too happy about this, particularly as Tommy makes a play for Pat.

Admittedly, there are several twists and turns in the plot, but boy did I have fun watching this. For starters, what a cast: Betty Grable, John Payne, Victor Mature, Jane Wyman, Phil Silvers, James Gleason, and Cobina Wright. And each actor brought their own unique spin on their role.

For starters, never have I ever seen Victor Mature in a more hilarious role. He’s excellent in this! Mature’s Tommy Lundy is so boisterous, arrogant and over-the-top that he is just hysterical in this! Mature may truthfully steal the show.

Betty Grable sparkles, per usual. No one can sell a song quite like Grable can, in my opinion. I didn’t feel she got to sing and dance as much as in other films, but she is still a joy to watch.

John Payne is so incredibly handsome in this. He’s frankly always wonderful and a highlight to watch.

Another major highlight for me was Jane Wyman, who plays Grable’s best gal pal. She’s droll and dry and hilarious. She always has a snide remark or a worry because she was reading her cards that day. Lots of fun seeing her in this film.

To round it out, James Gleason is always funny with his bursts of frustration, and Cobina Wright plays the perfect cool, snooty star.

My only minor complaint here is that a little bit of Phil Silvers goes a looooooooooong way, but ironically, the joke here is that he isn’t considered funny.

In addition to an excellent cast, the songs and music are great too. Funnily enough, since I was 14-years-old, I’ve known the songs from FOOTLIGHT SERENADE because of a “Betty Grable Greatest Hits” CD I had, so I could practically sing along to “Are You Kiddin’?” or “I’m Still Crazy for You.” There’s also something special about 20th Century Fox film scores of this era. They are different than most studio film scores of this time, where as the score is like a “pop” score. For example, this score (composed/arranged by Charles Henderson) is entirely big band music.

While I would have enjoyed more dance numbers, we get some fun ones here. Grable and choreographer Hermes Pan perform the tap number “Land on Your Feet” together. Then there is a fun shadow boxing feature in the number “I Heard the Birdies Sing” where Betty Grable dances and boxes with her shadow. It’s one of those fun innovative (for the time) moments to spot in a film.

I could continue to go on and on about FOOTLIGHT SERENADE, but simply put: It’s a ball. With hummable tunes and lots of laughs, you can’t go wrong with this one.

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