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:
Carolina Blues (1944) – Musical #378

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Leigh Jason

Starring:
Themselves: Kay Kyser, Georgia Carroll, Harry Babbitt, Ish Kabibble, Sully Mason
Also starring: Ann Miller, Victor Moore, Jeff Donnell, Howard Freeman, Ruby Dandridge (uncredited), Frank Orth (uncredited), Doodles Weaver (uncredited)
Specialty Acts: Harold Nicholas, the Cristiani Family, the Layson Brothers, the Four Step Brothers, the Golden Gate Quartette

Plot:
Kay Kyser and his band (all playing themselves) return home to the United States from a tour overseas. All of them are exhausted and ready for a vacation, but Kyser’s publicist (Donnell) signed the band up for a bond tour. Kyser agrees to do a performance if it can raise money for a destroyer named for his hometown of Rocky Mount, N.C. Another problem is that Kyser’s lead girl singer, Georgia Carroll (herself), is leaving the band to get married. When Kyser and his band play at a shipyard, the plant’s manager, Phineas Carver (Moore), hopes his daughter Julie (Miller) can be the band’s next singer.

Trivia:
• Kay Kyser’s last feature film
• Georgia Carroll and Kay Kyser were married this same year
• Working title was “Battleship Blues.”

Highlights:
• Doodles Weaver as a Kay Kyser impersonator
• Ish Kbibble’s entire family including the dog having the same haircut as him.
• Victor Moore playing all of his relatives.

Notable Songs:
• “Poor Little Rhode Island” performed by Harry Babbitt and Sully Mason with Kay Kyser and his Band
• “You Make Me Dream Too Much” performed by Georgia Carroll with Kay Kyser and his Band
• “Thanks a Lot” performed by Ann Miller
• “There Goes That Song Again” performed by Harry Babbitt and Kay Kyser’s Band.
• “Mr. Beebe” performed by Ann Miller, Harold Nicholas, June Richmond, The Four Step Brothers and Marie Bryant
• “Thinkin’ About the Wabash” performed by Harry Babbitt, Ann Miller, Georgia Carroll and Kay Kyser Band members

My review:
When it comes to big band leaders of the 1940s, today Kay Kyser may not be as well-known as his contemporaries, like Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey or Harry James. But in the 1930s and 1940s, Kyser was just as popular as these bandleaders.

And while Miller, Dorsey and James, appeared in films where they would play their music and have a few lines, Kyser had seven films built around his music, band and comedic style. Kyser and his singers — like Ish Kabibble, Sully Mason, Harry Babbitt, Georgia Carroll (or Ginny Simms in earlier films) — starred as themselves and took an active part in the comedy, music and storytelling.

CAROLINA BLUES (1944) was the last film featuring Kay Kyser and his band in this nature. The film begins as an unofficial sequel to Kyser’s previous film, AROUND THE WORLD. Kyser and his band have returned from a USO tour around the globe. The band members are exhausted and one of Kyser’s lead singers, Georgia Carroll, wants to leave the band to marry. However, the band’s publicist has signed the band up for a bond tour. In the meantime, a dancer and singer, Julie (Ann Miller) hopes to replace Georgia as the band’s new singer.

While CAROLINA BLUES may not be the best of the Kay Kyser films, it is still lots of fun. The music is fantastic and there are some legitimately funny moments (like Ish Kabbible’s whole family having the same bowl cut). Two of the show stopping tunes to me are “Thinkin’ About the Wabash” and “Mr. Beebe,” which features Harold Nicholas. We get some wonderful close ups of crooner Harry Babbitt, as well as gorgeous Georgia Carroll. I also loved Georgia Carroll and Ann Miller harmonizing in the “Wabash” number. Ann Miller gets a few fun numbers along the way, but she was not fully a star quite yet.

And while I had fun watching this, it still lacks something that Kyser’s earlier films had. Partially, this is because his musical arrangements had changes completely by this time. His songs used to open singing a few bars of the chorus, playing music, and then Kyser introducing the singers who then perform. By this time, the band’s musical style had changed after they lost their arrangements in a bus fire. The songs were no longer structured like this and they lost some of the comedic value they used to have.

This style is reflected in the film. While it’s funny, it doesn’t feel as humorous as earlier films like THAT’S RIGHT—YOU’RE WRONG or YOU’LL FIND OUT.

While I had fun watching this movie, it is bittersweet to watch, knowing it’s Kay Kyser’s last feature film. By the 1950s, Kyser retired and returned home to North Carolina. While his career continued until 1948, this feels like the end of an era.

A fun twist? While in the film, Georgia Carroll said she is leaving the band to marry, she and bandleader Kay Kyser were married in 1944.

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