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:
Mardi Gras (1958) – Musical #806

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Edmund Goulding

Starring:
Pat Boone, Christine Carère, Tommy Sands, Sheree North, Gary Crosby, Fred Clark, Dick Sargent (billed as Richard Sargent), Barrie Chase, Jennifer West, Geraldine Wall, King Calder, Robert Burton,
Cameo: Robert Wagner

Plot:
The students at Virginia Military Institute (VMI) are notified that they will get attend the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans and march in the parade. Three pals — Paul (Boone), Barry (Sands) and Tony (Crosby) — realize that French film star Michelle Marton (Carère) will also be in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. The three hatch a plan to hold a raffle with the VMI students where the winner will ask Michelle Marton as their date to VMI’s graduation. Once in New Orleans, while the guys try to meet Michelle, she goes undercover so she can have some fun.

Trivia:
• For the film, 20th Century Fox flew the VMI Regimental Band and Regimental Staff to fly to New Orleans to march in the Rex parade, according to the Virginia Military Institute Preston Library.
• The world premiere of the film was on Nov. 11 at the State Theater in Lexington, Virginia. Christine Carère attended the premiere and toured the campus, according to the Virginia Military Institute Preston Library.
• Eileen Wilson dubbed the singing voices for both Sheree North and Christine Carère.
• Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, Tony Randall and Mitzi Gaynor were considered as the film’s leads.
• Sheree North’s final film under contract to 20th Century Fox.
• Shirley Jones and Jill St. John were considered from roles in the film, according to news items in the Hollywood Reporter in 1958.
• Because the American Federation of Musicians was on strike, the film’s original scoring was recorded in Mexico. However, the entire film’s score and musical songs had to be re-recorded, because the studio didn’t feel the musicians captured the Dixieland flavor of the music, according to a Oct. 1958 Hollywood Reporter article.
• Lionel Newman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.
• Crews filmed on location in New Orleans and the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia.
• Director Edmund Goulding’s final film.
• Filmed in CinemaScope and Deluxe Color.
• Gene Kelly was considered to direct the film but was too expensive for the filming.

Highlights:
• Deluxe Color cinematography

Notable Songs:
• “Bourbon Street Blues” performed by Pat Boone
• “Loyalty” performed by Pat Boone, Tommy Sands, Gary Crosby
• “I’ll Remember Tonight” performed by Pat Boone

My review:
There are some films that feature actors early in their careers; either on the cusp of success or hot after their first success. An example is TWO GIRLS AND A SAILOR (1943), featuring fresh faced up-and-coming stars Van Johnson, June Allyson and Gloria DeHaven—and the film made them stars.

Another is this week’s Musical Monday, MARDI GRAS (1958), which could practically be titled “New Faces of 1958.”
• It’s singer, actor Pat Boone’s third film, fresh off the success of APRIL LOVE (1957)
• It was singer, actor Tommy Sands’s second feature film
• Though Gary Crosby appeared in roles as himself as a child, like DUFFY’S TAVERN, this was his first feature film as an adult and not playing himself
• Though well-established in France, this was Christine Carère’s second of three American films.

In a youthful story, students at Virginia Military Institute (VMI) are notified that they will get attend the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans and march in the parade. Three pals — Paul (Boone), Barry (Sands) and Tony (Crosby) — realize that French film star Michelle Marton (Carère) will also be in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. The three hatch a plan to hold a raffle with the VMI students where the winner will ask Michelle Marton as their date to VMI’s graduation. The winner (of course) is Paul, who is the least enthusiastic about the contest. Once in New Orleans, while the guys try to meet Michelle, she goes undercover so she can have some fun and meets Paul along the way.

If you’re watching the movie and it reminds you of BROTHER RAT (1938), that’s no coincidence. As the fellas call each other “Rat” at a military institute, producer Jerry Wald was harkening back to his time when he wrote the film adaptation of the 1938 film. During the making of MARDI GRAS, he wanted to rework the film into a more glamorous and romantic version of BROTHER RAT, according to Pat Boone’s biographer.

MARDI GRAS (1958) is vibrantly colorful and filled with songs. It’s fun to have a variety of crooning young men between Pat Boone, Tommy Sands and Gary Crosby. Dick Sergeant, early in his career, also appears in the film, long before he took over as Darren on “Bewitched.” They are all fun in their roles, but if I’m being honest, of the trio, I was partial to Sands. I think Boone was supposed to be the heartthrob, but let’s be real — Sands is more handsome. In fact, Boone’s agents were concerned when they heard Sands was cast in the film, because they saw Sands as a threat — requesting for Boone to receive top billing, according to Pat Boone’s biographers. In my opinion, Boone’s agents had every reason to be concerned, because Sands is more charismatic.

With our female leads, French actress Christine Carère as adequate but not terribly interesting. The other women in the cast, Sheree North and Barrie Chase are more interesting but under utilized. Chase gets to do a great dance number but North doesn’t really have the opportunity to dance. Instead, she gets Gary Crosby and serenades (with a dubbed singing voice) a gorilla mask. That part of the film is a bit dumb.

While the rest of the cast are on the cusp of their careers, North was going in a different type of career transition. MARDI GRAS was her final film under contract with 20th Century Fox.

While the film is pleasant and entertaining, the behind the scenes may be more interesting:
– To properly prepare for the film, Tommy Sands wanted to travel to VMI before filming began to get a feel for life as a student and in the barracks. When he arrived, Sands received the mandatory crew cut, ate with the cadets and went to bed at 7:30 p.m. with the other students. He eventually transferred to a hotel so he’d be able to study his lines, but continued cutting his hair into the crew cut for the rest of filming, according to Pat Boone’s biographer.
– During the filming, the American Federation of Musicians were on strike, so the songs and background music were recorded by musicians in Mexico. However, the entire score had to be re-recorded because the studio didn’t feel the musicians captured the Dixieland/American South theme of the music, according to Oct. 1958.

While MARDI GRAS is overall pleasant, I’ll admit some scenes are pretty silly. At one point, Sheree North even quotes the song “Some Enchanted Evening,” from another 20th Century Fox film, SOUTH PACIFIC.

I wish we had a better leading lady and that Tommy Sands was our true leading man, but it’s a great time — and actually on DVD!

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