Musical Monday: What’s Cookin’ (1942)

Posted on by

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:
What’s Cookin’? (1942) – Musical #812

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Edward F. Cline

Starring:
Gloria Jean, Leo Carrillo, Jane Frazee, Robert Paige, Charles Butterworth, Billie Burke, Donald O’Connor, Peggy Ryan, Grace MacDonald, Susan Levin, Franklin Pangborn, Charles Lane, Esther dale (uncredited)
Themselves: The Andrew Sisters, Woody Herman and His Orchestra, The Jivin’ Jacks and Jills (Donald O’Connor, Peggy Ryan, Grace MacDonald, Tommy Rall, Roland Dupree, Bobby Scheerer, Dottie Babb, Dolores Mitchell, Jack McGee, Grace MacDonald, Jane McNab, Jane McNab, David Holt, and Corky Geil)

Plot:
A group of young dancers (The Jivin’ Jacks and Jills) have no more money left to pay rent. As they are sneaking out of their boarding house, they meet another performer who is down on his luck, magician Marvo the Great (Carrillo).
At the same time they are getting kicked out of their boarding house, nightclub and radio singer Anne Payne (Frazee) moves to a large estate and feels lonely in the giant home, where she lives alone. Marvo and Anne used to work together and cross paths, and she expresses her loneliness. He fixes this by inviting the group of young dancers to live in her home.
Anne’s wealthy neighbor, Sue Courtney (Jean) overhears the young performers singing and dancing and comes over one day. Hearing that they are trying to get a gig, she tries to work her influence to get them onto a radio program sponsored by her wealthy aunt (Burke) and uncle (Butterworth).

Trivia:
• First feature film featuring the dancing group, The Jivin’ Jacks and Jills, which featured future dancing stars like Donald O’Connor, Peggy Ryan and Tommy Rall.
• Working titles included “Wake Up and Dream” and “What’s Cookin’, Soldier?”
• This was the debut film of jazz clarinetist and orchestra leader, Woody Herman
• This marked Donald O’Connor’s return to the screen after a two year absence and was his first film with Universal. It also marked the first time he and Peggy Ryan co-starred in a film

Highlights:
• The dancing!

Notable Songs:
• “Woodchopper’s Ball” performed by Woody Herman and His Orchestra
• “I’ll Pray for You” performed by the Andrew Sisters and Jane Frazee
• “What To Do?” performed by the Andrew Sisters
• “You Can’t Hold a Memory in Your Arms” performed by Jane Frazee with Woody Herman and His Orchestra
• “Blue Flame” performed by Woody Herman and His Orchestra
• “If” performed by the studio chorus
• “Love Laughs at Anything” performed by Gloria Jean
• “Amen Spiritual” performed by the Andrew Sisters, Jane Frazee, Gloria Jean

My review:
Occasionally, you’ll start watching a film with zero expectations of it being a masterpiece and end up being wowed. This week’s Musical Monday, WHAT’S COOKIN’ (1942), was one of those times.

Now you may be thinking, “Jessica, I just read the plot above. How could this be any good?” And if you are thinking that, it’s a fair point. The plot is a bit convoluted, with too many moving parts and pieces. There are too many plotlines to fully flesh out any character development. But truly, that’s not the point. The point of films like WHAT’S COOKIN’ is to serve as a vehicle for popular and up-and-coming talent, and that’s what this film does.

In a nutshell, several performers end up living in a mansion together and a rich, young opera singer tries her best to get them a gig on a radio program her aunt promotes. The only problem is that her aunt only likes classical music and the performers specialize in jive.

I was wowed from the very beginning as Grace MacDonald does the most beautiful tap dance down a staircase as she and the Jivin’ Jacks and Jills are trying to sneak out of a boarding house. Wouldn’t the taps alert the landlady? Maybe, but who cares. It’s stunning. I was hooked from this moment.

The vocal talent in the film is impressive too, from ballad singing Jane Frazee to the big band trio, The Andrew Sisters, to young opera singer, Gloria Jean – who many considered “the next Deanna Durbin.”

But who stole the show for me were The Jivin’ Jacks and Jills. This group of teenage dancers perform the most energetic and fabulous dances that it made me want to applaud. The “leads” if you will in this dance troupe are faces you recognize: Donald O’Connor and Peggy Ryan. Somewhere in the background is young Tommy Rall, who later was a spotlight dancer at MGM in films like SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS and KISS ME KATE. The Jivin’ Jacks and Jills are honestly just a youthful, joyful experience and marvelous to watch. The way one young man spots as his doing his turns – wow!

This film was also a turning point for O’Connor and Ryan. It was O’Connor’s first film at Universal after leaving Paramount, and it was the first film pairing Ryan and O’Connor together, a dancing partnership that continued for several films.

Several critics don’t care for this film, particularly Andrew Sisters historians, which I can understand why. While The Andrew Sisters receive top billing, their screentime is limited though they get to perform key numbers. It’s not your typical Andrew Sisters vehicle, where the trio is more involved in the plot, like some of their other films.

This highlights the only real problem with this film: there’s almost too much talent to really let anyone shine. Gloria Jean, who she has a good bit of screentime, doesn’t get to sing much, and neither does Jane Frazee. However, jazz clarinetist Woody Herman and His Orchestra really get to shine in this film, and as a former clarinet player, I really enjoyed that.

There are also so many key characters, that you end up wondering “Who is the lead here?” I THINK it’s Jane Frazee. But maybe it’s Gloria Jean? When the film kicked off with Grace MacDonald, I thought it would be her! And then there are Charles Butterworth and Billie Burke, who get to perform their well-known comedic style, but not for long.

However, outside of The Jivin’ Jacks and Jills, the stand out performer in the film for me was Leo Carillo. Carillo was our comedian in the film and had me laughing throughout. He’s excellent in this.

Despite the obvious flaws of this film, such as a plot with too many plotlines and not enough runtime minutes, I really enjoyed WHAT’S COOKIN’. If you are a lover of dance and enjoy seeing a good dance performance, you will enjoy this too.

Other places you can follow Comet Over Hollywood: 

Thank you for reading! What do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.