Musical Monday: Hawaiian Buckaroo (1938)

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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:
Hawaiian Buckaroo (1938) – Musical #817

Studio:
Produced by Principal Productions
Distributed by 20th Century Fox

Director:
Ray Taylor

Starring:
Smith Ballew, Evalyn Knapp, Harry Woods, Pat J. O’Brien (billed as Pat O’Brien), George Regas, Benny Burt, Laura Treadwell, Fred ‘Snowflake’ Toones (uncredited), John Ince (uncredited), Robert Fiske (uncredited)

Plot:
Jeff Howard (Ballew) works as a ranch hand herding cattle in Arizona. When the rancher goes bankrupt, the ranch’s cook, Mike (Burt), approaches Jeff about a business partnership where the two would travel to Hawaii and manage pineapple crops. On the boat down to Hawaii, Jeff and Mike meet haughty heiress Paula Harrington (Knapp), who instantly dislikes Jeff. When Jeff and Mike realize their business venture is a scam, they try to find work elsewhere. They end up on Paula Harrington’s ranch, who has problems of her own with people trying to con her out of her property.

Trivia:
• This was adapted for radio for the program, “Hollywood Showcase,” on CBS radio. Smith Ballew reprised his role in the Nov. 14, 1937.
• Filmed on location at the French Ranch in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
• Working title was “Cowboy in Hawaii.”

Highlights:
• The Hawaiian music with steel guitar performed by Sol Hoʻopiʻi and Andy Iona.
• Smith Ballew rescuing a baby cow.

Notable Songs:
• “I Left Her on the Beach at Waikiki” performed by Smith Ballew
• “Hawaiian Memories” performed by Smith Ballew
• “Ridin’ to the Rhythm of the Roundup” performed by Smith Ballew

My review:
Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Tex Ritter are the fan favorites when it comes to singing cowboys – and rightfully so! They are all wonderful, with the perfect western twang.

But for my book, Smith Ballew is an overlooked singing cowboy who needs recognition. For starters and most importantly, he has a smooth and beautiful singing voice. Ballew got his start singing with big band, such as Chick Bullock and Glenn Miller. Ballew performed the vocals on Miller’s famous song, “Serenade in Blue.”

Ballew acted in his first feature film in 1936, and reinvented himself as a singing cowboy in 1937. This wasn’t too far-fetched since Ballew is from Palestine, Texas. Ballew’s third singing cowboy film was this week’s Musical Monday, HAWAIIAN BUCKAROO (1937).

In the film, Smith Ballew plays Jeff Howard, who works as a ranch hand herding cattle in Arizona. When the rancher goes bankrupt, the ranch’s cook, Mike (Burt), approaches Jeff about a business partnership where the two would travel to Hawaii and manage pineapple crops. On the boat down to Hawaii, Jeff and Mike meet haughty heiress Paula Harrington (Knapp), who instantly dislikes Jeff. When Jeff and Mike realize their business venture is a scam, they try to find work elsewhere. They end up on Paula Harrington’s ranch, who has problems of her own with people trying to con her out of her property.

HAWAIIAN BUCKAROO (1938) is so much fun. I loved it because it feels different from other singing cowboy films with the different setting, steel guitar Hawaiian music, and even an ocean voyage!

For starters, the movie stars with ranch hands herding cows in intense dust blowing across the prairie. Though the Dust Bowl ended in 1936, I assumed that is what was being represented here. If so, I rarely see the Dust Bowl represented in films, outside of THE GRAPES OF WRATH. I also love that Ballew rescues a baby cow at the beginning – that is a real highlight.

Then, there’s the angle of taking an ocean voyage to Hawaii, which is certainly the most unique plot setting I’ve ever seen in a western. Throughout, wonderful Hawaiian music is played, performed by famed steel guitarists Sol Hoʻopiʻi and Andy Iona. Ballew croons western songs with a Hawaiian flare.

If you watch this film, you may see “Pat O’Brien” in the credits. No, not the famous Pat O’Brien who was under contract at Warner Bros. This was Pat J. O’Brien, a different actor.

Evalyn Knapp is only alright as a leading lady, but plays mean and haughty quite well.

What I thought was interesting is that this film looks and feels low budget, produced by Principal Productions and running at 58-minutes. But it was produced by Sol Lesser and jewelry outfitted by Eugene Joseff.

I look forward to exploring more of Smith Ballew’s filmography, because I’ve had so much fun with both of the films I’ve watched. The two I’ve sene have unique features. For example, HAWAIIAN BUCKAROO is set in Hawaii and baseball player Lou Gehrig appears in RAWHIDE.

I highly recommend this fun western, with summery Hawaiian music. It’s like taking a vacation … on a Hawaiian dude ranch. And better yet – you can find it on DVD.

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1 thought on “Musical Monday: Hawaiian Buckaroo (1938)”

  1. The term “singing cowboy” always makes me think of Lee Bowman in Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman and the singing cowboy his character played for a while on the radio. I liked the song (songs?) he performed, and this — along with your praise for Smith Ballew (love that name) — makes me willing to check out this film. I’ll certainly keep an eye out!

    Karen

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