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:
Pardon My Rhythm (1944) – Musical #819
Studio:
Universal Pictures
Director:
Felix E. Feist
Starring:
Gloria Jean, Patric Knowles, Evelyn Ankers, Marjorie Weaver, Walter Catlett, Mel Tormé,
Patsy O’Connor, Ethel Griffies, Jack Slattery, Linda Reed,
Himself: Bob Crosby, The Mel-Tones
Plot:
Teenage Jinx Page (Jean) is smitten with drummer Ricky O’Bannon (Tormé), who also is the bandleader for a teenage big band. Jinx supports and funds the band from buying them uniforms to allowing them to practice at her house. Ricky wows bandleader Bob Crosby (himself) and Crosby tasks his lead singer, Dixie Moore (Weaver), to woo Ricky so that he will join Crosby’s band. Jinx is jealous of Dixie, so she tries to find someone else to romance Dixie. Jinx enlists her father, playwright Tony Page (Knowles), which complicates his own engagement to Julia (Ankers).
Trivia:
• Working titles were “Rockin’ the Band” and “She Shall Have Music.”
• Based on the story “Miss I.Q.” by Hurd Barrett
Highlights:
• Mel Torme playing the drums
Notable Songs:
• “You’ve Got to Hand it to the Band” performed by Gloria Jean and the Mel-Tones
• “I’ll See You in My Dreams” performed by Bob Crosby
My review:
Opera singing Deanna Durbin was Universal Studio’s top star. She specialized in playing plucky characters who both solved and caused problems, while singing stunning arias throughout her films.
As Durbin moved into her teen years and advanced into adult roles, Gloria Jean was signed to Universal as another opera singing youth.
As she too started to move into her teen years, the studio looked for more adult roles. Their answer for Jean was PARDON MY RHYTHM (1944), this week’s Musical Monday.
“This new picture will show her new maturity in sooth and truth,” said a Jan. 27, 1944, Los Angeles Times article.
In the film, teenage Jinx Page (Jean) is smitten with drummer Ricky O’Bannon (Tormé), who also is the bandleader for a teenage big band. Jinx supports and funds the band from buying them uniforms to allowing them to practice at her house. Ricky wows bandleader Bob Crosby (himself) and Crosby tasks his lead singer, Dixie Moore (Weaver), to woo Ricky so that he will join Crosby’s band. Jinx is jealous of Dixie, so she tries to find someone else to romance Dixie. Jinx enlists her father, playwright Tony Page (Knowles), which complicates his own engagement to Julia (Ankers).
While the film was a vehicle for Jean, it more so showcased the talents of up-and-coming musician and singer, Mel Tormé. Today, we know Tormé best for his “velvet fog” singing voice. But in PARDON MY RHYTHM (1944), we get to see the true musical talent of Torme, as he demonstrates his drumming.
In fact, you won’t hear Tormé sing in this film at all. All the singing is performed by Marjorie Weaver, Bob Crosby (brother of Bing) and Gloria Jean.
For such a tuneful bunch, there are fewer songs that you would expect in this, though much of the music is performed by Tormé on the drums. Headlines of 1944 made much of this being Crosby’s first film since leaving Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Patric Knowles similarly has little to do in this film. But of all the performers, actress Patsy O’Connor who plays Gloria Jean’s friend has the best role. Patsy O’Connor was the niece of another Universal star, Donald O’Connor.
Somehow, though, while I usually love these 62-minute musical romps, this one somehow felt very long and lifeless.
In his TCM review book, Leonard Maltin called this film a “naïve minor musical set in an ultra wholesome high school.” And that’s about all there is to say about it.
It’s brief, and somewhat pleasant but also there’s not much more else to say about it.
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