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:
Those Redheads from Seattle (1953) – Musical #826

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Lewis R. Foster

Starring:
Rhonda Fleming, Agnes Moorehead, Teresa Brewer, The Bell Sisters, Gene Barry, Guy Mitchell, Jean Parker, Roscoe Ates, John Kellogg, Frank Wilcox, Walter Reed

Plot:
Vance Edmonds (Wilcox) is a newspaper man in Yukon Territory, trying to clean up a crooked town with his newspaper articles. Not knowing his life is being threatened, his family in Seattle, decides that it’s time to go be with their father including his wife, Mrs. Edmonds (Moorehead) and four daughters, Kathie (Fleming), Pat (Brewer), and Connie and Neill (the Bell Sisters). When they arrive in the Yukon, the Edmond family finds that things are not what they expected and have to find ways to support themselves amongst encounters with saloon owners (Barry) and saloon women.

Trivia:
• Filmed in 3D and it was the first musical filmed in 3D, according to MOMA. KISS ME KATE is often considered the first musical in 3D, but this was released a month prior.
• The first and only feature film starring singer Teresa Brewer
• Billed as “The Bell Sisters,” Kay and Cynthia Strother were a singing sister duo who used their mother’s maiden name of Bell for their act. The sisters appeared in two movies and THOSE REDHEADS FROM SEATTLE was their final film appearance.
• First film for singer Guy Mitchell. He appeared in a total of three feature films and multiple TV appearances.
• Originally set to star John Payne, Arlene Dahl and Rhonda Fleming.
• Singer Mindy Carson was set to star, but Teresa Brewer replaced her.
• Working titles were THE SISTERS FROM SEATTLE and TWO SISTERS FROM SEATTLE.
• Premiered in Seattle
• Filmed on location in Aspen, Colorado

Highlights:
• The Technicolor cinematography
• The singers (Teresa Brewer, Guy Mitchell, Bell Sisters) in rare film roles.

Notable Songs:
• “Mr. Banjo Man” performed by Teresa Brewer
• “Baby, Baby, Baby” performed by Teresa Brewer
• “Take Back Your Gold” performed by the Bell Sisters
• “Chick-a-Boom” performed by Guy Mitchell
• “I Guess it Was You All the Time” performed by Teresa Brewer and Guy Mitchell

Teresa Brewer

My review:
It’s often erroneously cited that KISS ME KATE (1953) was the first musical picture in 3D. Don’t let that fool you, the first 3D musical was this week’s Musical Monday, THOSE REDHEADS FROM SEATTLE (1953).

It would be so wonderful to see THOSE REDHEADS FROM SEATTLE in 3D, but unfortunately I had to watch it “flat” for this viewing. However, many audiences in 1953 watched it “flat,” since many theaters weren’t outfitted with the technology, according to 3D expert, R.M. Hayes.

In the film, Mrs. Edmonds (Moorehead) and her four daughters, Kathie (Fleming), Pat (Brewer), and Connie and Neill (the Bell Sisters) travel from Seattle to Yukon Country in Alaska to visit their husband and father (Wilcox). When they arrive in the Yukon, the Edmond family finds that things are not what they expected and have to find ways to support themselves amongst encounters with saloon owners (Barry) and saloon women.

In addition to the 3D filming and vibrant Technicolor, this film is also interesting because of its cast. More than half of the leading cast of THOSE REDHEADS FROM SEATTLE are film newcomers who are already well-known as singing stars: Teresa Brewer, the Bell Sisters and Guy Mitchell. All of them were only in a couple of films while largely appearing on TV as themselves.

I was most surprised that this was Teresa Brewer’s only film appearance, but it turns out it was her own doing. Paramount Pictures wanted her to sign a film contract, but she turned it down; preferring to stay on the East Coast with her family, according to her 2007 obituary.

In a 2004 interview, Brewer later said she regretted the decision.

“I could kick myself because Paramount wanted to sign me to a seven-year starlet contract. They used the wrong word when they said starlet,” she said. “I was married at the time with two children. I thought: “These people are crazy – a starlet with two children?” And I just said no.”

The Bell Sisters and Guy Mitchell were fine, but didn’t have the charisma and screen prescience that Brewer had.

Rhonda Fleming is stunning in this, and frankly Agnes Moorehead is underutilized. I feel they could have built in more humor for her character as they navigate this strange world of the Yukon.

Another interesting appearance is actress Jean Parker, who in the 1930, always played sweet and kind characters. Here, she plays a sassy, villainous saloon madam. The way she’s made up here, she almost looks like Ethel Merman.

Jean Parker

Overall, the movie is fun with alright songs. The romance aspect gets a bit mixed up, when the sister, Pat, played by Teresa Brewer suddenly likes another character. They also decide to resolve a conflict that I’d forgotten about in the last five minutes of the movie. It felt like they could do this sooner.