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:
You Can’t Have Everything (1937) – Musical #615

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Norman Taurog

Starring:
Alice Faye, The Ritz Brothers, Don Ameche, Charles Winninger, Gypsy Rose Lee (billed as Louise Hovick), Arthur Treacher, Tony Martin, Phyllis Brooks, Wally Vernon, Jed Prouty, Lynne Berkeley (uncredited), Paul Hurst (uncredited)
Themselves: Louis Prima, Tip Tap & Toe, David Rubinoff (billed as Rubinoff)

Plot:
The great-granddaughter of Edgar Allan Poe, Judy Poe Wells (Faye), wants to be a playwright. But Judy excels more at singing than writing. Broadway producer George Macrae (Ameche) meets Judy and hears her sing. Knowing she hates his plays, he keeps his identity a secret, while trying to get her to star in one of his musical shows.

Trivia:
• The first of six films that paired Alice Faye and Don Ameche.
• Alice Faye and Tony Martin were married after this film.
• Gypsy Rose Lee’s first film, and she was billed as Louise Hovick.
• Working title is “Last Year’s Kisses.”
• Originally, Daryl F. Zanuck only wanted Jimmy Ritz and not the other two brothers, Al and Harry.

Alice Faye, Gypsy Rose Lee and Don Ameche

Highlights:
• Gypsy Rose Lee in the film and her line “I will rip out your heart and stuff it like an olive.”
• Tap dancing by Tip, Tap & Toe
• Louis Prima

Alice Faye and Tony Martin, who were later married

Notable Songs:
• “You Can’t Have Everything” performed by Alice Faye
• “The Loveliness of You” performed by Tony Martin
• “Danger, Love at Work” performed by Alice Faye and Louis Prima
• “Afraid to Dream” performed by Don Ameche, and then Alice Faye and Tony Martin
• “Please Pardon Us, We’re in Love” performed by Alice Faye

My review:
Co-starring in six films, Alice Faye and Don Ameche are one of the classic film era’s best screen teams. While I love their chemistry, mix of singing voices, and films, their first film together is sadly not a stellar film. And it’s because of one thing – or three: The Ritz Brothers.

In YOU CAN’T HAVE EVERYTHING (1937), Alice Faye plays, Judy Wells, who wants to be a serious playwright. But Judy excels more at singing than writing. Broadway producer George Macrae (Ameche) meets Judy and hears her sing. Knowing she hates his plays, he keeps his identity a secret, while trying to get her to star in one of his musical shows.

While individually, Faye and Ameche are outstanding and in wonderful voice, I didn’t feel like this film shows them at their full potential. The real highlight of the film is Gypsy Rose Lee in her first film, billed under her real name Louise Hovick. Lee is delightfully catty and humorous as Faye’s romantic rival. Lee is perhaps the best part of the film.

The worst part of the film? The “comedic” sibling trio, The Ritz Brothers. If you aren’t familiar with them, the Ritz Brothers are a painfully unfunny comedic team of the 1930s and 1940s. Whenever they appear in a specialty performance in a film, they bring the whole movie to a grinding halt. Even film historian and former Turner Classic Movies host, Robert Osborne, said their charm was lost on him.

In this film, The Ritz Brothers sing a long and unfunny song about long underwear. I revisted this film for the first time in 6 years and hearing them say BOOTS BOOTS BOOTS somehow was the main thing I remembered. However, I will say this for the film, somehow, when they were acting, they were less annoying here than other films.

While this film brought Alice Faye and Don Ameche together for the first time as co-stars, it also brought Alice Faye and Tony Martin together. They met on this film and were married from 1937 to 1941.

While this overall film is fine, just forgettable and not an incredible vehicle for two shining stars like Don Ameche and Alice Faye.

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