Musical Monday: Square Dance Jubilee (1949)

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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

This week’s musical:
Square Dance Jubilee (1949) – Musical #852

Studio:
Produced by Donald Barry Productions
Distributed by Screen Guild Productions

Director:
Paul Landres

Starring:
Don Barry, Mary Beth Hughes, Wally Vernon, Max Terhune, John Eldredge, Thurston Hall, Chester Clute, Tom Tyler, Tom Kennedy
Themselves: Spade Cooley and His Band, Cowboy Copas, The Broome Brothers, Smiley and Kitty, Johnny Downs, Herman the Hermit, The Elder Lovelies

Plot:
Talent scouts Don Blake (Barry) and Seldom Sam Jenks (Vernon) travel across the west, aiming to have a true western experience, to find musical acts for a television show, Square Dance Jubilee. Along the way, Don and Sam get entangled with western criminals.

Trivia:
• Don Barry, who acted in the film, was one of the executive producers of the film.

Highlights:
• An early prototype of television
• Dance number performed by Wally Vernon

Notable Songs:
• “Square Dance Jubilee” performed by Spade Cooley and his Band
• “I Came Here To Be Went With” performed by Ginny Jackson with Spade Cooley and his Band
• “Moon Over Texas” performed by The Broome Brothers
• “Blue Pacific” performed by the Cowboy Capas
• “Send Me the Pillow You Dream On” performed by Claude Casey
• “Mocking Bird” performed by Smiley and Kitty
• “Hangman’s Boogie” performed by the Cowboy Capas
• “It’s Dark Outside” performed by Spade Cooley and his Band
• “The Gal with the Mink Blue Jeans” performed by Don Barry

My review:
If you want to tap your toes and do-si-do while watching a musical, SQUARE DANCE JUBILEE (1949) is your movie.

It’s light on plot but heavy on the music. In fact, going into this, you better enjoy western-style music, because this film is chock full of it with more than 10 musical performances.

In the film, talent scouts Don Blake (Barry) and Seldom Sam Jenks (Vernon) travel across the west, aiming to have a true western experience, to find musical acts for a television show, Square Dance Jubilee. Along the way, Don and Sam get entangled with western criminals.

The thin plot is silly but quite fun. It also gives a glimpse at early television.

But the real star is the music. You get yodeling, fiddles, guitars and cowboys singing. I initially watched this because I watched a short with Spade Cooley and his Band. Cooley performs the opening number “Square Dance Jubilee,” but I’ll admit there isn’t enough of Spade Cooley and his band in the film. However, there are lots of other fun performances. There are some cute songs with fun play on words, like “Joan of Arkansas” and “Mr. Sears and Roebuck.”There are also some odd songs like “Hangman’s Boogie,” which is a wild title with a grim song.

I also apologize if I mixed up any of the musical acts in the above listing. Not all of the performers were credited and I was getting confused.

However, you will certainly be introduced to several new western musical performances you’ve never heard of – or at least I hadn’t. I especially enjoyed the Broome Brothers and the Cowboy Capas.

As far as the plot goes, like I said it was silly, but it felt weird to force a romance with Don Barry and Mary Beth Hughes. It was really out of place, but I guess most movies of this era needed a romantic subplot.

I can’t tell you that this is a great movie, but I can tell you that it is filled with music which felt joyful. And sometimes, that’s all you need.

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