Musical Monday: Freshman Year (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 800. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Freshman Year (1938) – Musical #857

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Frank McDonald

Starring:
Constance Moore, William Lundigan, Dixie Dunbar, Mark Daniels (billed as Stanley Hughes), Ernest Truex, Frank Melton, Marc Cramer, Don Defore (uncredited), Alan Ladd (uncredited), Fay McKenzie (uncredited), Arthur O’Connell (uncredited),
Themselves: Tommy Wonder, The Lucky Seven, The Murtagh Sisters, The Diamond Brothers

Plot:
As the school year begins at Carleton College, the freshman class tries to navigate their new collegiate life. Particularly, Bob Potter (Lundigan), Jay Hill (Daniels) and Tex Hodges (Melton). The trio hopes to get asked to pledge with an elite fraternity, but when only Bob is asked, he declines in solidarity with his friends. Bob also developes a money making scheme that backfires. When a student flunks their exam, they can pay $10 to retake it. Bob creates flunk insurance to help with the $10 fee, but when everyone flunks a test, Bob finds himself $800 in the hole. Their girlfriends (Dunbar, Moore) hatch a plan for the student to put on a show to earn the money back.

Trivia:
• First film of actor Arthur O’Connell, who plays an uncredited student
• Scenes were filmed on location at Occidental College in Pasadena, Calif.
• Matty King’s first solo dance directing job, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
• Dixie Dunbar’s final feature film
• The only feature film including singers, The Murtagh Sisters.

William Lundigan and Mark Daniels

Highlights:
• William Lundigan
• A close up of uncredited Alan Ladd
• Ernest Treux dancing

Notable Songs:
• “Chasing You Around” performed by Dixie Dunbar
• “Ain’t That Marvelous” performed by Constance Moore
• “Swing That Cheer” performed by The Murtagh Sisters
• “We’re on Relief” performed by the Diamond Brothers

Dixie Dunbar

My review:
If you have been following Comet Over Hollywood long enough, you know that I love a college-themed musical. They are generally vibrant, youthful and fun.

FRESHMAN YEAR (1938) is no exception, but it has an added bonus: dreamy William Lundigan.

Lundigan leads the film, which focuses on the freshman class starting at Carleton College. Bob Potter (Lundigan), Jay Hill (Daniels) and Tex Hodges (Melton). The trio hopes to get asked to pledge with an elite fraternity, but when only Bob is asked, he declines in solidarity with his friends. Bob also developes a money making scheme that backfires. When a student flunks their exam, they can pay $10 to retake it. Bob creates flunk insurance to help with the $10 fee, but when everyone flunks a test, Bob finds himself $800 in the hole. Their girlfriends (Dunbar, Moore) hatch a plan for the student to put on a show to earn the money back.

In films like this, it seems there are often several small plotlines – the fraternity pledge, the insurance scheme, the romances. But it all boils down to the shenanigans of college freshmen.

I’ll also admit, parts of the plot were absurd. In the 1930s through at least the 1950s, a way to signify that a couple was “going to steady,” was when a boy gave his girlfriend his fraternity pin. In the film, Lundigan’s character, Bob, turns down a fraternity pledge when his friends are also not accepted. Bob’s girlfriend, Mary (Constance Moore), complains that because he’s not in a fraternity, she won’t have his pin to wear and she’s mad about it. I found this to be quite selfish!

I’ll admit, Lundigan is the highlight of this cast. His friends in the film played by Mark Daniels (billed here as Stanley Hughes) and Frank Melton, are quite dull. As for our leading ladies, Alabama-born Dixie Dunbar is cute and sings and dances well, but it’s not surprising why she didn’t go beyond B-level roles. She left Hollywood after this film for the stage.

Constance Moore is fine, but often leaves me cold, as she does in this film.

But the real highlight of the cast? Adorable Ernest Treux. Treux plays a stern professor who eventually becomes a hep cat and even dances in the finale number, which is hilarous. It’s always a highlight to see Treux in any film role. He’s funny and adorable in this film.

Another highlight is a close up of Alan Ladd, who is in an uncredited student role but gets to even say a few lines. Future stars Don DeFore and Arthur O’Connell are also in the cast, but I wasn’t able to spot them.

In addition to being a collegiate musical, this also turns into a “let’s put on a show” film. The close of the film is a fun series of numbers. It involves the student body refusing to clap so they don’t have to pay for the performance, but they relent for a humorous reason.

This film only has four musical numbers, but that’s plenty for a 63-minute film. Sadly, I also had to track this film down by dubious methods and it’s not easy to find. But if you track it down, it is a great time – and you get to look at William Lundigan.

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