Category Archives: Musical Monday

Musical Monday: Rock n’ Roll Revue (1955)

Posted on by
Reply

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:
Rock n’ Roll Revue (1955) – Musical #834

Studio:
Studio Films Inc.

Director:
Joseph Kohn

Starring:
Host: Willie Bryant
As themselves: Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, Larry Darnell, Cholly Atkins and
Charles ‘Honi’ Coles (billed as Cole & Atkins), The Clovers, Dinah Washington, Nat King Cole, Big Joe Turner

Plot:
A musical review of the top performers of the time.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Jericho (1937)

Posted on by
Reply

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:
Jericho (1937) – Musical #804

Studio:
Capitol Films

Director:
Thornton Freeland

Starring:
Paul Robeson, Henry Wilcoxon, Wallace Ford, Kouka (billed as Princess Kouka), John Laurie, James Carew, Lawrene Brown, Rufus Fennell, Ike Hatch, Frank Cram, Frank Cochrane, George Barraud, Federick Cooper, Henry Aubin, Eugene Cozier, Charles Farrell, Peter Gawthorne, Danny Greene, Percy Parsons, Eslanda Robeson

Plot:
The story begins during World War I on a ship heading towards France. When the ship is torpedoed, Jericho Jackson (Robeson) is trying to save men who are trapped in the boiler room so that they don’t drown. When a superior orders Jericho to forget it and evacuate, Jericho pushes the man, killing him. Despite saving several men and the defense of his friend Capt. Mack (Wilcoxon), Jericho is Court Martialed and held for murder. Jericho escapes and Capt. Mack is blamed and jailed for his escape. On a boat with another deserter (Ford), Jericho ends up in North Africa, where he meets and leads the Tuareg people.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Tonight We Sing (1953)

Posted on by
Reply

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:
Tonight We Sing (1953) – Musical #833

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Mitchell Leisen

Starring:
David Wayne, Ezio Pinza, Roberta Peters, Anne Bancroft, Tamara Toumanova, Isaac Stern, Byron Palmer, Jan Peerce, Oskar Karlweis, Mikhail Rasummy, Steven Geray, Walter Woolf King,

Plot:
A biographical film based on the life of impresario, Sol Hurok (Wayne). Hurok shaped the careers of many top performers from ballet dancer Anna Pavlova (Toumanova), violinist Eugene Ysaye (stern) or Isadora Duncan.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now (1947)

Posted on by
Reply

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:
I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now (1947) – Musical #832

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Lloyd Bacon

Starring:
Mark Stevens, June Haver, Martha Stewart, Reginald Gardiner, Lenore Aubert, William Frawley, Gene Nelson, Truman Bradley, George Cleveland, John Arledge (uncredited)

Plot:
Biographical film on songwriter, composer Joseph E. Howard (Stevens) and his rise to fame. Katie (Haver), the niece of Joe’s guardian, is also eager to be part of Joe’s musical career and lies to tag along. Katie continues to cause trouble along the way as he tries to find success, sabotaging Joe’s partnership with singer Lulu Madison (Stewart) and being jealous of Broadway star Fritzi Barrington (Aubert).

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Posted on by
Reply

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:
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) – Musical #34

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Michael Curtiz

Starring:
James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, Rosemary DeCamp, Richard Whorf, Irene Manning, George Tobias, Jeanne Cagney, Frances Langford, George Barbier, S.Z. Sakall, Walter Catlett, Eddie Foy Jr., Douglas Croft, Minor Watson, Chester Clute, Odette Myrtil, Patsy Parsons, Jack Young (billed as Capt. Jack Young), Leslie Brooks (uncredited), Ann Doran (uncredited), Charles Drake (uncredited), Tom Dugan (uncredited), Frank Faylen (uncredited), William Hopper (uncredited), Lon McCallister (uncredited), Dolores Moran (uncredited), Joyce Reynolds (uncredited), Charles Smith (uncredited), Frank Sully (uncredited),

Plot:
A musical biographical film of composer and playwright George M. Cohan (Cagney). The film follows stage performers Jerry (Huston) and Nellie Cohan (Decamp) as their family grows into the Four Cohans with their son George and daughter, Josie (Jeanne Cageny). As the family grows, George becomes an outspoken performer, which makes producers reluctant to hire the Four Cohans. Eventually, he breaks out on his own, and with collaborator Sam Harris (Whorf), and becomes a success on Broadway with his plays and songs.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: The Waltz King (1963)

Posted on by
Reply

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:
Waltz King (1963) – Musical #831

Studio:
Walt Disney Studios

Director:
Steve Previn

Starring:
Kerwin Mathews, Senta Berger, Brian Aherne, Peter Kraus, Fritz Eckhardt, Vilma Degischer, Kai Fischer

Plot:
Johann Strauss Jr. (Mathews) is working to become a composer. His musician father Johann Strauss Sr. (Aherne) strongly objects and wants him to become a composer.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Paramount on Parade (1930)

Posted on by
Reply

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:
Paramount on Parade (1930) – Musical #831

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Dorothy Arzner, Otto Brower, Edmund Goulding, Victor Heerman, Edwin H. Knopf, Rowland V. Lee, Ernst Lubitsch, Lothar Mendes, Victor Schertzinger, A. Edward Sutherland, Frank Tuttle

Starring:
Iris Adrian, Richard Arlen, Jean Arthur, Mischa Auer, William Austin, George Bancroft, Clara Bow, Evelyn Brent, Mary Brian, Clive Brook, Virginia Bruce, Nancy Carroll, Ruth Chatterton, Maurice Chevalier, Gary Cooper, Cecil Cunningham, Leon Errol, Stuart Erwin, Henry Fink, Kay Francis, Richard “Skeets” Gallagher, Edmund Goulding, Harry Green, Mitzi Green, Robert Greig, James Hall, Phillips Holmes, Helen Kane, Dennis King, Abe Lyman, Fredric March, Nino Martini, Mitzi Mayfair, Marion Morgan Dancers, David Newell, Jack Oakie, Warner Oland, Zelma O’Neal, Eugene Pallette, Joan Peers, Jack Pennick, William Powell, Charles “Buddy” Rogers, Lillian Roth, Rolfe Sedan, Stanley Smith, Fay Wray

Plot:
Paramount Pictures Studios introduces their movie stars in a talking picture musical. The studio’s stars appear as themselves, performing songs and skits. Jack Oakie and Maurice Chevalier are more heavily featured than most of the stars.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Alice Through the Looking Glass (1966)

Posted on by
Reply

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:
Alice Through the Looking Glass (1966) – Musical #829

Studio:
NBC

Director:
Alan Handley

Starring:
Ricardo Montalban, Agnes Moorehead, Jack Palance, Jimmy Durante, Nanette Fabray, Robert Coote, Tom Smothers, Dick Smothers, Judi Rolin, Richard Denning, Roy Castle, Iris Adrian, Chanin Hale, Jackie Joseph, Donna Walsh

Plot:
Based on the Lewis Carroll story, while her father (Denning) is hosting a dinner party, Alice (Rolin) is bored. Her father tells her to go set up the chess board for them to play together later. Suddenly, Alice is invited through the mirror in the room to a backwards room, where the chess pieces come to life, including The Red King (Coote), The Red Queen (Moorehead), The White King (Montalban), and The White Queen (Fabray). Alice also meets other strange characters, like the villainous Jabberwock (Palance) and Humpty Dumpty (Durante).

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Cinderella (1957)

Posted on by
Reply

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:
Cinderella (1957) – Musical #143

Studio:
CBS

Director:
Ralph Nelson

Starring:
Julie Andrews, Ilka Chase, Edie Adams, Jon Cypher, Howard Lindsay, Dorothy Stickney, Alice Ghostley, Kaye Ballard

Plot:
Set to music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, the story focuses on Cinderella (Andrews), a lonely young woman whose father has died and she lives only with her stepmother (Chase) and stepsisters (Ballard, Ghostley). Her stepmother and stepsisters have made Cinderella their servant, while Cinderella dreams of a better life. The Prince (Cypher) is in search of a wife, and the King and Queen (Lindsay, Stickney) hold a ball so he can find a wife. Cinderella’s fairy godmother (Adams) helps her get to the ball, but she must leave by midnight.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Jack and the Beanstalk (1952)

Posted on by
Reply

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:
Jack and the Beanstalk (1952) – Musical #809

Studio:
Produced by Executive Productions, Distributed by Warner Bros.

Director:
Jean Yarbrough

Starring:
Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Buddy Baer, Dorothy Ford, Shaye Cogan, James Alexander, Barbara Brown, David Stollery, Arthur Shields

Plot:
Two unlikely babysitters, Jack (Costello) and Mr. Dinkle (Abbott) are hired to watch Donald Larkin (Stollery). While they are reading “Jack & the Beanstalk” to him, both babysitters fall asleep. Told in a dream sequence, the pair are transported into the story. In the story, Jack (Costello again) and his mother (Ford) live in a village that has hit hard times and the Giant (Baer) has kidnapped the Princess Eloise (Cogan), a goose that lays golden eggs, and Prince Arthur (Alexander), who is pretending to be a to be a troubadour. When Jack is asked to sell the family cow, he squanders the money by buying magic beans. The bean grows into a giant stalk that goes into the sky. Jack climbs the stalk to rescue everyone that the Giant has kidnapped, and is followed by the town butcher Mr. Dinklepuss (Abbott again), who’s interested in the golden goose.

Continue reading →