Category Archives: Musical Monday

Musical Monday: Calendar Girl (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 500. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

calendar girlThis week’s musical:
Calendar Girl (1947) – Musical #578

Studio:
Republic Pictures

Director:
Allan Dwan

Starring:
Jane Frazee, William Marshall, James Ellison, Gail Patrick, Irene Rich, Kenny Baker, Victor McLaglen, Janet Martin, Gus Schilling, Franklin Pangborn

Plot:
Set in 1900, pals Johnny Bennett (Marshall) and Steve Adams (Ellison) leave their comfortable lives in Boston to try to make it in Greenwich Village as artists. Johnny wants to write songs and Steve is an artist. They land at a performer boarding house run by Lulu Varden (Rich). Both Johnny and Steve fall for dancer and singer Patricia O’Neill (Frazee) lives in the boarding house with her firefighter father (McLaglen), who doesn’t approve of her performing aspirations. Patricia prefers for Steve, who happens to have a girl (Patrick) back in Boston. Patricia also poses for Steve for a sensual painting that is used on the 1901 calendar.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Junction 88 (1948)

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.

junction 88This week’s musical:
Junction 88 (1948) – Musical #766

Studio:
Century Theatrical Productions

Director:
George R. Quigley

Starring:
As themselves: Bob Howard, Pigmeat Markham, Noble Sissel
Also starring: Wyatt Clark, Marie Cooke, Gus Smith, Abbey Mitchell, Artie Belle McGinty, George Wiltshire, Herbert Junior, Alonzo Basan, Maude Simmons, Al Young, Augustus Smith, Augustus Smith Jr.
Billed as the choir: Eugene Thompson, Rumena Matson, Mable Berger, Delphine Roach, Henry Nelson

Plot:
Buster (Clark) is a songwriter, but doesn’t want anyone to know that he wrote this song. Buster loves Lolly (Cooke), but her father prefers hardworking men, and he fears that he wouldn’t look kindly at a songwriting career. Music agents (Howard, Markham) get ahold of Buster’s songs that are published under the pen name of Hewlett Green. The agents travel to the small town of Junction 88 to find Green, but no one in town knows who the mysterious Hewlett Green is.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Let’s Dance (1950)

Posted on by

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:
Let’s Dance (1950) – Musical #456

let's dance

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Norman Z. McLeod

Starring:
Betty Hutton, Fred Astaire, Roland Young, Ruth Warrick, Lucille Watson, Gregory Moffett, Barton MacLane, Shepperd Strudwick, Melville Cooper, Harold Huber, George Zucco, Peggy Badley, Nana Bryant (uncredited), James Burke (uncredited), Bess Flowers (uncredited),

Plot:
During World War II, Kitty McNeil (Hutton) and Donald Elwood (Astaire) were a musical act that performed in USO shows. Donald was in love with Kitty, but she had already married a serviceman, so the two split up the act. The film fast-forwards to 1950 and we learn that Kitty’s husband was killed in the war, and she lives with his stuffy family in Boston. Kitty doesn’t like how his family wants her to raise her son, Richie (Moffett), and would like to leave. But her grandmother-in-law, Serena (Watson), won’t allow her to take her son with her and insists that they raise him. Kitty and her son run away to New York City so she can find work, and she reconnects with Donald. Donald and his nightclub coworkers help Kitty and Richie build a new life.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Song of Norway (1970)

Posted on by

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.

song of norway3This week’s musical:
Song of Norway (1970) – Musical #764

Studio:
Produced by ABC Pictures Corp., distributed by Cinerama Releasing Corp.

Director:
Andrew L. Stone

Starring:
Toralv Maurstad, Florence Henderson, Christina Schollin, Frank Porretta, Harry Secombe, Robert Morley, Edward G. Robinson, Oscar Homolka, Frederick Jaeger, Henry Gilbert, Richard Wordsworth, Matt Mattox (uncredited)

Plot:
A biographical film on Norwegian composer, Edvard Grieg (Maurstad).

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Star! (1968)

Posted on by

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.

StarThis week’s musical:
Star! (1968) – Musical #240

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Robert Wise

Starring:
Julie Andrews, Richard Crenna, Michael Craig, Daniel Massey, Robert Reed, Bruce Forsythe, Beryl Reid, John Collin, Alan Oppenheimer, Richard Karlan, Garrett Lewis, Anna Lee (uncredited), Grady Sutton (uncredited), Jenny Agutter (uncredited)

Plot:
Biographical film on stage actress Gertrude Lawrence (Andrews).

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Lady Sings the Blues (1972)

Posted on by

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.

lady sings the bluesThis week’s musical:
Lady Sings the Blues (1972) – Musical #763

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Sidney J. Furie

Starring:
Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, James T. Callahan, Paul Hampton, Sid Melton, Virginia Caper, Isabel Sanford, Ned Glass, Scatman Crothers

Plot:
A fictionalized biography on the life and career of jazz singer, Billie Holiday (Ross). The film details her teenage life, rise to fame struggles, and her romance with Louis McKay (Williams).

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Deep in My Heart (1954)

Posted on by

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:
Deep in My Heart (1954) – Musical #275

deep in my heart

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Stanley Donen

Starring:
José Ferrer, Merle Oberon, Helen Traubel, Doe Avedon, Walter Pidgeon, Paul Henreid, Tamara Toumanova, Paul Stewart, Isobel Elsom, David Burns, Jim Backus, Douglas Fowley, John Alvin (uncredited), Gertrude Astor (uncredited), Barrie Chase (uncredited), Julie Newmar (uncredited), Russ Tamblyn (uncredited), Dee Turnell (uncredited)
Specialty performances: Gene Kelly, Fred Kelly, Jane Powell, Rosemary Clooney, Vic Damone, Ann Miller, William Olvis, Cyd Charisse, James Mitchell, Howard Keel, Tony Martin, Joan Weldon

Plot:
Musical biography of operetta composer Sigmund Romberg (Ferrer).

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: A Lady’s Morals (1930)

Posted on by

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.

morals2This week’s musical:
A Lady’s Morals – Musical #735

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Sidney Franklin

Starring:
Grace Moore, Reginald Denny, Wallace Beery, Jobyna Howland, Gus Shy, Judith Vosselli, Karl Dane (uncredited), Cecilia Parker (uncredited), Linda Parker (uncredited)

Plot:
A biographical film of opera singer Jenny Lind (Moore).

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Mary Poppins (1964)

Posted on by

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.

mary poppins3This week’s musical:
Mary Poppins (1964) – Musical #42

Studio:
Walt Disney Studios

Director:
Robert Stevenson

Starring:
Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, Glynis Johns, Hermione Baddeley, Reta Shaw, Karen Dotrice, Matthew Garber, Ed Wynn, Elsa Lanchester, Arthur Treacher, Reginald Owen, Jane Darwell

Plot:
Set at the turn of the century in London, the Banks family can never keep a nanny for their two children, Jane (Dotrice) and Michael (Garber). When Katie Nana (Lanchester) walks out on the family, Mr. Banks (Tomlinson) has very distinct ideas of what the nanny should be like. Mr. Banks is busy with his work and Mrs. Banks (Johns) spends much of her free time protesting the women’s right to vote. A mysterious and magical nanny, Mary Poppins (Andrews), appears to not only care for the children and take them on fanciful adventures, but she helps bring the family closer together and how them what’s important.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Tom Thumb (1958)

Posted on by

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.

tom thumbThis week’s musical:
Tom Thumb (1958) – Musical #762

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
George Pal

Starring:
Russ Tamblyn, Peters Sellers, Terry-Thomas, Alan Young, June Thornburn, Bernard Miles, Jessie Matthews, Ian Wallace

Plot:
After a woodsman (Miles) stops cutting down a tree when he’s halted by the Forest Queen (Thornburn), the woodsman and his wife (Matthews) are granted three wishes. The couple accidentally squanders their wishes and realize they could have wished for what they always wanted—a child. Sadly, they think how they would love a child no matter how small. That night, their child Tom Thumb (Tamblyn) arrives thanks to the Forrest Queen. The couple is exuberant. Tom has several adventures, including dancing with his toys that come to life and being conned by two thieves (Sellers, Thomas) who want him to rob the treasury.

Continue reading →