Category Archives: Musical Monday

Musical Monday: “Best Foot Forward” (1943)

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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 500. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
“Best Foot Forward” –Musical #103

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Edward Buzzell

Starring:
Virginia Weidler, William Gaxton, Tommy Dix, Nancy Walker, June Allyson, Gloria DeHaven, Chill Wills, Harry James, Henry O’Neill, Sara Haden, Stanley Donen (uncredited cadet), James Ellison (uncredited cadet)
Themselves: Lucille Ball, Harry James and His Music Makers

Plot:
Bud Hooper (Dix), a cadet at a military school, sends a prom invitation to movie star Lucille Ball (as herself). Ball’s agent thinks it would be a great publicity stunt and she attends the dance, much to the chagrin of his girlfriend Helen (Weidler) and to Ball. However, since it was Helen who was approved to attend the dance, Bud as Ball pose as Helen.

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Musical Monday: So This is College (1929)

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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 musicals.

This week’s musical:
So This Is College (1929) – Musical #649

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Sam Wood

Starring:
Elliott Nugent, Robert Montgomery, Cliff Edwards, Sally Starr, Phyllis Crane, Polly Moran, Dorothy Dehn, Oscar Rudolph, Gene Stone, Lee Shumway, Ward Bond (uncredited), Grady Sutton (uncredited), Ann Dvorak (uncredited), Delmer Daves (uncredited), Joel McCrea (uncredited)

Plot:
University of Southern California college seniors Biff (Montgomery) and Eddie (Nugent) are best friends, fraternity brothers and teammates on the football team. But when they both fall for Babs (Starr), the two get competitive with each other, without realizing she’s playing the two off each other.

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Musical Monday: High, Wide and Handsome (1937)

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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 musicals.

This week’s musical:
High, Wide and Handsome (1937) – Musical #631

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Rouben Mamoulian

Starring:
Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott, Dorothy Lamour, William Frawley, Raymond Walburn, Elizabeth Patterson, Charles Bickford, Akim Tamiroff, Ben Blue, Irving Pichel, Stanley Andrews, James Burke, Roger Imhof, Lucien Littlefield, Rolfe Sedan (uncredited), Helen Lowell (uncredited), Raymond Brown (uncredited)

Plot:
Set in the 1850s, Sally (Dunne) travels in a medicine show with her father Doc Watterson (Walburn) and his partner Mac (Frawley). When their wagon catches on fire and burns down in a small Pennsylvania town, they stay with Peter Cortlandt (Scott) and his grandma (Patterson). Sally and Peter fall in love, and on their wedding day, Peter strikes oil. As Peter works to grow his oil business, Sally is frequently left alone.

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Musical Monday: Music in Manhattan (1944)

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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 musicals.

This week’s musical:
Music in Manhattan (1944) – Musical #377

Studio:
RKO Radio Pictures

Director:
John H. Auer

Starring:
Anne Shirley, Dennis Day, Phillip Terry, Raymond Walburn, Patti Brill, Jane Darwell, Bert Roach (uncredited), Jason Robards Sr. (uncredited),
Themselves: Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra, Nico Menendez and His Rhumba Band

Plot:
Frankie Foster (Shirley) is the lead in a failing Broadway musical. In order to get a flight to Washington, D.C. to discuss getting a loan for the show, Professor Carl Roberti (Walburn) says that Frankie is the secret bride of war hero Johnny Pearson (Terry). As a result, the secret gets out and the show becomes a success. While Frankie and Johnny have to pretend to they are married, things get complicated when his mother (Darwell) arrives, and Frankie’s boyfriend and co-star Stanley Benson (Day) is jealous.

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Musical Monday: Flying Down to Rio (1933)

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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 musicals.

This week’s musical:
Flying Down to Rio (1933) – Musical #94

Studio:
RKO Radio Pictures

Director:
Thornton Freeland

Starring:
Dolores del Rio, Gene Raymond, Raul Roulien, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Blanche Friderici, Eric Blore, Franklin Pangborn, Walter Walker, Etta Moten, Roy D’Arcy, Maurice Black, Armand Kaliz, Paul Porcasi, Reginald Barlow, Theresa Harris (uncredited), Clarence Muse (uncredited)
Performers: Movita

Plot:
Pilot Roger Bond (Raymond) is the bandleader of the Yankee Clippers. However, the band’s success is hindered by Roger’s flirtatious eye. As soon as they land a new job, he sees Belinha (Del Rio) and begins to pursue her. His efforts (and new job) are cut off by Belinha’s chaperone and aunt (Friderici). Learning that Belinha is heading to Rio de Janeiro, he volunteers to fly her there, and gets a job for his band to perform there as well. The only issue is that Belinha turns out being engaged to Julio Rubeiro (Roulien), and he can’t get an entertainment license to perform at the hotel.

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Musical Monday: Sweet Charity (1969)

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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 musicals.

This week’s musical:
Sweet Charity (1969) – Musical #646

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Bob Fosse

Starring:
Shirley MacLaine, John McMartin, Ricardo Montalban, Sammy Davis Jr., Chita Rivera, Paula Kelly, Stubby Kaye, Barbara Bouchet

Plot:
Charity (MacLaine) is a taxi dancer who wants to find love. However, she is unlucky in love. We first see her boyfriend Charlie (who is married) push her off a bridge into a lake in Central Park. Then she meets Italian actor Vittorio Vitale (Montalban) after he breaks up with his girlfriend and goes back to his apartment. Then she wants to get married so she can leave the dance hall.

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Musical Monday: Down to Earth (1947)

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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 musicals.

This week’s musical:
Down to Earth (1947) – Musical #153

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Alexander Hall

Starring:
Rita Hayworth, Larry Parks, Marc Platt, Adele Jergens, Roland Culver, James Gleason, Edward Everett Horton, George Macready, William Frawley, James Burke, Dorothy Hart (as Dorothy Brady)
Muses: Dusty Anderson, Lucille Casey, Mary Jane French, Jo Hattigan, Doris Houck, Virginia Hunter, Peggy Maley, Lynn Merrick, Shirley Molohon, Tyra Vaughn

Plot:
In a follow up to HERE COMES MR. JORDAN (1941), Danny Miller (Parks) is directing a Broadway musical about the seven muses with Terpsichore, the muse of song and dance. When the Muses learn that the musical portrays them as fast-living women, marrying multiple men at once, an outraged Terpsichore (Hayworth) goes down to Earth with the help of Mr. Jordan (Culver). Danny’s life (literally) depends on the success of the play. Terpsichore, under the name Kitty, tries to revamp the Broadway musical as star and make it accurate to Greek life.

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Musical Monday: Bikini Beach (1964)

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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 musicals.

This week’s musical:
Bikini Beach (1964) – Musical #278

Studio:
American International Pictures

Director:
William Asher

Starring:
Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Martha Hyer, Keenan Wynn, Don Rickles, Harvey Lembeck, John Ashley, Jody McCrea, Candy Johnson, Donna Loren, Danielle Aubry, Michael Nader, Boris Karloff, Ned Wynn, Janos Prohaska
Themselves: The Pyramids, The Exciters Band, Stevie Wonder (as Little Stevie Wonder)

Plot:
Harvey Huntington Honeywagon III (Wynn) tries to prove that the mental capacity of Amerian teenagers as devolved to that of his chimp, Clyde the Chimp (Prohaska). Schoolteacher Vivien Clements (Hyer) tries to prove Honeywagon wrong. Meanwhile, during summer vacation on the beach, boyfriend and girlfriend Frankie (Avalon) and Dee Dee (Funicello) disagree – she feels he should settle down and get a job and he wants to live fast. Frankie finds competition in a visiting English rock star, Potato Bug (also Avalon).

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Musical Monday: Blue Hawaii (1961)

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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 musicals.

This week’s musical:
Blue Hawaii (1961) – Musical #3

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Norman Taurog

Starring:
Elvis Presley, Joan Blackman, Angela Lansbury, Nancy Walters, Roland Winters, Howard McNear, Steve Brodie, Iris Adrian, John Archer, Jenny Maxwell, Pamela Austin, Darlene Tompkins, Christian Kay, Jose De Vega

Plot:
Chad Gates (Elvis Presley) returns home to Hawaii after serving in the U.S. Army. His parents Fred and Sarah Lee Gates (Winters, Lansbury) are eager for him to join their successful family business, Great Southern Hawaiian Fruit Company. Instead, Chad wants to break out on his own and be a tour guide of the islands. He works for the agency where his girlfriend Maile Duval (Blackman) works. His first assignment is to show the islands to teacher and a group of teenagers.

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Musical Monday: A Swingin’ Summer (1965)

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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 musicals.

This week’s musical:
A Swingin’ Summer (1965) – Musical #644

Studio:
United Screen Arts

Director:
Robert Sparr

Starring:
James Stacy, William Wellman Jr., Quinn O’Hara, Raquel Welch, Martin West, Mary Mitchel, Allan Jones, Lili Kardell
Themselves: The Righteous Brothers, Gary Lewis & The Playboys, Donnie Brooks, The Rip Chords, Gypsy Boots

Plot:
When their summer jobs fall through, Rick (Wellman) and Mickey (Stacy) hatch a plan to run the dance pavilion at Lake Arrowhead. Rick’s girlfriend Cindy (O’Hara) secretly has her father put up the money for the idea so the boys can work that summer – and she can have fun. Rick and Mickey eventually line up top musical acts, like Gary Lewis and the Playboys and The Righteous Brothers. However, lifeguard Turk (West) and his friends are jealous that they didn’t have the idea first and try to sabotage the dance pavilion.

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