Category Archives: Musical Monday

Musical Monday: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (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 musicals.

This week’s musical:
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1949) – Musical #200

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Tay Garnett

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Rhonda Fleming, Cedric Hardwicke, William Bendix, Murvyn Vye, Virginia Field, Joseph Vitale, Henry Wilcoxon, Richard Webb, Alan Napier, Julia Faye, Mary Field, Ann Carter, Olin Howland (uncredited)

Plot:
In 1912, mechanic Hank Martin (Crosby) is caught in a storm, while riding a horse. When he falls from the horse and hits his head, he finds himself transported to Camelot and the court of King Arthur (Hardwicke). Since Hank traveled backwards from the present, he’s regarded as a monster or a magician with all of his knowledge. He falls in love with Lady Alisande La Carteloise (Fleming), who is betrothed to Sir Lancelot (Wilcoxon).

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Musical Monday: Meet Me on Broadway (1946)

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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:
Meet Me on Broadway (1946) – Musical #648

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Leigh Jason

Starring:
Marjorie Reynolds, Frederick Brady (billed as Fred Brady), Jinx Falkenburg, Spring Byington, Allen Jenkins, Gene Lockhart, Loren Tindall

Plot:
Broadway director Eddie Dolan (Brady) quits the show he’s directing over artistic differences with his producer. His star (and girlfriend) Ann Stallings (Reynolds) and songwriter Deacon McGill (Jenkins) quit with Eddie. Believing he can stage a better show without the involvement of a producer, Eddie searches for a new show. He lands in a small community who is putting on a country club show for charity, headed by Sylvia Kane Storm (Byington) and her son Bob (Tindall). The show may not be as profitable as he thinks.

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Musical Monday: Free and Easy (1930)

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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:
Free and Easy (1930) – Musical #650

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Edward Sedgwick

Starring:
Buster Keaton, Anita Page, Robert Montgomery, Trixie Friganza, Edgar Dearing, Edward Brophy (uncredited), Lottice Howell (uncredited), Doris McMahon (uncredited)
Themselves: Fred Niblo, Gwen Lee, John Miljan, Lionel Barrymore, William Haines, William Collier Sr., Dorothy Sebastian, Jackie Coogan, Karl Dane, David Burton, Cecil B. DeMille, Joseph Farnham, Arthur Lange, Theodore Lorch

Plot:
Elvira Plunkett (Page) is Miss Gopher City Kansas after winning a beauty contest. The award sends her to Hollywood with her mother (Friganza) and manager Elmer Butts (Keaton) to become a star. While in Hollywood, Elmer tries to get a screentest for Elvira and himself. Meanwhile, though Elmer is in love with Elvira, she falls for movie star Larry Mitchell (Montgomery).

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Musical Monday: When the Boys Meet the Girls (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:
When The Boys Meet The Girls (1965) – Musical #357

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Alvin Ganzer

Starring:
Connie Francis, Harve Presnell, Joby Baker, Sue Ane Langdon, Frank Faylen, Fred Clark, Susan Holloway
Themselves: Herman’s Hermits, Louis Armstrong, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, Liberace, The Standells

Plot:
When wealthy Danny Churchill (Presnell) runs into trouble at school with a showgirl (Langdon), his family sends him out west to a rural college for the trouble to blow over. He meets postmistress Ginger (Francis) who’s father (Faylen) is a gambler and has put them in debt; putting them in jeopardy of losing their ranch. Danny works to help Ginger and her father; turning their ranch into a successful hotel for divorcees, even with gamblers and showgirls trying to ruin their success.

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Musical Monday: Girl Crazy (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 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Girl Crazy (1943) – Musical #165

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Norman Taurog, Busby Berkeley

Starring:
Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Gil Stratton, Robert E. Strickland, Rags Ragland, June Allyson, Nancy Walker, Guy Kibbee, Frances Rafferty, Henry O’Neill, Howard Freeman, Karin Booth (uncredited), Georgia Carroll (uncredited), Jimmy Butler (uncredited), Peter Lawford (uncredited), Charles Walters (uncredited)
Themselves: Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra, Six Hits and a Miss, The Music Maids, The King’s Men, The Stafford Sisters (Jo Stafford, Christine Stafford, Pauline Stafford)

Plot:
Wealthy collegiate playboy Danny Churchill Jr. (Rooney) often frequents the headlines for his philanderings. Tired of reading about his son in print (and not for academics), his father (O’Neill) pulls Danny out of Yale and sends him to the desert of Arizona to all-male Cody College of Mines and Agriculture. While Danny adjusts to a more active lifestyle, he meets postmistress Ginger Gray (Garland) and granddaughter of the man who runs the college, and falls for her. However, when the college is failing enrollment, Danny hatches a plan to get more students.

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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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