Category Archives: Musical Monday

Musical Monday: Sing, Cowboy, Sing (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.

sing cowboyThis week’s musical:
Sing, Cowboy, Sing (1937) – Musical #779

Studio:
Grand National Pictures

Director:
Robert N. Bradbury

Starring:
Tex Ritter, White Flash, Louise Stanley, Al St. John, Charles King, Karl Hackett, Robert McKenzie, Horace Murphy, Snub Pollard, Hank Worden, Chick Hannan, Milburn Morante, Oscar Gahan, Jack C. Smith (uncredited)
Performers: the Texas Tornadoes

Plot:
George Summers (Smith) and his daughter Madge (Stanley) are ambushed by a gang as they hauling freight wagons. Summers is killed, and the whole event is witness by Tex Archer (Ritter) and his pal Duke Evans (St. John) who are passing by. The mob who killed Summers were hired by a competing freight company, run by Kalmus (Hackett). When Kalmus and his gang realize that Tex likely witnessed the murder, they work to frame Tex and Duke for the killing.

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Musical Monday: Song of Nevada (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:
Song of Nevada (1944) – Musical #777

song of nevada2

Studio:
Republic Pictures

Director:
Joseph Kane

Starring:
Roy Rogers, Trigger, Dale Evans, Thurston Hall, John Eldridge, Mary Lee, Lloyd Corrigan, Forrest Taylor, George Meeker, Emmett Vogan, LeRoy Mason, Bob Nolan, Si Jenks (uncredited), Ruth Roman (uncredited)
Themselves: Sons of the Pioneers

Plot:
Wealthy John Barrabee (Hall) is discouraged that his daughter Jennie (Evans) has “left the prairie for Park Avenue,” especially now that she’s engaged to snooty Rollo Bingham (Eldridge). Barrabee leaves New York City to head back out west to Nevada. During the flight, the plane makes an emergency landing and Barrabee wanders off, meeting Roy Rogers (himself) and his friends. He’s having such a good time with Roy, that Barrabee misses his flight which crashes; leading the newspapers and Jennie to believe that he’s dead. As soon as his death is announced Rollo begins liquidating Barrabee’s estate. Barrabee and Roy hatch a plan to keep Jennie out west where she belongs.

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

rawhide2This week’s musical:
Rawhide (1938) – Musical #776

Studio:
Distributed by 20th Century Fox

Director:
Ray Taylor

Starring:
Smith Ballew, Lou Gehrig (as himself), Evalyn Knapp, Arthur Loft, Cy Kendall, Dick Curtis, Si Jenks

Plot:
Lou Gehrig (as himself) decides to retire from baseball and moves out west to work a ranch with his sister, Peggy (Knapp). When Gehrig arrives, he finds that all the local businesses in town and the ranchers are being strong armed into joining an organization where all the goods are run through one businessman. Gehrig refuses and lawyer Larry Kimball (Ballew) to smash the syndicate.

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Musical Monday: Melody Ranch (1940)

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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.

melody ranch2This week’s musical:
Melody Ranch (1940) – Musical #775

Studio:
Republic Pictures Corp.

Director:
Joseph Santley

Starring:
Gene Autry, Jimmy Durante, Ann Miller, Barton MacLane, Barbara Jo Allen, Gabby Hayes, Jerome Cowan, Mary Lee, Joe Sawyer, Horace McMahon, Clarence Wilson, William “Billy” Benedict, Billy Bletcher (uncredited), Veda Ann Borg (uncredited), Dick Elliott (uncredited)
Performers: The Kidoodlers

Plot:
Radio star Gene Autry (as himself) is asked to return home to his hometown of torpedo for their Frontier Day celebration. Convinced it will make good publicity, the announcer of his radio show, Cornelius Courtney (Durante) and his radio co-star Julie Shelton (Miller), travel with him. During the celebration, Autry is made honorary sheriff, a role he takes seriously when he learns his childhood enemies, the Wildhack brothers (MacLane, Sawyer and McMahon) are running the town. Autry doesn’t feel he can return to the city and leave the town in this state. When everyone believes he’s turned soft in the city, Pop Laramie (Hayes) helps toughen up Autry to run for the real role of sheriff.

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Musical Monday: Pop Gear (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:
Pop Gear (1965) – Musical #493

Studio:
Associated British-Pathé, Ltd.

Director:
Frederic Goode

Starring:
Host: Jimmy Savile
Performers: The Animals, The Beatles (archive footage), Matt Munro, Susan Maughan, The Honeycombs, Herman’s Hermits, The Nashville Teens, The Four Pennies, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, The Fourmost, Sounds Incorporated, Peter and Gordon, Tommy Quickly & The Remo Four, Billie Davis, The Spencer Davis Group

Plot:
With narration by Jimmy Savile (himself), British Invasion bands perform the hits of 1964 and 1965.

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Musical Monday: The Pirate (1948)

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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:
The Pirate (1948) – Musical #17

pirate5

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Vincente Minnelli

Starring:
Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Walter Slezak, Gladys Cooper, Reginald Owen, George Zucco,
Lester Allen, Lola Albright, Ellen Ross, Mary Jo Ellis, Jean Dean, Mario Murray, Ben Lessy, Jerry Bergen, Val Setz, Anne Francis (uncredited), Alex Romero (uncredited), Dee Turnell (uncredited), Marie Windsor (uncredited)
Specialty Acts: Fayard Nicholas, Harold Nicholas, The Gaudsmith Brothers

Plot:
Manuela (Garland) lives with her aunt (Cooper) in the Caribbean. She’s never been anywhere or done anything and wants to travel and experience excitement, inspired by the adventures of Macoco the Pirate. However, her aunt feels it’s high time for Manuela to be married and arrange a marriage with the town’s mayor, Don Pedro (Slezak). To have excitement before she’s wed, she asks if they can go to the sea to pick up her wedding trousseau. While there, a traveling acting troupe lead by Serafin (Kelly). Serafin is immediately taken with Manuela and invites her to their performance, where he hypnotizes her. Under hypnosis, Manuela reveals her love for Macoco the Pirate. When Manuela and her aunt return home, Serafin and his troupe turn up in her town for a performance.

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Musical Monday: The Vagabond King (1956)

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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.

vagabound kingThis week’s musical:
The Vagabond King (1956) – Musical #773

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Michael Curtiz

Starring:
Kathryn Grayson, Oreste Kirkop (billed as Oreste), Rita Moreno, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Walter Hampden, Leslie Nielsen, William Prince, Jack Lord, Tom Duggan, Lucie Lancaster
Narrator: Vincent Price

Plot:
Set in 15th century France, King Louis XI (Hampden) is at risk of being overthrown by the Duke of Burgundy. When King Louis meets poet, criminal, François Villon (Oreste), he appoints him as his provost to help in the fight against the Duke of Burgundy. In the process, Villon falls in love with King Louis’s niece, Catherine (Grayson).

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Musical Monday: Carolina Blues (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.

carolina bluesThis week’s musical:
Carolina Blues (1944) – Musical #378

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Leigh Jason

Starring:
Themselves: Kay Kyser, Georgia Carroll, Harry Babbitt, Ish Kabibble, Sully Mason
Also starring: Ann Miller, Victor Moore, Jeff Donnell, Howard Freeman, Ruby Dandridge (uncredited), Frank Orth (uncredited), Doodles Weaver (uncredited)
Specialty Acts: Harold Nicholas, the Cristiani Family, the Layson Brothers, the Four Step Brothers, the Golden Gate Quartette

Plot:
Kay Kyser and his band (all playing themselves) return home to the United States from a tour overseas. All of them are exhausted and ready for a vacation, but Kyser’s publicist (Donnell) signed the band up for a bond tour. Kyser agrees to do a performance if it can raise money for a destroyer named for his hometown of Rocky Mount, N.C. Another problem is that Kyser’s lead girl singer, Georgia Carroll (herself), is leaving the band to get married. When Kyser and his band play at a shipyard, the plant’s manager, Phineas Carver (Moore), hopes his daughter Julie (Miller) can be the band’s next singer.

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Musical Monday: Melody in Spring (1934)

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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:
Melody in Spring (1934) – Musical #772

melody in spring3

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Norman Z. McLeod

Starring:
Charlie Ruggles, Ann Sothern, Mary Boland, Lanny Ross, George Meeker, Herman Bing, June Gale, Joan Gale, Jane Gale, Helen Lynd, Thomas E. Jackson,

Plot:
Singing hopeful John Carddock (Ross) is hoping to meet with radio advertiser Warren Blodgett (Ruggles). However, John hurts his chances of a job singing for his radio program, after John and Warren have an unfortunate run in while Warren is trying to collect a souvenir bedpost. When the family, travels to Switzerland on holiday, John follows to try to wear Warren down, and also woo his daughter, Mary (Sothern).

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Musical Monday: Sitting on the Moon (1936)

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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.

sitting on the moonThis week’s musical:
Sitting on the Moon (1936) – Musical #770

Studio:
Republic Pictures

Director:
Ralph Staub

Starring:
Roger Pryor, Grace Bradley, Pert Kelton, William Newell, Henry Kolker, Henry Wadsworth, Joyce Compton, Pierre Watkin, George Cooper,

Plot:
Danny West (Pryor) is a successful songwriter, when he crosses paths with Hollywood actress Polly Blair (Bradley). Polly used to be a successful Hollywood star, but her career is on the skids when she walked out on a producer who now has her blackballed in Hollywood. Danny is successful because Polly introduced one of his songs in a film. Now, Danny tries to help her in a comeback by writing her a song. In the meantime, they fall in love, but his association with Polly hurts his career.

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