Musical Monday: Johnny Doughboy (1942)

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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.

johnny doughboyThis week’s musical:
Johnny Doughboy (1942) – Musical #757

Studio:
Republic Pictures

Director:
John H. Auer

Starring:
Jane Withers, William Demarest, Henry Wilcoxon, Ruth Donnelly, Etta McDaniel, Jack Boyle (billed as Patrick Brooks), Joline Westbrook
Themselves as 20 Minus Club Members: Bobby Breen, Cora Sue Collins, Baby Sandy, Robert Coogan, Carl ‘Alfalfa’ Switzer, George ‘Spanky’ McFarland, Kenneth Brown, Billy Lenhart, Grace Costello

Plot:
Sixteen-year-old actress Ann Winter (Withers) is sick of playing kid parts in films. Just as Ann leaves angrily for a two week vacation, the prize winner of the Ann Winters look-a-like contest, Penelope Ryan (also Withers) arrives to stay the weekend. Ann’s agent Harry (Demarest) asks Penelope to stand in for Ann while she’s gone.

While Penelope pretends to be Ann, former child stars of the 20 Minus Club want “Ann” to participate in a Junior Victory Caravan show for the war effort. Penelope wants to help but has to say no.

Meanwhile, through a series of events Ann finds herself at the cabin of playwright Oliver Lawrence (Wilcoxon), and she sets her hope high that she will get to be in an upcoming play of his.

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Musical Monday: A Wave, a WAC and a Marine (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:
A Wave, a WAC and a Marine (1944) – Musical #756

Studio:
Monogram Pictures

Director:
Phil Karlson

Starring:
Elyse Knox, Ann Gillis, Sally Eilers, Richard Lane, Marjorie Woodworth, Ramsay Ames, Henny Youngman, Alan Dinehart, Cy Kendall, Aileen Pringle, Jack Mulhall, Mabel Todd, Mel Blanc (uncredited)
Themselves: Charles “Red” Marshall, Billy Mack, Milt Bronson, Elvia Allman, Sid Tomack, Rose Murphy, Freddie Rich, Connie Haines, The Music Maids

Plot:
Talent scout O. Henry Brown (Youngman) confuses two understudies, Marian and Judy (Knox and Gillis), for the stars of the Broadway show “A WAVE, a WAC and a Marine,” Eileen and Betty (Woodworth and Ames). Brown takes Marian and Judy to Hollywood to be signed by Margaret Ames (Eilers) who realizes his mistake and turns the girls down. Marian and Judy have to figure out what to do now that they are stuck in Hollywood.

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Musical Monday: Darling Lili (1970)

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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.

darling liliThis week’s musical:
Darling Lili (1970) – Musical #755

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Blake Edwards

Starring:
Julie Andrews, Rock Hudson, Jeremy Kemp, Lance Percival, Michael Witney, Gloria Paul, Jacques Marin, André Maranne, Bernard Kay, Doreen Keogh, Carl Duering, Vernon Dobtcheff, Laurie Main, Louis Mercier

Plot:
Set during World War I, Lili Smith (Andrews) is a popular English singer who also happens to be a spy for Germany, providing information to Kurt von Ruger (Kemp). When Lili is to get close to American aviator Major Larrabee (Hudson) for information, she falls in love with him. As the two grow close, Lili’s emotions and jealousy conflict with her position as a spy.

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Musical Monday: Remains to Be Seen (1953)

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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:
Remains to Be Seen (1953) – Musical #754

remains2

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Don Weis

Starring:
Van Johnson, June Allyson, Angela Lansbury, Louis Calhern, John Beal, Barry Kelley, Sammy White, Kathryn Card, Paul Harvey, Helene Millard, Charles Lane, Peter Chong, Frank Nelson, Howard Freeman, Dabbs Greer (uncredited), Emmitt Smith (uncredited), Stuart Holmes (uncredited)
Herself: Dorothy Dandridge

Plot:
Waldo Williams (Johnson) is the manager of a luxury apartment complex (who also dabbles in drumming). Williams discovers Travis Revercombe (Holmes) dead in his apartment. While the body was announced as natural causes, a knife is found in his chest by the funeral home. It’s determined that the body was stabbed after he was dead. Revercombe’s lawyer Benjamin Goodman (Calhern) has asked the deceased’s niece, nightclub singer Jody Revere (Allyson), to meet with him. Jody isn’t upset that her uncle is dead, but Waldo Williams is a great fan. Jody is the heir to Revercombe’s fortune, and if she refuses it, it goes to his favorite charity, led by Valeska Chauvel (Lansbury).

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Musical Monday: Murder at the Windmill (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:
Murder at the Windmill(1949) – Musical #753

windmill burlesque2

Studio:
Grand National Pictures

Director:
Val Guest

Starring:
Garry Marsh, Jack Livesey, Jon Pertwee, Eliot Makeham, Diana Decker, Donald Clive, Jill Antsey, Pamela Deeming, Johnnie Gale
Themselves: Jimmy Edwards, The Windmill Theater Trope, Robin Richmond

Plot:
When a man is found dead in the front row of the Windmill Theater, police inspectors (Pertwee, Marsh) ask for the cast to re-perform the whole show so they can evaluate how the man was shot and determine who killed him.

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Musical Monday: Kelly and Me (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.

This week’s musical:
Kelly and Me (1956) – Musical #752

kelly and me

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Robert Z. Leonard

Starring:
Van Johnson, Piper Laurie, Martha Hyer, Onslow Stevens, Hebert Anderson, Douglas Fowley, Frank Wilcox, Dan Riss, Kelly the Dog, Madge Blake (uncredited)

Plot:
Set in 1930, vaudeville performer Len Carmody (Johnson) has a corny, failing act. When another performer abandons his trained dog, Kelly (Kelly the Dog), the dog becomes attached to Carmody. When the dog walks out on stage during Carmody’s act and the audience goes nuts, he realizes he may be on to a new act. The pair become successful on stage and are traveling when they meet Mina Van Runkel (Laurie), who happens to be the daughter of a film studio executive (Stevens). Mina convinces her father to give Carmody and Kelly a role in a film. As Kelly becomes a great film star, Carmody resents the dog’s celebrity and playing second fiddle in his films.

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Musical Monday: Mystery in Swing (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.

mystery in swingThis week’s musical:
Mystery in Swing (1940) – Musical #751

Studio:
Aetna Film Corp.

Director:
Arthur Dreifuss

Starring:
Monte Hawley, Marguerite Whitten, Tommie Moore, Edward Thompson, Buck Woods, Robert Webb, Sybil Lewis, Jess Lee Brooks, Josephine Edwards, Alfred Grant, Tom Southern
Themselves: The Four Toppers, CeePee Johnson and His Orchestra

Plot:
Trumpet player Prince Ellis (Webb) is leaving his job at the Penguin Club for Hollywood. On his last night of the club, his womanizing catches up with him:
• Teenage Mae Carroll (Moore) is ready to run away with Prince, though her father (brooks) shows up and tells Prince to leave his daughter alone.
• Nightclub singer Maxine Rae (Edwards) is in love with him and jealous of the other women in his life
• And the ex-Mrs. Ellis (Lewis) shows up asking about her alimony.
But that night, Prince is murdered and Maxine witnesses his death but doesn’t know who did it. The body is discovered by reporter Biff Boyd (Hawley) and his girlfriend Linda Carroll (Whitten), who also see Maxine leaving his apartment.

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Musical Monday: Murder in the Music Hall (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.

murder in the music hallThis week’s musical:
Murder in the Music Hall (1946) – Musical #750

Studio:
Republic Pictures

Director:
John English

Starring:
Vera Ralston (billed as Vera Hruba Ralston), William Marshall, Ann Rutherford, William Gargan, Nancy Kelly, Helen Walker, Julie Bishop, Jerome Cowan, Edward Noris, Jack La Rue, Frank Orth, Fay McKenzie, Mary Field, Anne Nagel, Joe Yule (uncredited)

Specialty Stars on Ice: Condon and Bohland, Red McCarthy, Patti Phillippi, John Jolliffe, Henry Lie

Plot:
During an ice skating performance, star skater Lila Laughton (Ralston) spots a familiar face in the balcony: Carl Lang (Norris). Lang was the show’s former director and producer, just released from jail. He was jailed for criminal negligence when a man, Douglas, was found dead of poisoning that was an accident—though murder is suspected. When Carl is murdered, Lila, her boyfriend, and bandleader Don Jordan (Marshall) and fellow performers, Gracie (Rutherford) and Millicent (Walker), try to find the murderer. At the same time, police Inspector Wilson (Gargan) is investigating the case.

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Musical Monday: Sarge Goes to College (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.

sarge goes to college2This week’s musical:
Sarge Goes to College (1947) – Musical #749

Studio:
Monogram Pictures

Director:
Will Jason

Starring:
Freddie Stewart, June Preisser, Frankie Darro, Warren Mills, Noel Neill, Arthur Walsh, Alan Hale Jr., Frank Cady, Monte Collins, Selmer Jackson, Margaret Brayton
Themselves: Arthur Walsh, Russ Morgan and His Orchestra, Jack McVea and Orchestra, Dusty Fletcher, Candy Candido, Les Paul, Abe Lyman, Jess Stacy, Wingy Manone, Joe Venuti, Jerry Wald

Plot:
A Marine, Sarge (Hale Jr.), is due to have surgery, but doctors don’t think he is prepared for the procedure and needs to get away from the military atmosphere for a rest. He is transferred to San Juan College, were Freddie (Stewart) and his friends (Preisser, Darro, Neill, Mills) are planning to put on a show. As Dodie (Preisser) and Betty (Neill) help Sarge with his studies, romantic misunderstandings happen as the their boyfriends (Stewart, Darro) when Betty thinks Dodie is jilting Freddie for the Sarge.

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Musical Monday: Mad About Music (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.

This week’s musical:
Mad About Music (1938) – Musical #380

mad about music3

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Norman Taurog

Starring:
Deanna Durbin, Gail Patrick, Herbert Marshall, Arthur Treacher, William Frawley, Marcia Mae Jones, Helen Parrish, Jackie Moran, Elisabeth Risdon, Nana Bryant, Christian Rub, Charles Peck, Jonathan Hale (uncredited), Martha O’Driscoll (uncredited), Franklin Pangborn (uncredited)
Themselves: Sid Grauman, Cappy Barra and His Harmonica Ensemble

Plot:
Teenager Gloria Harkinson (Durbin) is the daughter of famous film star Gwen Taylor (Patrick), but she has to keep this a secret. Gwen’s manager, Dusty (Frawley), feels it would be bad business if fans and publicity knew Gwen was old enough to have a 14-year-old daughter. Because of this, Gloria creates a fictional father, who is an explorer, who sends gifts and outlandish letters from his adventures. The school’s mean girl, Felice (Parrish), doubts that these stories are true and wants to expose Gloria’s lies. In an effort to keep up the façade, Gloria says her father is coming to visit and greets composer, Richard Todd (Marshall), when he gets off the train. While Richard is initially ready to also fess up to the lie, he’s charmed by sweet Gloria and the two form a friendship.

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