Musical Monday: Home in Wyomin’ (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.

home in wy3This week’s musical:
Home in Wyomin’ (1942) – Musical #741

Studio:
Republic Pictures

Director:
William Morgan

Starring:
Gene Autry (as himself), Smiley Burnette, Fay McKenzie, Joe Strauch Jr., Olin Howland, Chick Chandler, Forrest Taylor, James Seay, Charles Lane, Champion (uncredited)

Plot:
Gene Autry (as himself) is a radio star, followed by a photographer, Clementine Benson (McKenzie), and a reporter, Hack Hackett (Chandler), who want to get photos of him to prove he’s a phony and not a true westerner. The reporters and photographer follow Gene to Wyoming, where he travels to straighten out a rodeo star (Seay), who is drinking too much and hurting his career.

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Musical Monday: Hollywood Barn Dance (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:
Hollywood Barn Dance (1947) – Musical #740

hollywood barn dance

Studio:
Screen Guild Productions

Director:
Bernard B. Ray

Starring:
Ernest Tubb as himself, Lori Talbot, Helen Boyce, Earle Hodgins, Frank McGlynn Sr., Phil Arnold, Larry Reed, Anne Kunde, Betty Mudge,
Performers: The Texas Troubadours, Red Herron, Jack Guthrie, Dotti Hackett, Dorothy and Lewis Swan, Leon and Jimmie Short

Plot:
Ernest (Tubb as himself) has dreams of performing music with his band, but meets opposition from his Pa (McGlynn), who thinks it’s a waste of time. When Ernest and his musician friends, The Texas Troubadours, accidentally burn down the local church, they set out on the road to perform and earn money to rebuild the church. The band gets hooked up with a manager, Francis Cartwright (Hodgins), who mismanages their money.

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Musical Monday: Hats Off (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.

This week’s musical:
Hats Off (1936) – Musical #739

hats off

Studio:
Grand National Films

Director:
Boris Petroff

Starring:
Mae Clarke, John Payne, Helen Lynd, Luis Alberni, Richard ‘Skeets’ Gallagher, Franklin Pangborn, George Irving, Robert Middlemass, Dennis O’Keefe (uncredited)
Themselves: The Three Radio Rogues (Jimmy Hollywood, Henry Taylor, Eddie Bartell)

Plot:
Two towns and Texas are trying to outdo each other when it comes to putting on fairs for Texas’s centennial. One town has press agent Jimmy Maxwell (Payne) in charge and another town hires press agent Jo Allen (Clarke). Jo goes undercover and romances Jimmy to steal their ideas.

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Musical Monday: Kiss Me Kate (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.

kissThis week’s musical:
Kiss Me Kate (1953) – Musical #19

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
George Sidney

Starring:
Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, Tommy Rall, Keenan Wynn, James Whitmore, Bob Fosse, Tommy Rall, Kurt Kasznar, Ron Randell, Willard Parker, Ann Codee, Carol Haney, Jeanne Coyne, Hermes Pan (uncredited)

Plot:
Cole Porter (Randell) has written a musical version of Williams Shakespeare’s play, “Kiss Me Kate.” Fred Graham (Keel) feels the show is perfect for him and his ex-wife, Lilli Vanessi (Grayson). Though Lilli outwardly hates Fred, she can’t turn down a good role, and Fred and Lilli play Petruchio and Kathrine in the show. One of Fred’s girlfriends, Lois (Miller) is cast as Kathrine’s younger sister, Bianca. On opening night as the show is being performed, issues occur backstage. Gangsters (Wynn, Whitmore) show up to collect a gambling debt of Lois’s boyfriend and co-star, Bill (Rall); Lilli and Fred battle, and Lilli’s fiancé (Parker) arrives.

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Musical Monday: Young Man with a Horn (1950)

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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:
Young Man with a Horn (1950) – Musical #92

young man with a horn4

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Michael Curtiz

Starring:
Kirk Douglas, Doris Day, Lauren Bacall, Juano Hernandez, Hoagy Carmichael, Jerome Cowan, Mary Beth Hughes, Orley Lindgren,

Plot:
As a child, Rick Martin (Lindgren, Douglas) is orphaned and lives with his sister (Hughes). With no supervision and left to his own device, Rick is drawn to music — first learning how to play piano by ear and then hearing a jazz session led by Art Hazzard (Hernandez). Art takes Rick under his wing and teaches him how to play the trumpet, perfecting his methods as Rick grows into adulthood. Rick eventually gets a job with a band, where he clashes with the bandleader because Rick wants to play jazz and not dance music. In the process, he and the band’s singer Jo Jordan (Day) form a romance. But it’s Jo’s friend Amy North (Bacall) that Rick is drawn to — but through it all he’s most entranced with his music.

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Musical Monday: Sincerely Yours (1955)

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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:
Sincerely Yours (1955) – Musical #683

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Gordon Douglas

Starring:
Liberace, Joanne Dru, Dorothy Malone, William Demarest, Alex Nicol, Lori Nelson, Lurene Tuttle, Richard Eyre, James Bell, Ian Wolfe (uncredited), Ed Platt (uncredited), Guy Williams (uncredited)

Plot:
Anthony Warrin (Liberace) loses his hearing unexpectedly. Depressed that he can no longer play the piano due to his hearing loss, Anthony learns to lip-read and begins watching people from his penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park. He learns about their problems by lip-reading and helps strangers.

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Musical Monday: Wake Up and Dream (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:
Wake Up and Dream (1946) – Musical #738

wake up and dram

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Lloyd Bacon

Starring:
John Payne, June Haver, Connie Marshall, Charlotte Greenwood, John Ireland, Clem Bevans, Charles Russell, Irving Bacon, Charles D. Brown, Charles Russell, Charles Smith (uncredited), George Cleveland (uncredited),

Plot:
Set in 1943, Jeff Cairn (Payne) leaves the farm and enlists in the U.S. Navy at the start of World War II, leaving his little sister Nella (Marshall) to live with a cousin. After two years, Nella runs away back home, saying she doesn’t like the cousin, she stays with Jeff’s girl, Jenny (Haver). She is also helped by elderly Henry Pickett (Bevans), who the whole town thinks is crazy because he built a boat while living 300 miles from water. When Jeff is Missing in Action, Jenny, Henry and Nella take the boat on a journey to find Jeff on their “secret island.”

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Musical Monday: Double or Nothing (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.

double or nothingThis week’s musical:
Double or Nothing (1937) – Musical #737

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Theodore Reed

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Martha Raye, Andy Devine, Mary Carlisle, William Frawley, Benny Baker, Samuel S. Hinds, William Henry, Fay Holden, Walter Kingsford, Bert Hanlon, Dennis O’Keefe (uncredited), Victor Sen Yung (uncredited)
Specialty performers: Frances Faye, Elsie Ames and Nick Arno (as Ames and Arno), Steve Calgary and Andre Calgary (as the Calgary Brothers), Harry Barris, Tex Morrissey, Alphonse Bergé, Edward Rickard

Plot:
When a philanthropist millionaire dies, he leaves little for his family members in his will and instead wants to help an honest person. After wallets are tossed around the city, only four people return them: Lefty Boylan (Crosby), Half Pint (Devine), Liza Lou Lane (Raye) and John Pederson (Frawley). Those four are each given $5,000 and are given 30 days to double the money (legally and without gambling). The first one who does, gets the entire estate. The Clark family isn’t happy with this idea and tries to find a way to keep the money in the family.

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Watching 1939: Smashing the Money Ring (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

smashing21939 film:
Smashing the Money Ring (1939)

Release date:
Oct. 21, 1939

Cast:
Ronald Reagan, Margot Stevenson, Eddie Foy, Joe Downing, Charles D. Brown, Joe King, William B. Davidson, John Ridgely (uncredited)

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Terry O. Morse

Plot:
A mob printing counterfeit money are connected to a gambling ship. When the leader, Dice Matthews (Downing), lands in jail, a Secret Service agent, Lt. Brass Bancroft (Reagan), goes undercover as an inmate. While in jail, Bancroft investigates how and where the counterfeit money is printed and distributed.

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Musical Monday: Lady Be Good (1941)

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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.

lady be goodThis week’s musical:
Lady Be Good (1941) – Musical #260

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Norman Z. McLeod
Busby Berkeley, musical numbers

Starring:
Ann Sothern, Robert Young, Eleanor Powell, Lionel Barrymore, Tom Conway, John Carroll, Red Skelton, Reginald Owen, Virginia O’Brien, Dan Dailey, Phil Silvers, Rose Hobart, Buttons the Dog
Themselves: Connie Russell, The Berry Brothers

Plot:
The film begins in the divorce court telling the story of married songwriters Eddie Crane (Young) and Dixie Donegan (Ann Sothern) begin to grow apart as they find more success. Dixie prefers their more simple life together, while Eddie revels in the glamorous party set of high society.

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