Musical Monday: Garden of the Moon (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.

garden of the moonThis week’s musical:
Garden of the Moon (1938) – Musical #406

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Busby Berkeley

Starring:
Pat O’Brien, Margaret Lindsay, John Payne, Johnnie Davis, Melville Cooper, Isabel Jeans, Mable Todd, Penny Singleton, Dick Purcell, Curt Bois, Granville Bates
Themselves: Jimmie Fidler

Plot:
When Rudy Vallee and his band are in a wreck, the Garden of the Moon nightclub doesn’t have any entertainment scheduled to perform. The tyrannical nightclub manager John Quinn (O’Brien) is convinced by his press agent Toni Blake (Lindsey) to hire an unknown band lead by Don Vincente (Payne). Don and John butt heads, especially as John wants to replace Don with Rudy Vallee two weeks after they start. Toni works on a publicity campaign to get Don in John’s good graces.

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Musical Monday: Bernardine (1957)

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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.

bernardineThis week’s musical:
Bernardine (1957) – Musical #695

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Henry Levin

Starring:
Pat Boone, Terry Moore, Dick Sargent, Janet Gaynor, Dean Jagger, Ronnie Burns, James Drury, Walter Abel, Natalie Schafer, Isabel Jewell, Edit Angold (uncredited), Lavina Caparella (uncredited), Hooper Dunbar (uncredited), Ernestine Wade (uncredited), Carole Ann Campbell (uncredited)
Himself: Jack Costanzo

Plot:
A group of high school seniors and friends — Arthur Beaumont (Boone), Sanford Wilson (Sargent) and Griner (Burns) — have a secret club and also have made up an imaginary dream girl, Bernardine. Sanford often strikes out on dates until he meets telephone operator Jean (Moore), saying that she is their Bernadine. Sanford’s friends double-cross his new romance.

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Musical Monday: Gold Diggers in Paris (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.

gold diggers parisThis week’s musical:
Gold Diggers in Paris (1938) – Musical #708

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Ray Enright

Starring:
Rudy Vallee, Rosemary Lane, Hugh Herbert, Allen Jenkins, Gloria Dickson, Melville Cooper, Mabel Todd, Fritz Feld, Edward Brophy
The Golddiggers: Rosella Towne, Carole Landis, Janet Shaw, Peggy Moran, Diana Lewis, Lois Lindsay, Poppy Wilde
Themselves: The Schnickelfritz Band

Plot:
Terry Moore (Vallee) runs a nightclub with Duke Dennis (Jenkins) in New York City and is in debt. The nightclub owners and their dancers are confused with the Academy Ballet of America by Maurice Giraud (Herbert), who invites them to Paris for a ballet showcase and a high dollar contract. Terry and Duke jump at the chance, feeling it may solve their financial troubles. However, they find trouble in Paris when the real Academy Ballet of America run by Padrinsky (Bois) works to expose them as phonies.

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Musical Monday: Double Trouble (1967)

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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 troubleThis week’s musical:
Double Trouble (1967) – Musical #707

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Norman Taurog

Starring:
Elvis Presley, Annette Day, John Williams, Yvonne Romain, Chips Rafferty, Norman Rossington, Leon Askin

Plot:
Singer Guy Lambert (Presley) is on tour abroad, where he meets Jill (Day). At first he doesn’t know that Jill is both wealthy and only 17 years old. He tries to avoid her, which should be a cinch since he’s leaving on his tour. But Jill follows him, and so does Claire Dunham (Romain). In addition to his love troubles, he somehow gets mixed up with jewel thieves.

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Musical Monday: Presenting Lily Mars (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.

presenting lily mars5This week’s musical:
Presenting Lily Mars (1943) – Musical #182

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Norman Taurog

Starring:
Judy Garland, Van Heflin, Fay Bainter, Richard Carlson, Spring Byington, Mártha Eggerth, Ray MacDonald, Connie Gilchrist, Patricia Barker, Janet Chapman, Annie Ross (Annabelle Logan), Douglas Croft, Marilyn Maxwell (uncredited), William Tannen (uncredited)
Themselves: Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, Bob Crosby and his Orchestra

Plot:
Lily Mars (Garland) is eager to become an actress. Major Broadway producer John Thornway (Heflin) is from Lily’s Indiana hometown, and while visiting his mother (Bainter), Lily tries to make an impression. John finds Lily to be a nuisance, but despite his deterrence, Lily goes to New York City to try to break into acting.

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Watching 1939: Golden Boy (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.

1939 film:
Golden Boy (1939)

golden boy3

Release date:
Sept. 5, 1939

Cast:
Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou, William Holden, Lee J. Cobb, Joseph Calleia, Sam Levene, Edward Brophy, Beatrice Blinn, Don Beddoe

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Rouben Mamoulian

Plot:
Joe Bonaparte (Holden) is torn between two careers: becoming a prizefighter or a violinist, like his father (Cobb) wants him to be.

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Musical Monday: Keep ‘Em Flying (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.

This week’s musical:
Keep ‘Em Flying (1941) – Musical No. 706

keep em flying

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Arthur Lubin

Starring:
Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Martha Raye, Carol Bruce, Dick Foran, William Gargan, Charles Lang,

Plot:
Jinx Roberts (Foran) is a trick flier who joins the U.S. Army Air Corps. His two assistants Heathcliff (Costello) and Blackie (Abbott) follow him and to the base. The two enlist and fall for twin sisters Gloria (Raye) and Barbara (also Raye). Jinx finds trouble when he’s viewed by a hot shot, especially by Craig Morrison (Gargan) and USO hostess Linda Joyce (Bruce), who Jinx falls for.

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Musical Monday: Maytime (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.

maytimeThis week’s musical:
Maytime (1937) – Musical #234

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Robert Z. Leonard

Starring:
John Barrymore, Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Herman Bing, Tom Brown, Lynne Carver, Rafaela Ottiano, Charles Judels, Paul Porcasi, Sig Ruman, Walter Kingsford, Billy Gilbert (uncredited), Leonid Kinskey (uncredited),

Plot:
Marcia Mornay (MacDonald) is a rising opera star, whose climb to fame was aided and nurtured by her voice teacher and manager Nicolai Nazaroff (Barrymore). Marcia accepts a marriage proposal from Nicolai as a thanks for all that he has done for her. After becoming engaged, Marcia meets singer Paul Allison (Eddy) and the two fall in love.

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Musical Monday: Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (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:
Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955) – Musical #51

brunettes

Studio:
United Artists

Director:
Richard Sale

Starring:
Jane Russell, Jeanne Crain, Scott Brady, Alan Young, Guy Middleton,
Himself: Rudy Vallee

Plot:
Sisters Bonnie (Russell) and Connie (Crain) are performers with a problem: Bonnie can never say no to a marriage proposal. When the sisters receive an offer to perform in Paris, they head to Europe where they learn that their mothers, Mitzi and Mimi, were performers who took Paris by storm in the 1920s. Rudy Vallee tries to build the girls up to match the fame of their mothers.

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Musical Monday: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (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.

gentleman prefer blondesThis week’s musical:
Gentleman Prefer Blondes – Musical #208

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Howard Hawks

Starring:
Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, Charles Coburn, Elliott Reid, Tommy Noonan, George Winslow, Marcel Dalio, Taylor Holmes, Norma Varden, Harry Carey Jr. (uncredited), George Chakiris (uncredited), Robert Fuller (uncredited), Matt Mattox (uncredited), Julie Newmar (uncredited)

Plot:
Lorelei Lee (Monroe) is engaged to a wealthy man (Noonan), whose father disapproves; believing she’s a gold digger. Lorelei and her friend Dorothy Shaw (Russell) travel to Paris, followed by a private detective (Reid), who is watching Lorelei on behalf of her fiancé. Along the way, they look for wealthy men and love.

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