Christmas on Film: The Cheaters (1945)

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Last Christmas, I was wrapping presents and watching made-for-TV Christmas movies on YouTube when — after finishing Susan Lucci’s Christmas Carol — a film began autoplaying.

I was excited to find a new-to-me classic Christmas film (which I have previously palmentioned can be hard to find).

“The Cheaters” (1945) most likely won’t be added to my mandatory list of Christmas season viewing, but it’s a fairly enjoyable film.

Wealthy James C. Pidgeon (Eugene Pallette) is about to go bankrupt while his wife Clara (Billie Burke), children (Ann Gillis, Ruth Terry, David Holt), and brother-in-law (Raymond Walburn) are all still happily living off what little money he has left.

To top off the financial issues, Pidgeon’s daughter Theresa (Terry) demands that the family invites a charity case to their home for Christmas. She wants to impress her soldier boyfriend, Stephen (Robert Livingston) because his mother always invites a charity case for Christmas.

For their charity case, the family selects Anthony Marchaund (Joseph Schildkraut), a has-been actor who was injured in a car wreck at the height of his career. He now drinks too much and walks with a limp.

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Christmas Musical Monday: By the Light of the Silvery Moon (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 500. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953)– Musical #174

Studio:
Warner Brothers

Director:
David Butler

Starring:
Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Leon Ames, Rosemary DeCamp, Billy Gray, Mary Wickes, Russell Arms, Maria Palmer, Walter ‘PeeWee’ Flannery, Merv Griffin (uncredited)

Plot:
A sequel to On Moonlight Bay (1951), the story picks up in 1918 when Bill (MacRae) returns from World War I. Marjorie (Day) is anxious to discuss their wedding plans, as he promised when he left, but Bill doesn’t want to rush into wedlock. This causes a rift in their relationship. Marjorie’s brother Wesley (Gray) is still causing trouble in this film.

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Christmas on Film: The Holly and the Ivy (1952)

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2019 update: The Holly And The Ivy was released on DVD and Blu-Ray for the first time in Nov. 2019 by Kino Lorber. 

Like most of us, I grew up on classic Christmas films—from White Christmas to The Bishop’s Wife to Christmas in Connecticut. And as I realized new-to-me pre-1968 Christmas movies were dwindling, I began scrounging for more. Surely there were still some left to discover!

That’s how I stumbled upon “The Holly and the Ivy” (1952) last Christmas while browsing Amazon. But much to my dismay, the only DVDs sold were Region 2 (not able to play on U.S. devices) and it didn’t appear to be streaming online.

So as the holidays rolled around again this year, I searched and found someone selling a DVRed copy of this English film and I snatched it up.

Starring Ralph Richardson, Celia Johnson, Denholm Elliott, Margaret Leighton, Hugh Williams, Margaret Halstan and Maureen Delaney, the film takes place as a family returns home on Christmas Eve. And in the midst of the bright holiday, none of them are very happy and are hiding their troubles.

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Christmas Musical Monday: On Moonlight Bay (1951)

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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:
On Moonlight Bay (1951) – Musical #118

Studio:
Warner Brothers

Director:
Roy Del Ruth

Starring:
Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Leon Ames, Rosemary DeCamp, Billy Gray, Mary Wickes, Jack Smith, Ellen Corby

Plot:
Starting in 1916, the film looks at a year in the life of the Winfield family. The films starts when the family moves to a new neighborhood hoping to refine their tomboy daughter Marjorie (Day). Marjorie falls in love with college student William Sherman (MacRae), whose has college ideas have him saying he doesn’t believe in marriage and that banks are parasites. These ideas don’t please her parents (Ames and DeCamp), so Marjorie dates several other young men, but she is preoccupied with thoughts of William. The film is filled with antics of her younger brother (Gray).

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Christmas Musical Monday: Babes in Toyland (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 500. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
“Babes in Toyland” (1934) – Musical #576

Studio:
Hal Roach Studios
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Gus Meins, Charley Rogers

Starring:
Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Virginia Karns, Charlotte Henry, Felix Knight, Florence Roberts, Henry Brandon, Scotty Beckett (uncredited), Ellen Corby (uncredited), Dickie Jones (uncredited), Gene Reynolds (uncredited), Marie Wilson (uncredited)

Plot:
Silas Barnaby (Brandon) is the meanest man in the town of Toyland. He is demanding the mortgage from Mother Peep, the old woman who lives in the shoe (Roberts). Barnaby also wants to marry Bo-Peep (Henry), who refuses him. Along with all of Mother Peep’s children, Stannie Dee (Laurel) and Ollie Dum (Hardy) also live in the shoe. When they can’t pay the mortgage, Bo-Peep agrees to marry Barnaby, but Stannie Dee and Ollie Dum help her trick him into marrying a decoy. To get revenge, Barnaby frames Tom-Tom (Knight), who loves Bo-Peep, for kidnapping one of the Three Little Pigs.

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Musical Monday: Panama Hattie (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 500. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Panama Hattie (1942) – Musical #114

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Norman Z. McLeod

Starring:
Ann Sothern, Dan Dailey, Red Skelton, Marsha Hunt, Rags Ragland, Ben Blue, Virginia O’Brien, Alan Mowbray, Jackie Horner
Herself: Lena Horne, Berry Brothers

Plot:
Set during World War II, Hattie Maloney, known as Panama Hattie (Sothern), owns a nightclub in Panama where her sailor friends Red, Rags and Rowdy (Skelton, Ragland, Blue) often visit. Hattie is in love with Dick Bulliard (Dailey), who is in the Army and stationed at a nearby base. Hattie is nervous because Dick has been married before and has an 8-year-old daughter Geraldine (Horner) who Hattie will soon meet. Geraldine and Hattie don’t get off on the right foot, as Geraldine laughs at Hattie’s loud clothing. Hattie also has competition when the daughter of the admiral, Leila Tree (Hunt), who has her sights set on Dick. Meanwhile, Red, Rags and Rowdy are always convinced there are spies around and end up uncovering a spy plot.

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Thanksgiving at the Hollywood Canteen

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During World War II, communities pulled together to help out servicemen, and Hollywood was no exception.

The Hollywood Canteen, located at 1451 Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood, CA, was a USO nightclub exclusively for enlisted men and women (no officers) and admission was only their uniform.

Claude Rains and Edward Arnold carve turkeys

Founded by Bette Davis, John Garfield and Jules Stein, servicemen could dance with Hedy Lamarr, be served doughnuts by Rita Hayworth and Robert Benchley may be washing dishes.

The Hollywood Canteen opened on Oct. 3, 1942, and closed its doors on Nov. 22, 1945, Thanksgiving Day. During that time, they entertained 3 million military personnel.

From the year it opened in 1942 to its closing day on Thanksgiving, servicemen and women away from their families on the holiday were invited to a Thanksgiving meal. Chef Milani, famous Italian chef, was in charge of the food at the club. Chef Milani would make meals specific to different regions of the United States, from Boston baked beans and chowder to Creole shrimp, according to Oct. 23, 1944, brief in the Daily Notes of Canonsburg, PA.

Here are a few new briefs on the Hollywood Canteen’s Thanksgiving celebrations over the years:

Thursday, Nov. 26, 1942:
Eddie Cantor was the master of ceremonies at the first Hollywood Canteen celebration, according to a Nov. 26, 1942, news brief in the Los Angeles Times. Approximately 5,000 servicemen came for a buffet style meal.

Bette Davis helps carve turkeys at the Hollywood Canteen

Thursday, Nov. 25, 1943:
3,500 servicemen were served in a Thanksgiving celebration at the Hollywood Canteen. During the meal, they were entertained by Bob Hope, according to a Dec. 19, 1943, news brief in the Star Press, of Muncie, Indiana.

Chef Milani prepared 76 turkeys for servicemen at the Hollywood Canteen, according to a Nov. 27, 1943, new brief in the Los Angeles Times.

The 76 turkeys were carved by Paul Heinreid, Edward Arnold, Wallace Beery, Claude Rains, Edgar Bergen, John Garfield, Dick Powell and William Bendix, according to the Dec. 19, 1943, brief.

John Wayne also helped carve turkeys. Ward Bond was also going to carve turkeys, but got too inebriated that night before, according to the book Three Bad Men: John Ford, John Wayne, Ward Bond by Scott Allen Nollen.

Servicemen eating Thanksgiving dinner at the Hollywood Canteen

Thursday, Nov. 23, 1944:
Servicemen would enjoy a meal as good as what is served at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, Bette Davis said in an Oct. 23, 1944, brief in the Daily Notes of Canonsburg, PA.

On Nov. 20, 1944, the Hollywood Canteen announced they would open at 7 p.m. and have movie stars and three different dance bands for entertainment. In addition to the meals, there would be fresh fruit for the soldiers, according to a Nov. 20, 1944, brief in the Los Angeles Times.

Thursday, Nov. 22, 1945:
After serving military personnel for three years, the Hollywood Canteen shut its doors on Nov. 22, 1945. The last day of the club ended after a 10-hour stage shift that ended at midnight. They ended with a Thanksgiving celebration and show that started in the afternoon and went into the evening.

The show included performances and appearances from Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Leslie, Kay Kyser, Bette Davis, Dinah Shore, James Stewart, Hedy Lamarr, Edward G. Robinson, Henry Fonda, Ronald Colman and Jerry Colonna, according to a Nov. 23, 1945, Associated Press news brief.

Dinah Shore eats with servicemen at the Hollywood Canteen.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Check out the Comet Over Hollywood Facebook page, follow on Twitter at @HollywoodComet or e-mail at cometoverhollywood@gmail.com

Musical Monday: Blonde from Brooklyn (1945)

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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:
Blonde from Brooklyn (1945) – Musical #575

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Del Lord

Starring:
Bob Haymes (billed as Robert Stanton), Lynn Merrick, Thurston Hall, Mary Treen, Gwen Verdon (uncredited), Matt Willis (uncredited), Hugh Beaumont (uncredited)

Plot:
Dixon Harper (Haymes/Stanton) is a soldier returning from World War II. The military lets him know about his G.I. rights, Dixon’s goal is to get back on the stage to perform like he did before the war. Dixon’s routine is to act southern, though he is not southern. He meets jukebox operator and struggling singer, Susan Parker (Merrick). The two team up for a southern act and work with an old southern colonel to be convincing as southerners and Susan masquerades as a southern belle.

Trivia:
-Lead actor Bob Haymes was billed as Robert Stanton in this film. He is the younger brother of Dick Haymes.

Notable Songs:
-“Baby, Save Him for Me” performed by Lynn Merrick
-“Comin’ Around the Corner” performed by Lynn Merrick and Bob Haymes
-“It’s Just a Prayer Away” performed by Bob Haymes
-“Lost, a Wonderful Girl” performed by Bob Haymes

Bob Haymes in “Blonde from Brooklyn”

Mary Treen and Lynn Merrick in Blonde from Brooklyn

My review:
“Blonde from Brooklyn” is one of those entertaining 1940s B-musicals that offers more in the way of music than plot.

Bob Haymes, younger brother of Dick Haymes, is a soldier returning home from World War II and wanting to get his old act off the ground. He meets a jukebox operator (see also Swing Hostess for similar 1940s technology) Lynn Merrick, who he convinces to join him in his act. The act focuses on being southern, though neither one is. They meet a southern colonel, played by Thurston Hall, who helps them create a convincing persona.

Merrick and Haymes both have wonderful singing voices and sing catchy and toe-tapping tunes throughout the film. I wasn’t very familiar with either actor, but found them equally pleasant. Bob Haymes doesn’t look like his older brother Dick, but he has a similar deep, soothing voice.

The only irritating thing about the film is that Bob Haymes, who originally hailed from White Plains, NY, talks with a supposed drawl and throws out some “honey-childs” and “you alls.” He eventually stops once everyone figures out his character isn’t from the south (thank goodness). But as someone who actually lives in the south, that sort of thing really grates on your nerves. Interestingly enough, Haymes retired and passed away in Hilton Head, SC.

Lynn Merrick was lovely and had some lovely costumes.

The best part of “Blonde from Brooklyn” is that it runs only 65 minutes, which is the perfect length for this kind of film. It tells the story adequately with songs sprinkled throughout. The plot isn’t very interesting but the songs are entertaining. If you’re a lover of 1940s tunes, give this one a look (and listen).

Check out the Comet Over Hollywood Facebook page, follow on Twitter at @HollywoodComet or e-mail at cometoverhollywood@gmail.com

Musical Monday: Two Girls and a Sailor (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 500. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Two Girls and A Sailor (1944) – Musical #120

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Richard Thorpe

Starring:
June Allyson, Gloria DeHaven, Van Johnson, Tom Drake, Jimmy Durante, Henry Stephenson, Henry O’Neill, Donald Meek, Frank Jenks, Frank Sully, Karin Booth (uncredited), Ava Gardiner (uncredited), Natalie Draper (uncredited), Gigi Perreau (uncredited), Arthur Walsh (uncredited)

Themselves: Carlos Ramírez, Ben Blue, José Iturbi, Amparo Iturbi, Harry James, Helen Forrest, Xavier Cugat, Lina Romay, Gracie Allen, Lena Horne, Virginia O’Brien, Lyn Wilde, Lee Wilde, Albert Coates

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Musical Monday: Swing Hostess (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 500. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Swing Hostess (1944)– Musical #574

Studio:
Producers Releasing Corporation

Director:
Sam Newfield

Starring:
Martha Tilton, Iris Adrian, Charles Collins, Cliff Nazarro, Harry Holman, Emmett Lynn, Betty Brodel

Plot:
Jive singer Judy Alvin (Tilton) is having a hard time finding a job. She gets a job as a telephone operator for jukeboxes (people pick up a phone and give their song request). Judy cuts a record and it gets confused with acquaintance (and terrible singer) Phoebe Forbes (Brodel) who rides to success on Judy’s voice.

Trivia:
-One of the few films where Martha Tilton acts and isn’t just a specialty singer
-Actress Betty Brodel who is in the film is Joan Leslie’s sister

Highlights:
-Seeing Martha Tilton in a film

Notable Songs:
-“Got An Invitation” performed by Martha Tilton
-“Say It With Love” performed by Martha Tilton
-“Let’s Capture That Moment” performed by Martha Tilton

My review:
As a lover of big band music, Martha Tilton is one of my favorite girl singers of the 1940s. “Swing Hostess” is a small-time B-film but it’s also one of the few opportunities you can see her acting in a film, other than popping in as a specialty singer.

The storyline for “Swing Hostess” isn’t remarkable or new, but it’s fun and cute. It’s also set in my favorite time period: World War II era 1940s. So it’s filled with big band music. While the war isn’t mentioned very much, one of the main characters is drafted into the Army and Martha Tilton sings that he “Got An Invitation” (to be drafted).

Charles Collins talks to a jukebox hostess

Also the most intriguing part is the jukebox technology. Before watching this film, I didn’t realize that patrons were able to pick up a phone and talk to a hostess on the other end who would put a record on. That is Martha Tilton’s job in this film.

Martha Tilton isn’t an amazing actress, but what she doesn’t have in acting, she makes up for in voice. Also Iris Adrian is there for comedic value.

If you love 1940s films and big band music, check out this film. Bonus points: It’s only 76 minutes!

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