Musical Monday: Peter Pan (1955, 1956, 1960)

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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:
Peter Pan (1955, 1956, 1960) – Musical #792, 793, 794

Studio:
NBC

Director:
1955: Clark Jones
1956: ?
1960: Vincent J. Donehue

Starring:
1955: Mary Martin, Cyril Ritchard, Kathleen Nolan, Sondra Lee, Margalo Gillmore, Heller Halliday, Robert Harrington, Joe E. Mark, Norman Shelly, Joseph Richard Stafford
1956: Mary Martin, Cyril Ritchard, Kathleen Nolan, Sondra Lee, Margalo Gillmore, Heller Halliday, Michael Allen, Tom Halloran, Robert Banas, David Bean, Linda Dangcil,
1960: Mary Martin, Cyril Ritchard, Sondra Lee, Maureen Bailey, Margalo Gillmore, Joey Trent, Heller Halliday

Plot:
Peter Pan (Martin) visits the Darling children and tells them how he ran away from home as a baby, because he never wants to grow up. The Darling children fly to Never Never Land with Peter Pan, where they meet the Lost Boys, other children that have never grown up, and fight off Capt. Hook (Ritchard) and his pirates, who are trying to kill Peter Pan for getting even for an alligator eating his arm. The children soon get homesick and return home, promising to return.

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Musical Monday: The Littlest Angel (1969)

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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 Littlest Angel (1969) – Musical #791

littlest angel2

Studio:
Hallmark Hall of Fame

Director:
Joe Layton

Starring:
Johnny Whitaker, Fred Gwynne, Cab Calloway, E.G. Marshall, John McGiver, Tony Randall, George Rose, Connie Stevens, James Coco, Evelyn Russell, Cris Alexander, George Blackwell, Mary Jo Catlett, Lu Leonard

Plot:
On his eighth birthday, shepherd Michael (Whitaker) falls to his death while chasing a dove. He is assigned to guardian angel, Patience (Gwynne) to help him adapt to life in heaven, but Michael misses his family and wants to go home.

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Musical Monday: In Search of the Castaways (1962)

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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.

castawaysThis week’s musical:
In Search of the Castaways (1962) – Musical #790

Studio:
Walt Disney Productions

Director:
Robert Stevenson

Starring:
Hayley Mills, Maurice Chevalier, George Sanders, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Michael Anderson Jr., Antonio Cifariello, Keith Hamshere, Wilfrid Brambell, Jack Gwillim, Ronald Fraser

Plot:
Set in 1858, Mary (Mills) and Robert Grant (Hamshere) believe their father, Capt. Grant, is alive though he has been reported dead in a shipwreck, because Jacques Paganel (Chevalier) found a letter in a bottle from Capt. Grant. The trio enlists the help of Lord Glenarvan (Hyde-White) and his son Jon (Anderson Jr.) to go on an expedition to search for their father.

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Musical Monday: The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (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.

Mr. TThis week’s musical:
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953) – Musical #783

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Roy Rowland

Starring:
Tommy Rettig, Hans Conried, Peter Lind Hayes, Mary Healy, Jack Heasley, Robert Heasley, Noel Cravat, George Chakiris (uncredited)

Plot:
While 10-year-old Bart Collins (Rettig) hates piano lessons from his strict instructor Dr. Terwilliker (Conried), but his mother (Healy) loves the piano. While Bart is practicing his piano, he dozes off and has a terrible, surreal dream where Dr. Terwilliker is running a prison-like school where he wants 500 boys (hence: the 5,000 fingers) to play a giant piano at the same time. All the while, Bart’s mother is kept under a trance. In his dream, Bart enlists the help of kindly plumber August Zabladowski (Hayes) to help Bart, his mother and all the students to escape.

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Musical Monday: Sailor Beware (1952)

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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.

sailor beware4This week’s musical:
Sailor Beware (1952) – Musical #788

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Hal Walker

Starring:
Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Corinne Calvet, Marion Marshall, Robert Strauss, Leif Erickson, Don Wilson, Vince Edwards, Skip Homeier, Dan Barton, Mike Mahoney, Mary Treen, Donald MacBride (uncredited), Elaine Stewart (uncredited), James Dean (uncredited)
Herself: Corinne Calvet
Cameo: Betty Hutton

Plot:
Bumbling Melvin Jones (Lewis) and smooth operator Al Crowthers (Martin) both enlist in the U.S. Navy. Shenanigans ensue as Melvin’s shipmates bet that he can kiss actress Corinne Calvet (herself) once they arrive in Hawaii.

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Musical Monday: Swingtime Johnny (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.

This week’s musical:
Swingtime Johnny (1943) – Musical #789

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Edward F. Cline

Starring:
Harriet Nelson (billed as Harriet Hilliard), Patty Andrews, Maxene Andrews, Laverne Andrews, Peter Cookson, Tim Ryan, Matt Willis, William “Bill” Phillips, Tom Dugan, Ray Walker
Themselves: Mitch Ayres and His Orchestra

Plot:
Jonathan Chadwick (Cookson) is the owner of a pipe organ plant. Due to wartime conditions, the plant is converted into a munitions plant. Nightclub singers, Linda (Hilliard-Nelson) and the Andrews Sisters (themselves) leave their jobs at the club to help the war effort and work at the factory. Linda becomes Jonathan’s secretary, and the two become friendly. When the plant is threatened to close, Linda realizes someone is taking advantage of Jonathan.

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Musical Monday: About Face (1952)

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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.

about face2This week’s musical:
About Face (1952) – Musical #382

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Roy Del Ruth

Starring:
Gordon MacRae, Eddie Bracken, Dick Wesson, Virginia Gibson, Phyllis Kirk, Aileen Stanley Jr., Joel Grey, Larry Keating, Cliff Ferre, John Baer, Mabel Albertson (uncredited)

Plot:
The senior cadets at Southern Military Institute are months away from graduation. Tony Williams (MacRae), Boff Roberts (Bracken) and Dave Crouse (Wesson) get in the usual trouble as they have a plebe cadet, Bender (Grey), runs their errands. The three pals also butt heads with Lt. Jones (Ferre), who tries to woo their girls. Boff and his girl, Alice (Kirk), are also secretly married and have a baby on the way.

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

duffys tavernThis week’s musical:
Duffey’s Tavern (1945) – Musical #787

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Hal Walker

Starring:
Ed Gardner, Barry Fitzgerald, Victor Moore, Marjorie Reynolds, Barry Sullivan, Charles Cantor, Eddie Green, Ann Thomas, Howard Da Silva, Billy De Wolfe, Walter Abel, Frank Faylen (uncredited), Matt McHugh (uncredited), Noel Neill (uncredited),
Themselves: Bing Crosby, Betty Hutton, Paulette Goddard, Alan Ladd, Dorothy Lamour, Eddie Bracken, Brian Donlevy, Sonny Tufts, Veronica Lake, Arturo de Cordova, Cass Daley, Diana Lynn, Robert Bencley, William Demarest, Joan Caulfield, Gail Russell, Hlen Walker, Jean Heather, Maurice Rocco, Dennis Crosby, Gary Crosby, Lindsay Crosby, Phillip Crosby, Olga San Juan,

Plot:
During World War II, a record manufacturer closes down because a shortage of Shellac. While the factory is closed, the out of work employees eat for free and drown their sorrows at Duffy’s Tavern on credit, which is run by Archie (Gardner). The record company owner, Michael O’Malley (Moore), tries to find finances and a way to open the plant. Archie and O’Malley also learn that a bevvy of celebrities will be in town, they ask them to host a benefit for out of work soldiers returning from the war.

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Musical Monday: The Beach Girls and the Monster (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:
The Beach Girls and the Monster (1965) – Musical #786

Studio:
American Academy Productions

Director:
Jon Hall

Starring:
Jon Hall, Sue Casey, Walker Edmiston, Elaine DuPont, Arnold Lessing, Read Morgan, Carolyn Williamson, Gloria Neil, Kal Roberts, Clyde Adler, Dale Davis, Margo Lynn Sweet

Plot:
While a group is dancing and surfing on the beach, a girl is killed by a sea monster. As more teens are killed, oceanographer Dr. Otto Lindsay (Hall) is brought in on the case, though police just feel it’s a murderer. At the same time, Dr. Lindsay’s son Richard (Lessing) is reluctant to settle down into a career with his dad, wanting to surf and have fun, and Dr. Lindsay’s wife, Vicky (Casey), is being unfaithful.

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Musical Monday: Anything Goes (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.

Screenshot 2024-10-19 114732This week’s musical:
Anything Goes (1956) – Musical #785

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Robert Lewis

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Donald O’Connor, Mitzi Gaynor, Zizi Jeanmaire, Phil Harris, Kurt Kasznar, Richard Erdman, Walter Sande, Archer MacDonald, Argentina Brunetti, Alma Macrorie, Dorothy Neumann, James Griffith, Macel Dalio (uncredited), Nancy Kulp (uncredited), Ruta Lee (uncredited)

Plot:
Broadway veteran Bill Benson (Crosby) is soon to be cast in a show with up-and-coming television star, Ted Adams (O’Connor). They just need to find a leading lady for the show. Separately, Bill signs Patsy Blair (Gaynor) as the leading lady and Ted signs Gaby Duval (Jeanmaire). The two then have to figure out how to pick the best actress and break the news to the girl not selected for the show.

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