Tag Archives: 1930s musicals

Musical Monday: Pigskin Parade (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.

pigskin paradeThis week’s musical:
Pigskin Parade (1936) – Musical #179

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
David Butler

Starring:
Stuart Erwin, Jack Haley, Patsy Kelly, Johnny Downs, Arline Judge, Betty Grable, Dixie Dunbar, Judy Garland, Tony Martin (billed as Anthony Martin), Grady Sutton, Julius Tannen, Fred Kohler, Jr.
Themselves: The Yacht Club Boys

Plot:
Texas State University is accidentally picked as the team to play against Yale in a big football game. When new coach Slug Winters (Haley) and his wife Bessie (Kelly) realize the football team is hopeless, they look for an answer. That comes in the form of hillbilly Amos Dodd (Erwin), who has never played football but can kick and throw like a dream. The only issue is getting Amos and his sister Sairy (Garland) enrolled in the college.

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Musical Monday: Start Cheering (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:
Start Cheering (1938) – Musical #665

start cheering

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Albert S. Rogell

Starring:
Charles Starrett, Jimmy Durante, Walter Connolly, Joan Perry, Craig E. Earle (billed as Professor Quiz), Gertrude Niesen, Raymond Walburn, The Three Stooges, Broderick Crawford, Hal Le Roy, Ernest Truex, Virginia Dale, Chaz Chase, Minerva Urecal
Themselves: Jimmy Wallington, Louis Prima and His Band,

Plot:
Movie star Ted Crosley (Starrett) decides he’s done with films and wants to enroll in college, trying to keep the university a secret to avoid publicity. Unfortunately, Hollywood executives follow Ted and make his collegiate experience a publicity stunt, which doesn’t make Ted popular with the rest of the students.

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Musical Monday: Sing Me a Love Song (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.

sing me a long songThis week’s musical:
Sing Me a Love Song – Musical #714

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Ray Enright

Starring:
James Melton, Patricia Ellis, Hugh Herbert, Zasu Pitts, Allen Jenkins, Nat Pendleton, Walter Catlett (uncredited), Granville Bates (uncredited), Hobart Cavanaugh (uncredited)

Plot:
Jerry Haines (Melton) is the heir to department store. Instead of taking an executive role, he wants to start in a regular job and work incognito so he can better get to know the store. Meanwhile, he romances Jean Martin (Ellis) in the music department and is constantly in trouble with the manager (Catlett).

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Musical Monday: Waikiki Wedding (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.

waikiki weddingThis week’s musical:
Waikiki Wedding (1937) – Musical #709

Studio:
Paramount Pictures Studios

Director:
Frank Tuttle

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Bob Burns, Martha Raye, Shirley Ross, George Barbier, Leif Erickson, Grady Sutton, Granville Bates, Anthony Quinn, Mitchell Lewis, Emma Dunn (uncredited)

Plot:
Tony Marvin (Crosby) is viewed as a genius by his boss (Barbier) at the Imperial Pineapple Company when he has the idea for the Miss Pineapple Princess contest, where the winner wins a trip to Hawaii. The only problem is that the winner, Georgia Smith (Ross), finds Hawaii dull as she is given tours by a group of businessmen. Tony creates an adventure so Georgia will speak favorably of Hawaii in a syndicated article. Along the way, they fall in love.

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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: 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: Roberta (1935)

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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.

robertaThis week’s musical:
Roberta (1935) – Musical #106

Studio:
RKO Studio Pictures

Director:
William A. Seiter

Starring:
Irene Dunne, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Randolph Scott, Helen Westley, Claire Dodd, Ferdinand Munier, Luis Alberni, Victor Varconi

Plot:
Former American football hero, John Kent (Scott), travels to Paris with his pal Huck Haines (Astaire) and Haines’s jazz band. Huck and his band fail to secure a job, and the group is down on their luck. John seeks help from his Aunt Minnie (Westley) who runs an exclusive fashion house, immediately falling for her assistant Stephanie (Dunne). The jazz band finds success with the help of a phony countess (Rogers). But things get complicated when John inherits the fashion house.

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Musical Monday: Stars Over Broadway (1935)

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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:
Stars Over Broadway (1935) – Musical #700

stars on broadway3

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
William Keighley

Starring:
Pat O’Brien, James Melton, Jane Froman, Jean Muir, Frank McHugh, Eddie Conrad, William Ricciardi, Marie Wilson, Frank Fay, E.E. Clive
Himself: Jack Dempsey, the Morgan Family

Plot:
Theatrical agent Al McGillevray (O’Brien) is on the ropes and unsuccessful. He’s about to end it all until he hears the singing voice of porter Jan (Melton). Al is reinvigorated and wants to try to put over Jan King as a singer. Training his voice, he finds him a steady gig. But success goes to Jan’s head and starts to tumble.

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Musical Monday: Thin Ice (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.

thin ice 2This week’s musical:
Thin Ice (1937) – Musical #701

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Sidney Lanfield

Starring:
Sonja Henie, Tyrone Power, Joan Davis, Arthur Treacher, Raymond Walburn, Sig Ruman, Alan Hale, Leah Ray, Melville Cooper, George Givot

Plot:
An international conference is held at the ski resort, Grand Hotel Imperial in St. Christophe in the Alps, where a pact will be signed. Prince Rudolph (Power) pretends to be ill to create tensions before the pact is signed and goes skiing. While on skis, he meets the hotel’s skate instructor Lili (Henie). The two fall in love without Lili knowing who he is.

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Musical Monday: Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round (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 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round (1934) – Musical #682

transatlantic merry go round

Studio:
United Artists

Director:
Benjamin Stoloff

Starring:
Jack Benny, Gene Raymond, Nancy Carroll, Patsy Kelly, Ralph Morgan, Sydney Howard, Mitzi Green, Sydney Blackmer, Shirley Grey, Sam Hardy, Shirley Grey, William Boyd, Carlyle Moore Jr.
Themselves: The Boswell Sisters, Jimmy Grier and His Orchestra, Jean Sargeant

Plot:
When someone is murdered on ship, the plot looks back 48 hours before the murder when a cruise ship is boarding. Some of the passengers include the entertainers led by Chad Denby (Benny). The ship passengers includes the show’s leading lady Sally (Carroll) and her brother (Moore) who have gambling debits, and a jewel robber (Raymond).

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