Tag Archives: 1940s musicals

Musical Monday: Up in Central Park (1948)

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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:
Up in Central Park (1948) – Musical #840

Studio:
Universal Studio

Director:
William A. Seiter

Starring:
Deanna Durbin, Dick Haymes, Vincent Price, Albert Sharpe, Tom Powers, Hobart Cavanaugh, Thurston Hall, Howard Freeman, Mary Field, Tom Pedi, Moroni Olsen

Plot:
Boss Tweed (Price) is a corrupt politician, who runs New York City politics from Tammany Hall with his political machine. Rosie Moore (Durbin) and her father, Timothy Moore (Sharpe), are Irish immigrants who arrive in New York City seeking a better life and quickly get entangled with Boss Tweed. As Timothy begins working for Boss Tweed, reporter John Matthews (Haymes) befriends the Moore family to expose Tweed’s corruption.

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Musical Monday: The Powers Girl (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:
The Powers Girl (1943) – Musical #839

Studio:
United Artists

Director:
Norman Z. McLeod

Starring:
George Murphy, Anne Shirley, Carole Landis, Alan Mowbray, Jean Ames, Mary Treen, Rafael Alcayde, Helen MacKellar, Harry Shannon
Themselves: Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, Peggy Lee, Dennis Day
Billed as Powers America Beauty Pageant Model: Jayne Hazard, Lillian Eggers, Linda Stirling, Evelyn Frey, Eloise Hardt, Patsy Mace, Barbara Slater, Rosemary Coleman, Edna Johnson, Rebel Randall, Teala Loring

Plot:
Photographer Jerry Hendricks (Murphy) takes a photo of school teacher Ella Evans (Shirley) in a compromising position, which ends up on the cover of a magazine. The photo causes Ella to lose her job, so she travels to New York City to live with her model sister, Kay (Landis). Kay realizes her sister never signed a release for the photo, and sets her sights on get-rich-quick plan by suing the magazine. Jerry intercepts Kay and makes promises that she could become a Powers model.

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Musical Monday: They Met in Argentina (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:
They Met in Argentina (1941) – Musical #837

Studio:
RKO Pictures

Director:
Leslie Goodwins, Jack Hively

Starring:
Maureen O’Hara, James Ellison, Buddy Ebsen, Alberto Vila, Robert Barrat, Joseph Buloff, Diosa Costello, Luis Alberni (uncredited), Fortunio Bonanova (uncredited), Chester Clute (uncredited), Victoria Córdova (uncredited), Betty Jane Rhodes (uncredited)

Plot:
Americans Tim Kelly (Ellison) and his colleague Duke Ferrell (Ebsen) are in Argentina on business to bid on land for oil. While he’s unsuccessful in his oil business, he tries to bid on a race horse, which is owned by Don Enrique de los Santos O’Shea (Barrat). Tim falls for his daughter, Lolita O’Shea (O’Hara). Don Enrique objects, because he doesn’t want his daughter to go to the United States.

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Musical Monday: Let’s Make Music (1940)

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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:
Let’s Make Music (1940) – Musical #268

Studio:
RKO Radio Pictures

Director:
Leslie Goodwins

Starring:
Jean Rogers, Elisabeth Risdon, Joseph Buloff, Joyce Compton, Benny Bartlett, Louis Jean Heydt, Bill Goodwin, Frank Orth, Grant Withers, Benny Rubin, Gale Sherwood (billed as Jacqueline Nash), Donna Jean Dolfer, Walter Tetley
As themselves: Bob Crosby, The Bob Crosby Orchestra, Bob Haggart, Ray Bauduc

Plot:
Small town high school teacher, Malvina Adams (Risdon), teaches a classical music class that most of the students find boring. In an effort to excite the students about music, she writes a school spirit song. The students don’t like it, but she sends it to a music publisher. Bandleader Bob Crosby (as himself) finds it and thinks the song is great, inviting Malvina to New York City to perform it. Her niece, Abby (Rogers), objects to her aunt going to the city and joins, but Malvina decides she’s going to have fun with her new success.

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Musical Monday: Big Timers (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.

This week’s musical:
Big Timers (1945) – Musical #836

Studio:
All American

Director:
Bud Pollard

Starring:
Stepin Fetchit, Francine Everett, Lou Swarz, Gertrude Saunders, Ed Hunter, Duke Williams, Elveta Hunter, Milton Woods, Walter Earle
Specialty Acts: Rocky Brown, Skylight, Tarzana, The All American Girl Band

Plot:
Betty Washburn (Everett) is engaged to Tom Powers (Williams), whose family is eager to meet Betty and her family. The problem is, Tom is wealthy and Betty’s mother (Swarz) works as a maid in a swanky apartment building. A performer in the building, Mabel Page (Saunders), lets the Washburns use her apartment and puts on a special performance for the Powers family.

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Musical Monday: Stars on Parade (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:
Stars on Parade (1946) – Musical #835

Studio:
All-American

Director:
Joseph Seiden

Starring:
Milton Wood, Francine Everett, Jane Cooley, Duke Williams, Claire Graham, Lou Swarz, Dan Michaels, Jimmy Wills
Themselves: Bob Howard, Ray Greene, Eddie South, Una Mae Carlisle, Phil Moore and his Orchestra (The Phil Moore Four)

Plot:
When Johnny Bennett (Wood) is drafted to serve in World War II, he leaves his sister Jane (Cooley) in charge of his radio station. While she has tried to carry on without him, the radio station has lost advertisers. When he returns, Johnny tries to revive the station. When radio star Lucille Nester (Graham) is stranded in town when her car breaks down, she begins to woo Johnny, much to the chagrin of his girlfriend, Patty (Everett), who has waited on his return from the war.

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Musical Monday: I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now (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:
I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now (1947) – Musical #832

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Lloyd Bacon

Starring:
Mark Stevens, June Haver, Martha Stewart, Reginald Gardiner, Lenore Aubert, William Frawley, Gene Nelson, Truman Bradley, George Cleveland, John Arledge (uncredited)

Plot:
Biographical film on songwriter, composer Joseph E. Howard (Stevens) and his rise to fame. Katie (Haver), the niece of Joe’s guardian, is also eager to be part of Joe’s musical career and lies to tag along. Katie continues to cause trouble along the way as he tries to find success, sabotaging Joe’s partnership with singer Lulu Madison (Stewart) and being jealous of Broadway star Fritzi Barrington (Aubert).

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Musical Monday: Yankee Doodle Dandy (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.

This week’s musical:
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) – Musical #34

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Michael Curtiz

Starring:
James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, Rosemary DeCamp, Richard Whorf, Irene Manning, George Tobias, Jeanne Cagney, Frances Langford, George Barbier, S.Z. Sakall, Walter Catlett, Eddie Foy Jr., Douglas Croft, Minor Watson, Chester Clute, Odette Myrtil, Patsy Parsons, Jack Young (billed as Capt. Jack Young), Leslie Brooks (uncredited), Ann Doran (uncredited), Charles Drake (uncredited), Tom Dugan (uncredited), Frank Faylen (uncredited), William Hopper (uncredited), Lon McCallister (uncredited), Dolores Moran (uncredited), Joyce Reynolds (uncredited), Charles Smith (uncredited), Frank Sully (uncredited),

Plot:
A musical biographical film of composer and playwright George M. Cohan (Cagney). The film follows stage performers Jerry (Huston) and Nellie Cohan (Decamp) as their family grows into the Four Cohans with their son George and daughter, Josie (Jeanne Cageny). As the family grows, George becomes an outspoken performer, which makes producers reluctant to hire the Four Cohans. Eventually, he breaks out on his own, and with collaborator Sam Harris (Whorf), and becomes a success on Broadway with his plays and songs.

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Musical Monday: Riding High (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:
Riding High (1943) – Musical #830

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
George Marshall

Starring:
Dorothy Lamour, Dick Powell, Victor Moore, Gil Lamb, Cass Dailey, Bill Goodwin, Rod Cameron, Glenn Langan
Themselves: Milt Britton’s Band

Plot:
Ann Castle (Lamour) returns to her hometown and her father’s silver mine, Grenada Silver Mine. Steve Baird (Powell) is her father’s new business partner is trying to raise funds for the mine, while someone is also passing around counterfeit money. Ann is hired as an entertainer for a dude ranch and she and Steve fall in love.

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Musical Monday: Priorities on Parade (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.

This week’s musical:
Priorities on Parade (1942) – Musical #828

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Albert S. Rogell

Starring:
Ann Miller, Johnny Johnston, Jerry Colonna, Betty Jane Rhodes, Barbara Jo Allen (billed as Vera Vague), Harry Barris, Eddie Quillan, Dave Willock, Nick Cockrane, Rod Cameron, Arthur Loft, William Forrest, Warren Ashe, Charles Halton, Lee Shumway, Karin Booth (uncredited), Matt McHugh (uncredited), Cyril Ring (uncredited)
Specialty Performers: The Debonnaires

Plot:
Johnny Draper (Johnston) and his band want to perform in an aircraft defense plant; saying it would help with morale and production. While the plant’s leaders think it’s a good idea, they say they also can’t pay them only to play music and recommend that they work as defense workers at the plant. While the band agrees to work at the plant, the band’s glamorous singer, Donna D’Arcy (Miller), declines and finds a job singing in a nightclub. Johnny meets a lady welder, Lee Davis (Rhodes) who first seems tough as nails but then they fall in love. Problems arise when Donna comes to work at the plant.

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