Tag Archives: 1940s musicals

Musical Monday: Melody Ranch (1940)

Posted on by
Reply

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.

melody ranch2This week’s musical:
Melody Ranch (1940) – Musical #775

Studio:
Republic Pictures Corp.

Director:
Joseph Santley

Starring:
Gene Autry, Jimmy Durante, Ann Miller, Barton MacLane, Barbara Jo Allen, Gabby Hayes, Jerome Cowan, Mary Lee, Joe Sawyer, Horace McMahon, Clarence Wilson, William “Billy” Benedict, Billy Bletcher (uncredited), Veda Ann Borg (uncredited), Dick Elliott (uncredited)
Performers: The Kidoodlers

Plot:
Radio star Gene Autry (as himself) is asked to return home to his hometown of torpedo for their Frontier Day celebration. Convinced it will make good publicity, the announcer of his radio show, Cornelius Courtney (Durante) and his radio co-star Julie Shelton (Miller), travel with him. During the celebration, Autry is made honorary sheriff, a role he takes seriously when he learns his childhood enemies, the Wildhack brothers (MacLane, Sawyer and McMahon) are running the town. Autry doesn’t feel he can return to the city and leave the town in this state. When everyone believes he’s turned soft in the city, Pop Laramie (Hayes) helps toughen up Autry to run for the real role of sheriff.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: The Pirate (1948)

Posted on by
Reply

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 Pirate (1948) – Musical #17

pirate5

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Vincente Minnelli

Starring:
Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Walter Slezak, Gladys Cooper, Reginald Owen, George Zucco,
Lester Allen, Lola Albright, Ellen Ross, Mary Jo Ellis, Jean Dean, Mario Murray, Ben Lessy, Jerry Bergen, Val Setz, Anne Francis (uncredited), Alex Romero (uncredited), Dee Turnell (uncredited), Marie Windsor (uncredited)
Specialty Acts: Fayard Nicholas, Harold Nicholas, The Gaudsmith Brothers

Plot:
Manuela (Garland) lives with her aunt (Cooper) in the Caribbean. She’s never been anywhere or done anything and wants to travel and experience excitement, inspired by the adventures of Macoco the Pirate. However, her aunt feels it’s high time for Manuela to be married and arrange a marriage with the town’s mayor, Don Pedro (Slezak). To have excitement before she’s wed, she asks if they can go to the sea to pick up her wedding trousseau. While there, a traveling acting troupe lead by Serafin (Kelly). Serafin is immediately taken with Manuela and invites her to their performance, where he hypnotizes her. Under hypnosis, Manuela reveals her love for Macoco the Pirate. When Manuela and her aunt return home, Serafin and his troupe turn up in her town for a performance.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Carolina Blues (1944)

Posted on by
Reply

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.

carolina bluesThis week’s musical:
Carolina Blues (1944) – Musical #378

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Leigh Jason

Starring:
Themselves: Kay Kyser, Georgia Carroll, Harry Babbitt, Ish Kabibble, Sully Mason
Also starring: Ann Miller, Victor Moore, Jeff Donnell, Howard Freeman, Ruby Dandridge (uncredited), Frank Orth (uncredited), Doodles Weaver (uncredited)
Specialty Acts: Harold Nicholas, the Cristiani Family, the Layson Brothers, the Four Step Brothers, the Golden Gate Quartette

Plot:
Kay Kyser and his band (all playing themselves) return home to the United States from a tour overseas. All of them are exhausted and ready for a vacation, but Kyser’s publicist (Donnell) signed the band up for a bond tour. Kyser agrees to do a performance if it can raise money for a destroyer named for his hometown of Rocky Mount, N.C. Another problem is that Kyser’s lead girl singer, Georgia Carroll (herself), is leaving the band to get married. When Kyser and his band play at a shipyard, the plant’s manager, Phineas Carver (Moore), hopes his daughter Julie (Miller) can be the band’s next singer.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Footlight Serenade (1942)

Posted on by
Reply

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.

footlight parade3This week’s musical:
Footlight Serenade (1942) – Musical #771

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Gregory Ratoff

Starring:
Betty Grable, John Payne, Victor Mature, Jane Wyman, Phil Silvers, James Gleason, Cobina Wright, June Lang, Frank Orth, Mantan Moreland, Irving Bacon, Charles Tannen, George Dobbs, Hermes Pan (uncredited), Sheila Ryan (uncredited),

Plot:
Tommy Lundy (Mature) is a famous boxer, who is so popular, that Broadway promoter Slap (Silver) contrives a Broadway show around Lundy. Both dancer Pat Lambert (Grable) and her finance Bill Smith (Payne) get a job in the show — tough Pat auditioned and Bill got the job by happenstance for a boxing portion of the show. Tommy immediately makes a play for Pat, making her the understudy for the lead. When Pat and Bill get married, the show’s director (Gleason) asks that they keep it a secret, since Tommy likes Pat.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Spring Parade (1940)

Posted on by
4

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.

spring paradeThis week’s musical:
Spring Parade (1940) – Musical #768

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Henry Koster

Starring:
Deanna Durbin, Robert Cummings, S.Z. Sakall, Anne Gwynne, Mischa Auer, Henry Stephenson, Billy Lenhart, Kenneth Brown, Allyn Joslyn, Walter Catlett, Peggy Moran, Regindal Denny, Franklin Pangborn, Edward Gargan, Samuel S. Hinds, Leon Belasco,

Plot:
While at a festival, Hungarian girl Ilonka Tolnay (Durbin) has her fortune read that says her husband will be an artist and she will meet him in Vienna. She thinks this is ridiculous because she has never been to Vienna. After the festival, she falls asleep on a pile of hay. When she awakes, she finds that she actually was asleep on a cart driven by baker Latislav Teschek (Sakall) and is en route to Vienna. While initially upset, Ilonka realizes this may help her fortune come try. She stays with Latislav and his family, and eventually meets Corporal Harry Marten (Cummings), who happens to be a composer.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Little Nellie Kelly (1940)

Posted on by
Reply

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.

little nellie kellyThis week’s musical:
Little Nellie Kelly (1940) – Musical #238

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Norman Taurog

Starring:
Judy Garland, George Murphy, Charles Winninger, Douglas McPhail, Arthur Shields, Rita Page, Forrester Harvey, James Burke, George Watts, Joseph Crehan (uncredited), Milton Kibbee (uncredited), Sidney Miller (uncredited), Addison Richards (uncredited), John Raitt (uncredited), Mel Ruick (uncredited)

Plot:
Nellie (Garland) and Jerry (Murphy) want to marry and move to the United States from their home country of Ireland, but her father Michael (Winninger) doesn’t think Jerry is a proper suitor for his daughter. Nellie goes against her father’s wishes and marries Jerry anyways. All three move to the United States, where they become citizens and build a life, but with Jerry and Michael still at odds. Years later, when Nellie and Jerry’s daughter, little Nellie (also Garland) is a teenager, history repeats itself when Michael once again has strong opinions about the young men in his granddaughter’s life.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: If I Had My Way (1940)

Posted on by
1

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.

if I had my way2This week’s musical:
If I Had My Way (1940) – Musical #747

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
David Butler

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Gloria Jean, Charles Winninger, El Brendel, Allyn Joslyn, Claire Dodd, Donald Woods, Moroni Olsen, Nana Bryant, Kathryn Adams, Verna Felton (uncredited), Rafael Alcayde (uncredited), Rod Cameron (uncredited)
Specialty Acts: Six Hits and a Miss, Julian Eltinge, Trixie Friganza, Grace La Rue, Eddie Leonard, Blanche Ring, Paul Gordon

Plot:
Construction workers Buzz Blackwell (Crosby), Fred Johnson (Woods) and Axel Swenson (El Brendel), are about to complete their work on the Golden Gate Bridge. When Fred is killed in an accident, Buzz and Axel take Fred’s young daughter Patricia (Jean) to New York City to live with her uncle, Jarvis Johnson (Joslyn). Not wanting to take responsibility, Jarvis Johnson sends Patricia to her great aunt and uncle, Joe and Marian Johnson (Charles Winninger, Nana Bryant), who welcome the child with open arms. While Buzz is ready to move on to another construction project in Arizona, Axel spends all their money while drunkenly buying an unsuccessful restaurant. Buzz works to transform the restaurant into a vaudeville-themed café to help support Patricia.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Boarding House Blues (1948)

Posted on by
Reply

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.

boarding house bluesThis week’s musical:
Boarding House Blues (1948) – Musical #767

Studio:
All-American Pictures

Director:
Josh Binney

Starring:
Mom Mabley (billed as Jackie Mabley), Dusty Fletcher, Marcellus Wilson, Marie Cooke, Augustus Smith, Johnny Lee, Emory Richardson, Harold Cromer, Sidney Easton, Freddie Robinson, John “Spider Bruce” Mason, John Riano
Specialty Acts: Lucky Millinder and His Band, Una Mae Carlisle, Bull Moose Jackson, Berry Brothers, Lewis and White, Anistine Allen, Paul Breckenridge, Stump and Stumpy (James Cross and Eddie Hartman), Lee Norman Trio, Henry “Crip” Heard

Plot:
Mom (Mabley) runs a boarding house of entertainers in Harlem, and shares with her tenants that they are broke and the land lord is going to kick them. To help raise money for rent, the boarders put on a show.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Calendar Girl (1947)

Posted on by
Reply

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.

calendar girlThis week’s musical:
Calendar Girl (1947) – Musical #578

Studio:
Republic Pictures

Director:
Allan Dwan

Starring:
Jane Frazee, William Marshall, James Ellison, Gail Patrick, Irene Rich, Kenny Baker, Victor McLaglen, Janet Martin, Gus Schilling, Franklin Pangborn

Plot:
Set in 1900, pals Johnny Bennett (Marshall) and Steve Adams (Ellison) leave their comfortable lives in Boston to try to make it in Greenwich Village as artists. Johnny wants to write songs and Steve is an artist. They land at a performer boarding house run by Lulu Varden (Rich). Both Johnny and Steve fall for dancer and singer Patricia O’Neill (Frazee) lives in the boarding house with her firefighter father (McLaglen), who doesn’t approve of her performing aspirations. Patricia prefers for Steve, who happens to have a girl (Patrick) back in Boston. Patricia also poses for Steve for a sensual painting that is used on the 1901 calendar.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Junction 88 (1948)

Posted on by

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.

junction 88This week’s musical:
Junction 88 (1948) – Musical #766

Studio:
Century Theatrical Productions

Director:
George R. Quigley

Starring:
As themselves: Bob Howard, Pigmeat Markham, Noble Sissel
Also starring: Wyatt Clark, Marie Cooke, Gus Smith, Abbey Mitchell, Artie Belle McGinty, George Wiltshire, Herbert Junior, Alonzo Basan, Maude Simmons, Al Young, Augustus Smith, Augustus Smith Jr.
Billed as the choir: Eugene Thompson, Rumena Matson, Mable Berger, Delphine Roach, Henry Nelson

Plot:
Buster (Clark) is a songwriter, but doesn’t want anyone to know that he wrote this song. Buster loves Lolly (Cooke), but her father prefers hardworking men, and he fears that he wouldn’t look kindly at a songwriting career. Music agents (Howard, Markham) get ahold of Buster’s songs that are published under the pen name of Hewlett Green. The agents travel to the small town of Junction 88 to find Green, but no one in town knows who the mysterious Hewlett Green is.

Continue reading →