Tag Archives: 1940s musicals

Musical Monday: Footlight Serenade (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.

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.

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Musical Monday: Spring Parade (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.

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.

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Musical Monday: Little Nellie Kelly (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.

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.

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Musical Monday: If I Had My Way (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.

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.

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Musical Monday: Boarding House Blues (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.

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.

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Musical Monday: Calendar Girl (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 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.

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Musical Monday: Junction 88 (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.

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.

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Musical Monday: Johnny Doughboy (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.

johnny doughboyThis week’s musical:
Johnny Doughboy (1942) – Musical #757

Studio:
Republic Pictures

Director:
John H. Auer

Starring:
Jane Withers, William Demarest, Henry Wilcoxon, Ruth Donnelly, Etta McDaniel, Jack Boyle (billed as Patrick Brooks), Joline Westbrook
Themselves as 20 Minus Club Members: Bobby Breen, Cora Sue Collins, Baby Sandy, Robert Coogan, Carl ‘Alfalfa’ Switzer, George ‘Spanky’ McFarland, Kenneth Brown, Billy Lenhart, Grace Costello

Plot:
Sixteen-year-old actress Ann Winter (Withers) is sick of playing kid parts in films. Just as Ann leaves angrily for a two week vacation, the prize winner of the Ann Winters look-a-like contest, Penelope Ryan (also Withers) arrives to stay the weekend. Ann’s agent Harry (Demarest) asks Penelope to stand in for Ann while she’s gone.

While Penelope pretends to be Ann, former child stars of the 20 Minus Club want “Ann” to participate in a Junior Victory Caravan show for the war effort. Penelope wants to help but has to say no.

Meanwhile, through a series of events Ann finds herself at the cabin of playwright Oliver Lawrence (Wilcoxon), and she sets her hope high that she will get to be in an upcoming play of his.

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Musical Monday: A Wave, a WAC and a Marine (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 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
A Wave, a WAC and a Marine (1944) – Musical #756

Studio:
Monogram Pictures

Director:
Phil Karlson

Starring:
Elyse Knox, Ann Gillis, Sally Eilers, Richard Lane, Marjorie Woodworth, Ramsay Ames, Henny Youngman, Alan Dinehart, Cy Kendall, Aileen Pringle, Jack Mulhall, Mabel Todd, Mel Blanc (uncredited)
Themselves: Charles “Red” Marshall, Billy Mack, Milt Bronson, Elvia Allman, Sid Tomack, Rose Murphy, Freddie Rich, Connie Haines, The Music Maids

Plot:
Talent scout O. Henry Brown (Youngman) confuses two understudies, Marian and Judy (Knox and Gillis), for the stars of the Broadway show “A WAVE, a WAC and a Marine,” Eileen and Betty (Woodworth and Ames). Brown takes Marian and Judy to Hollywood to be signed by Margaret Ames (Eilers) who realizes his mistake and turns the girls down. Marian and Judy have to figure out what to do now that they are stuck in Hollywood.

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Musical Monday: Murder at the Windmill (1949)

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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:
Murder at the Windmill(1949) – Musical #753

windmill burlesque2

Studio:
Grand National Pictures

Director:
Val Guest

Starring:
Garry Marsh, Jack Livesey, Jon Pertwee, Eliot Makeham, Diana Decker, Donald Clive, Jill Antsey, Pamela Deeming, Johnnie Gale
Themselves: Jimmy Edwards, The Windmill Theater Trope, Robin Richmond

Plot:
When a man is found dead in the front row of the Windmill Theater, police inspectors (Pertwee, Marsh) ask for the cast to re-perform the whole show so they can evaluate how the man was shot and determine who killed him.

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