Tag Archives: 1940s musicals

Musical Monday: Mystery in Swing (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.

mystery in swingThis week’s musical:
Mystery in Swing (1940) – Musical #751

Studio:
Aetna Film Corp.

Director:
Arthur Dreifuss

Starring:
Monte Hawley, Marguerite Whitten, Tommie Moore, Edward Thompson, Buck Woods, Robert Webb, Sybil Lewis, Jess Lee Brooks, Josephine Edwards, Alfred Grant, Tom Southern
Themselves: The Four Toppers, CeePee Johnson and His Orchestra

Plot:
Trumpet player Prince Ellis (Webb) is leaving his job at the Penguin Club for Hollywood. On his last night of the club, his womanizing catches up with him:
• Teenage Mae Carroll (Moore) is ready to run away with Prince, though her father (brooks) shows up and tells Prince to leave his daughter alone.
• Nightclub singer Maxine Rae (Edwards) is in love with him and jealous of the other women in his life
• And the ex-Mrs. Ellis (Lewis) shows up asking about her alimony.
But that night, Prince is murdered and Maxine witnesses his death but doesn’t know who did it. The body is discovered by reporter Biff Boyd (Hawley) and his girlfriend Linda Carroll (Whitten), who also see Maxine leaving his apartment.

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Musical Monday: Murder in the Music Hall (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.

murder in the music hallThis week’s musical:
Murder in the Music Hall (1946) – Musical #750

Studio:
Republic Pictures

Director:
John English

Starring:
Vera Ralston (billed as Vera Hruba Ralston), William Marshall, Ann Rutherford, William Gargan, Nancy Kelly, Helen Walker, Julie Bishop, Jerome Cowan, Edward Noris, Jack La Rue, Frank Orth, Fay McKenzie, Mary Field, Anne Nagel, Joe Yule (uncredited)

Specialty Stars on Ice: Condon and Bohland, Red McCarthy, Patti Phillippi, John Jolliffe, Henry Lie

Plot:
During an ice skating performance, star skater Lila Laughton (Ralston) spots a familiar face in the balcony: Carl Lang (Norris). Lang was the show’s former director and producer, just released from jail. He was jailed for criminal negligence when a man, Douglas, was found dead of poisoning that was an accident—though murder is suspected. When Carl is murdered, Lila, her boyfriend, and bandleader Don Jordan (Marshall) and fellow performers, Gracie (Rutherford) and Millicent (Walker), try to find the murderer. At the same time, police Inspector Wilson (Gargan) is investigating the case.

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Musical Monday: Sarge Goes to College (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.

sarge goes to college2This week’s musical:
Sarge Goes to College (1947) – Musical #749

Studio:
Monogram Pictures

Director:
Will Jason

Starring:
Freddie Stewart, June Preisser, Frankie Darro, Warren Mills, Noel Neill, Arthur Walsh, Alan Hale Jr., Frank Cady, Monte Collins, Selmer Jackson, Margaret Brayton
Themselves: Arthur Walsh, Russ Morgan and His Orchestra, Jack McVea and Orchestra, Dusty Fletcher, Candy Candido, Les Paul, Abe Lyman, Jess Stacy, Wingy Manone, Joe Venuti, Jerry Wald

Plot:
A Marine, Sarge (Hale Jr.), is due to have surgery, but doctors don’t think he is prepared for the procedure and needs to get away from the military atmosphere for a rest. He is transferred to San Juan College, were Freddie (Stewart) and his friends (Preisser, Darro, Neill, Mills) are planning to put on a show. As Dodie (Preisser) and Betty (Neill) help Sarge with his studies, romantic misunderstandings happen as the their boyfriends (Stewart, Darro) when Betty thinks Dodie is jilting Freddie for the Sarge.

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Musical Monday: Let’s Go Collegiate (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.

let's go collegiateThis week’s musical:
Let’s Go Collegiate (1941) – Musical #748

Studio:
Monogram Pictures

Director:
Jean Yarbrough

Starring:
Frankie Darro, Marcia Mae Jones, Jackie Moran, Keye Luke, Gale Storm, Frank Sully, Mantan Moreland, Billy Griffith, Barton Yarborough, Frank Faylen, Marguerite Whitten, Paul Maxey, Tristram Coffin

Plot:
The Rawley University rowing team is eagerly awaiting a star stroke for the crew, Bob Terry. But when Terry is drafted into the Army, the team’s coxswain, Frankie (Darro) and his teammates Tad (Moran) and Buck (Luke), think fast for a replacement. Instead of coming clean to their classmates and girlfriends, Bess (Jones) and Midge (Storm), they decide to hire someone to play the role of Bob Terry. Frankie and Tad see Hercules Bevans (Sully) loading a truck and think he will be perfect for the job as Bob Terry. However, their plan does not run smoothly, as Hercules is rough around the edges, needs to be tutored in his classes and rowing, and their girlfriends fall for him.

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Musical Monday: Pan-Americana (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.

pan americana 2This week’s musical:
Pan-Americana (1945) – Musical #435

Studio:
RKO Radio Pictures

Director:
John H. Auer

Starring:
Phillip Terry, Eve Arden, Audrey Long, Robert Benchley, Lita Baron (billed as Isabelita), Ernest Truex, Mac Cramer, Jane Greer (uncredited)
Specialty Acts: Rosario, Antonio El Bailarín, Miguelito Valdés, Harold and Lola Liebman, Louise Burnette, Chinita, Chuy Reyes and His Orchestra, Nestor Amaral and His Samba Band

Plot:
Western World magazine sends a womanizing photographer, Dan Jordan (Terry), to South America to photograph beautiful women. The magazine’s editor, Helen Hopkins (Arden), and staff writer Jo Anne Benson (Long), travel with Dan. Jo Anne is using the assignment to get to South America where her fiancé (Cramer) awaits. Meanwhile, Dan and Jo Anne fall in love.

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Musical Monday: Colorado Serenade (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:
Colorado Serenade (1946) – Musical #7colorado243

colorado

Studio:
PRC Pictures Inc.

Director:
Robert Emmett Tansey

Starring:
Eddie Dean, Roscoe Ates, David Sharpe, Mary Kenyon, Forrest Taylor, Dennis Moore, Abigail Adams, Warner Richmond, Lee Bennett, Robert McKenzie, Bob Duncan

Plot:
Eddie (Dean) and his pal Soapy (Ates) come across a stagecoach hold up. They are able to thwart the robbery, but not before the driver and guard are injured. Eddie helps ride the stagecoach in to town, where the robbers are found. However, Judge Hilton (Taylor) believes the story of the gunman and wants to let them go. Eddie, with the help of a stranger named Nevada (Sharpe) try to track down the thieves.

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Musical Monday: The Yellow Rose of Texas (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:
The Yellow Rose of Texas (1944) – Musical #742

yellow rose of texas

Studio:
Republic Pictures

Director:
Joseph Kane

Starring:
Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Trigger, Grant Withers, Harry Shannon, George Cleveland, William Haade, Don Reynolds (uncredited)
Themselves: Sons of the Pioneers

Plot:
Roy (Rogers) plays an insurance investigator, who is working undercover as a singing cowboy on a performing show boat. Roy is searching Sam Weston (Shannon), who escaped out of jail, and he’s looking for the bankroll money Sam is accused of searching for. Betty Weston (Evans) is Sam’s daughter and tries to prove his innocence, with the help of Roy.

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Musical Monday: Home in Wyomin’ (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.

home in wy3This week’s musical:
Home in Wyomin’ (1942) – Musical #741

Studio:
Republic Pictures

Director:
William Morgan

Starring:
Gene Autry (as himself), Smiley Burnette, Fay McKenzie, Joe Strauch Jr., Olin Howland, Chick Chandler, Forrest Taylor, James Seay, Charles Lane, Champion (uncredited)

Plot:
Gene Autry (as himself) is a radio star, followed by a photographer, Clementine Benson (McKenzie), and a reporter, Hack Hackett (Chandler), who want to get photos of him to prove he’s a phony and not a true westerner. The reporters and photographer follow Gene to Wyoming, where he travels to straighten out a rodeo star (Seay), who is drinking too much and hurting his career.

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Musical Monday: Hollywood Barn Dance (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:
Hollywood Barn Dance (1947) – Musical #740

hollywood barn dance

Studio:
Screen Guild Productions

Director:
Bernard B. Ray

Starring:
Ernest Tubb as himself, Lori Talbot, Helen Boyce, Earle Hodgins, Frank McGlynn Sr., Phil Arnold, Larry Reed, Anne Kunde, Betty Mudge,
Performers: The Texas Troubadours, Red Herron, Jack Guthrie, Dotti Hackett, Dorothy and Lewis Swan, Leon and Jimmie Short

Plot:
Ernest (Tubb as himself) has dreams of performing music with his band, but meets opposition from his Pa (McGlynn), who thinks it’s a waste of time. When Ernest and his musician friends, The Texas Troubadours, accidentally burn down the local church, they set out on the road to perform and earn money to rebuild the church. The band gets hooked up with a manager, Francis Cartwright (Hodgins), who mismanages their money.

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Musical Monday: Wake Up and Dream (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:
Wake Up and Dream (1946) – Musical #738

wake up and dram

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Lloyd Bacon

Starring:
John Payne, June Haver, Connie Marshall, Charlotte Greenwood, John Ireland, Clem Bevans, Charles Russell, Irving Bacon, Charles D. Brown, Charles Russell, Charles Smith (uncredited), George Cleveland (uncredited),

Plot:
Set in 1943, Jeff Cairn (Payne) leaves the farm and enlists in the U.S. Navy at the start of World War II, leaving his little sister Nella (Marshall) to live with a cousin. After two years, Nella runs away back home, saying she doesn’t like the cousin, she stays with Jeff’s girl, Jenny (Haver). She is also helped by elderly Henry Pickett (Bevans), who the whole town thinks is crazy because he built a boat while living 300 miles from water. When Jeff is Missing in Action, Jenny, Henry and Nella take the boat on a journey to find Jeff on their “secret island.”

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