Tag Archives: 1940s musicals

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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Musical Monday: Lady Be Good (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.

lady be goodThis week’s musical:
Lady Be Good (1941) – Musical #260

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Norman Z. McLeod
Busby Berkeley, musical numbers

Starring:
Ann Sothern, Robert Young, Eleanor Powell, Lionel Barrymore, Tom Conway, John Carroll, Red Skelton, Reginald Owen, Virginia O’Brien, Dan Dailey, Phil Silvers, Rose Hobart, Buttons the Dog
Themselves: Connie Russell, The Berry Brothers

Plot:
The film begins in the divorce court telling the story of married songwriters Eddie Crane (Young) and Dixie Donegan (Ann Sothern) begin to grow apart as they find more success. Dixie prefers their more simple life together, while Eddie revels in the glamorous party set of high society.

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Musical Monday: The Great Morgan (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:
The Great Morgan (1945) – Musical #736

great morgan

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Nat Perrin

Starring:
Frank Morgan (as himself), Leon Ames, Rand Brooks (uncredited), George Chandler (uncredited), Inez Cooper (uncredited), Ken Davidson (uncredited), Dell Henderson (uncredited),
Themselves: Cedric Gibbons, Douglas Shearer, Irene
Stars in archival footage: Eleanor Powell, Virginia O’Brien, The King Sisters, Tommy Dorsey, Lucille Norman, Carlos Ramirez, Jacqueline White, John Nesbitt, Ben Blue

Plot:
Frank Morgan (as himself) is fed up with his acting career and wants to produce his own film. The studio head (Ames) is fed up with actors wanting to produce, so allows him to produce a film. While Morgan’s own film is being edited, he knocks over film reels and ends up with a mix of MGM films.

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Musical Monday: Stormy Weather (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.

stormy weatherThis week’s musical:
Stormy Weather (1943) – Musical #731

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Andrew L. Stone

Starring:
Lena Horne, Bill Robinson, Dooley Wilson, Matthew ‘Stymie’ Beard, Flournoy Miller, Johnnie Lee, Emmett ‘Babe’ Wallace (uncredited), Ernest Whitman (uncredited),
Themselves: Cab Calloway and His Cotton Club Orchestra, Katherine Dunham and Her Troupe, Fats Waller, The Nicholas Brothers, Ada Brown, Mae E. Johnson

Plot:
Told as a flashback, dancer Bill Williamson (Robinson) reminisces about returning from World War I and meeting (and falling in love with) singer Selina Rogers (Horne). Bill works to get into the show business.

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