Tag Archives: 1950s musicals

Musical Monday: Kelly and Me (1956)

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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:
Kelly and Me (1956) – Musical #752

kelly and me

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Robert Z. Leonard

Starring:
Van Johnson, Piper Laurie, Martha Hyer, Onslow Stevens, Hebert Anderson, Douglas Fowley, Frank Wilcox, Dan Riss, Kelly the Dog, Madge Blake (uncredited)

Plot:
Set in 1930, vaudeville performer Len Carmody (Johnson) has a corny, failing act. When another performer abandons his trained dog, Kelly (Kelly the Dog), the dog becomes attached to Carmody. When the dog walks out on stage during Carmody’s act and the audience goes nuts, he realizes he may be on to a new act. The pair become successful on stage and are traveling when they meet Mina Van Runkel (Laurie), who happens to be the daughter of a film studio executive (Stevens). Mina convinces her father to give Carmody and Kelly a role in a film. As Kelly becomes a great film star, Carmody resents the dog’s celebrity and playing second fiddle in his films.

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Musical Monday: Tea for Two (1950)

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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:
Tea for Two (1950) – Musical #171

tea for two2

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
David Butler

Starring:
Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson, Eve Arden, Billy De Wolfe, S.Z. Sakall, Bill Goodwin, Patrice Wymore, Virginia Gibson, Elinor Donahue (uncredited), Carol Haney (uncredited), Dee Turnell (uncredited), John Wilder (uncredited)

Plot:
Told in the flashback from modern times, we are transported back from the 1950s to the stock market crash of 1929. At the same time Nanette Carter (Day) agrees to finance a Broadway musical, she has lost everything during the stock market crash. However, she doesn’t know and her financier Uncle J. Maxwell Bloomhaus (Sakall) doesn’t know how to tell her. Instead of telling Nanette she has no money, Uncle Max tells her to say “no” to everything for 48 hours. She believes that if she wins this bet, she can get the $25,000 to finance the show.

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Musical Monday: Kiss Me Kate (1953)

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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.

kissThis week’s musical:
Kiss Me Kate (1953) – Musical #19

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
George Sidney

Starring:
Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, Tommy Rall, Keenan Wynn, James Whitmore, Bob Fosse, Tommy Rall, Kurt Kasznar, Ron Randell, Willard Parker, Ann Codee, Carol Haney, Jeanne Coyne, Hermes Pan (uncredited)

Plot:
Cole Porter (Randell) has written a musical version of Williams Shakespeare’s play, “Kiss Me Kate.” Fred Graham (Keel) feels the show is perfect for him and his ex-wife, Lilli Vanessi (Grayson). Though Lilli outwardly hates Fred, she can’t turn down a good role, and Fred and Lilli play Petruchio and Kathrine in the show. One of Fred’s girlfriends, Lois (Miller) is cast as Kathrine’s younger sister, Bianca. On opening night as the show is being performed, issues occur backstage. Gangsters (Wynn, Whitmore) show up to collect a gambling debt of Lois’s boyfriend and co-star, Bill (Rall); Lilli and Fred battle, and Lilli’s fiancé (Parker) arrives.

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Musical Monday: Sincerely Yours (1955)

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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:
Sincerely Yours (1955) – Musical #683

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Gordon Douglas

Starring:
Liberace, Joanne Dru, Dorothy Malone, William Demarest, Alex Nicol, Lori Nelson, Lurene Tuttle, Richard Eyre, James Bell, Ian Wolfe (uncredited), Ed Platt (uncredited), Guy Williams (uncredited)

Plot:
Anthony Warrin (Liberace) loses his hearing unexpectedly. Depressed that he can no longer play the piano due to his hearing loss, Anthony learns to lip-read and begins watching people from his penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park. He learns about their problems by lip-reading and helps strangers.

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Musical Monday: An American in Paris (1951)

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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.

americanThis week’s musical:
American in Paris (1951) – Musical #8

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Vincente Minnelli

Starring:
Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Nina Foch, Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary, Madge Blake (uncredited)

Plot:
Jerry Mulligan (Kelly) is an American living in Paris trying to make it as a painter. He often doesn’t sell his work and pals around with his unemployed concert pianist friend, Adam (Levant). One day, wealthy American Milo Roberts (Foch) takes an interest in Jerry’s work … and more. But then Jerry meets and falls in love with Lise (Caron), who happens to also be engaged to his pal (Guétary).

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Musical Monday: The Best Things in Life Are Free (1956)

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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:
Best Things in Life Are Free (1956) – Musical #729

best thing in life

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Michael Curtiz

Starring:
Gordon MacRae, Dan Dailey, Ernest Borgnine, Sheree North, Tommy Noonan, Murvyn Vye, Phyllis Avery, Larry Keating, Julie Van Zandt, Jacques d’Amboise, Roxanne Arlen, Harold Miller, Linda Brace, Patty Lou Hudson, Robert Banas (uncredited), Barrie Chase (uncredited), Ann B. Davis (uncredited), Juliet Prowse (uncredited), Marion Ross (uncredited)

Plot:
Musical biographical film on the songwriting trio Buddy DeSylva (MacRae), Ray Henderson (Dailey) and Lew Brown (Borgnine) and the music they wrote together during the 1920s. The film depicts how the trio worked together and how they grew apart when De Sylva went to Hollywood and wanted to produce pictures, leaving Henderson and Brown behind.

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Musical Monday: Somebody Loves Me (1952)

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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:
Somebody Loves Me (1952) – Musical #457

somebody loves5

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Irving Brecher

Starring:
Betty Hutton, Ralph Meeker, Robert Keith, Adele Jergens, Billie Bird, Sid Tomack, Henry Slate, Nick Adams (uncredited)
Themselves: Jack Benny

Plot:
Biographical film on entertainer Blossom Seeley (Hutton) and her rise to fame and her marriage to performer Benny Fields (Meeker). The film begins in 1906 the night of the San Francisco earthquake and goes through the 1920s.

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Musical Monday: Let’s Do It Again (1953)

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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 Do It Again (1953) – Musical #300

let's do it again

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Alexander Hall

Starring:
Jane Wyman, Ray Milland, Aldo Ray, Leon Ames, Valerie Bettis, Karin Booth, Mary Treen, Tom Helmore, Dick Wessel, Kathryn Givney, Herbert Hayes

Plot:
Constance Stuart (Wyman) is a musical star and her husband Gary Stuart (Milland) is a composer for stage musicals. Gary told Constance he was going out of town, when really he was in town the whole time, attending jazz sessions and carousing. When he returns home one morning, he finds Constance left the night before with another man and hasn’t returned. When she arrives in her evening clothes and saying they had car trouble, he doesn’t believe her and the two separate. During their separation, Gary tries to win back Constance, even while she’s being romanced by another man (Ray).

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Musical Monday: Rose Marie (1954)

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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.

rose marie2This week’s musical:
Rose Marie (1954) – Musical #349

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Mervyn LeRoy

Starring:
Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Fernando Lamas, Bert Lahr, Ray Collins, Marjorie Main, Joan Taylor, Chief Yowlachie, Thurl Ravenscroft (uncredited)

Plot:
Rose Marie (Blyth) is living in the Canadian wilderness after her father dies. Mountie Sergeant Mike Malone (Keel) seeks out Rose Marie and takes her into his care, as she was left in his responsibility. After viewing her as a kid, Sergeant Malone realizes she’s not a child and falls in love with her. Then, Rose Marie meets trapper Jim Duvall (Lamas), and Rose Marie falls in love with him.

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Musical Monday: Easy to Love (1953)

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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.

Easy to LoveThis week’s musical:
Easy to Love (1953) – Musical #108

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Charles Walters

Starring:
Esther Williams, Van Johnson, Tony Martin, Carroll Baker, John Bromfield, Edna Skinner, King Donovan, Paul Bryar, Benny Rubin (uncredited),
Cameo: Cyd Charisse

Plot:
Ray Lloyd (Johnson) manages the Cypress Gardens resort, filled the water skiing and swimming shows, and beautiful girls in bathing suits and evening gowns. He has decided to remain successful, he must remain single and unmarried. One of his swimming performers Julie Hallerton (Williams) — while she feels overworked — is also in love with Ray. When she thinks Ray is inviting her on a fun trip to New York City, she finds it is all work, until she meets singing star Barry Gordon (Martin). While Barry sweeps Julie off her feet, Ray isn’t too sure he likes it.

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