Tag Archives: 1960s musicals

Musical Monday: Alice Through the Looking Glass (1966)

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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:
Alice Through the Looking Glass (1966) – Musical #829

Studio:
NBC

Director:
Alan Handley

Starring:
Ricardo Montalban, Agnes Moorehead, Jack Palance, Jimmy Durante, Nanette Fabray, Robert Coote, Tom Smothers, Dick Smothers, Judi Rolin, Richard Denning, Roy Castle, Iris Adrian, Chanin Hale, Jackie Joseph, Donna Walsh

Plot:
Based on the Lewis Carroll story, while her father (Denning) is hosting a dinner party, Alice (Rolin) is bored. Her father tells her to go set up the chess board for them to play together later. Suddenly, Alice is invited through the mirror in the room to a backwards room, where the chess pieces come to life, including The Red King (Coote), The Red Queen (Moorehead), The White King (Montalban), and The White Queen (Fabray). Alice also meets other strange characters, like the villainous Jabberwock (Palance) and Humpty Dumpty (Durante).

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Musical Monday: The Littlest Angel (1969)

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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 Littlest Angel (1969) – Musical #791

littlest angel2

Studio:
Hallmark Hall of Fame

Director:
Joe Layton

Starring:
Johnny Whitaker, Fred Gwynne, Cab Calloway, E.G. Marshall, John McGiver, Tony Randall, George Rose, Connie Stevens, James Coco, Evelyn Russell, Cris Alexander, George Blackwell, Mary Jo Catlett, Lu Leonard

Plot:
On his eighth birthday, shepherd Michael (Whitaker) falls to his death while chasing a dove. He is assigned to guardian angel, Patience (Gwynne) to help him adapt to life in heaven, but Michael misses his family and wants to go home.

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Musical Monday: In Search of the Castaways (1962)

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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.

castawaysThis week’s musical:
In Search of the Castaways (1962) – Musical #790

Studio:
Walt Disney Productions

Director:
Robert Stevenson

Starring:
Hayley Mills, Maurice Chevalier, George Sanders, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Michael Anderson Jr., Antonio Cifariello, Keith Hamshere, Wilfrid Brambell, Jack Gwillim, Ronald Fraser

Plot:
Set in 1858, Mary (Mills) and Robert Grant (Hamshere) believe their father, Capt. Grant, is alive though he has been reported dead in a shipwreck, because Jacques Paganel (Chevalier) found a letter in a bottle from Capt. Grant. The trio enlists the help of Lord Glenarvan (Hyde-White) and his son Jon (Anderson Jr.) to go on an expedition to search for their father.

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Musical Monday: The Beach Girls and the Monster (1965)

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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 Beach Girls and the Monster (1965) – Musical #786

Studio:
American Academy Productions

Director:
Jon Hall

Starring:
Jon Hall, Sue Casey, Walker Edmiston, Elaine DuPont, Arnold Lessing, Read Morgan, Carolyn Williamson, Gloria Neil, Kal Roberts, Clyde Adler, Dale Davis, Margo Lynn Sweet

Plot:
While a group is dancing and surfing on the beach, a girl is killed by a sea monster. As more teens are killed, oceanographer Dr. Otto Lindsay (Hall) is brought in on the case, though police just feel it’s a murderer. At the same time, Dr. Lindsay’s son Richard (Lessing) is reluctant to settle down into a career with his dad, wanting to surf and have fun, and Dr. Lindsay’s wife, Vicky (Casey), is being unfaithful.

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Musical Monday: Love & Kisses (1965)

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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.

love and kissesThis week’s musical:
Love & Kisses (1965) – Musical #781

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Ozzie Nelson

Starring:
Ricky Nelson, Jack Kelly, Kristin Harmon (billed as Kristin Nelson), Jerry Van Dyke, Pert Kelton, Madelyn Himes, Sheilah Wells, Howard McNear, Ivan Bonar, Barry Livingston, Alvy Moore
Cameo Appearance: David Nelson, Skip Young

Plot:
Right before his high school graduation, Buzzy (Nelson) marries his longtime high school girlfriend, Rosemary (Harmon) with the plan of Buzzy still going to college and Rosemary transferring to a nearby high school. The marriage sends Buzzy’s family into a tizzy — Rosemary’s mother is largely absent — and Buzzy and Rosemary find that married life isn’t so easy.

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Musical Monday: Pop Gear (1965)

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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:
Pop Gear (1965) – Musical #493

Studio:
Associated British-Pathé, Ltd.

Director:
Frederic Goode

Starring:
Host: Jimmy Savile
Performers: The Animals, The Beatles (archive footage), Matt Munro, Susan Maughan, The Honeycombs, Herman’s Hermits, The Nashville Teens, The Four Pennies, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, The Fourmost, Sounds Incorporated, Peter and Gordon, Tommy Quickly & The Remo Four, Billie Davis, The Spencer Davis Group

Plot:
With narration by Jimmy Savile (himself), British Invasion bands perform the hits of 1964 and 1965.

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Musical Monday: Star! (1968)

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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.

StarThis week’s musical:
Star! (1968) – Musical #240

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Robert Wise

Starring:
Julie Andrews, Richard Crenna, Michael Craig, Daniel Massey, Robert Reed, Bruce Forsythe, Beryl Reid, John Collin, Alan Oppenheimer, Richard Karlan, Garrett Lewis, Anna Lee (uncredited), Grady Sutton (uncredited), Jenny Agutter (uncredited)

Plot:
Biographical film on stage actress Gertrude Lawrence (Andrews).

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Musical Monday: Mary Poppins (1964)

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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.

mary poppins3This week’s musical:
Mary Poppins (1964) – Musical #42

Studio:
Walt Disney Studios

Director:
Robert Stevenson

Starring:
Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, Glynis Johns, Hermione Baddeley, Reta Shaw, Karen Dotrice, Matthew Garber, Ed Wynn, Elsa Lanchester, Arthur Treacher, Reginald Owen, Jane Darwell

Plot:
Set at the turn of the century in London, the Banks family can never keep a nanny for their two children, Jane (Dotrice) and Michael (Garber). When Katie Nana (Lanchester) walks out on the family, Mr. Banks (Tomlinson) has very distinct ideas of what the nanny should be like. Mr. Banks is busy with his work and Mrs. Banks (Johns) spends much of her free time protesting the women’s right to vote. A mysterious and magical nanny, Mary Poppins (Andrews), appears to not only care for the children and take them on fanciful adventures, but she helps bring the family closer together and how them what’s important.

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Musical Monday: Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)

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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:
Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) – Musical #758

oh what a lovely war

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Richard Attenborough

Starring:
The Smith family: Wendy Allnutt, Colin Farrell, Malcolm McFee, John Rae, Corin Redgrave, Maurice Roëves, Paul Shelley, Kim Smith, Angela Thorne, Mary Wimbush

Extended guest star appearances: John Mills, Dirk Bogarde, Phyllis Calvert, Jean-Pierre Cassel, John Clements, John Gielgud, Jack Hawkins, Kenneth More, Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave, Vanessa Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, Maggie Smith, Susannah York

Also starring: Vincent Ball, Pia Colombo, Paul Daneman, Isabel Dean, Christian Doermer, Robert Flemyng, Meriel Forbes, Frank Forsyth, Ian Holm, David Lodge, Joe Melia, Guy Middleton, Juliet Mills, Nanette Newman, Cecil Parker, Natasha Parry, Gerald Sim, Thorley Walters, Anthony Ainley, Michael Bates, Fanny Carby, Cecilia Darby, Geoffrey Davies, Edward Fox, George Ghent, Zeph Gladstone, Peter Gilmore, Ben Howard, Norman Jones, Paddy Joyce, Angus Lennie, Harry Locke, Clifford Mollison, Derek Newark, John Owens, Ron Pember, Dorothy Reynolds, Norman Shelley, Marianne Stone, John Trigger, Kathleen Wileman, Penelope Allen, Maurice Arthur, Freddie Ascott, Dinny Jones, Carole Gray, Bernard Jarvis, Jane Seymour (uncredited)

Plot:
Shown through fantasy metaphors, as well as real life scenes, the story follows working class British family, the Smith family, who enlist in World War I, and the juxtaposition between the fighting men, military leaders and the rich.

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Musical Monday: Get Yourself a College Girl (1964)

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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.

get yourself a college girlThis week’s musical:
Get Yourself a College Girl (1964) – Musical #240

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Sidney Miller

Starring:
Mary Ann Mobley, Joan O’Brien, Nancy Sinatra, Chris Noel, Chad Everett, Willard Waterman, Fabrizio Mioni, James Millhollin, Paul Todd, Donnie Brooks, Hortense Petra, Dorothy Neumann, Percy Kelton (uncredited)
Musical acts as Themselves: The Standells, The Dave Clark Five, Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto, Roberta Linn, The Bellboys, the Animals, The Rhythm Masters, Freddie Bell, Jimmy Smith Trio

Plot:
Theresa Taylor (Mobley) is a student at a strict girl’s college and has been secretly writing and selling music on the side to pay her way through school. Her tantalizing, sexual songs get Theresa in hot water with the deans and college board right before the Christmas holidays. Rather than expel her, they move the day of judgement after the holidays, and ask her to avoid trouble (and men). Unfortunately, Gary Underwood (Everett) has followed her to Sun Valley, Idaho, for the winter holidays with the goal of getting a pin up painting of Theresa.

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