Tag Archives: Irene Dunne musicals

Musical Monday: High, Wide and Handsome (1937)

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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:
High, Wide and Handsome (1937) – Musical #631

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Rouben Mamoulian

Starring:
Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott, Dorothy Lamour, William Frawley, Raymond Walburn, Elizabeth Patterson, Charles Bickford, Akim Tamiroff, Ben Blue, Irving Pichel, Stanley Andrews, James Burke, Roger Imhof, Lucien Littlefield, Rolfe Sedan (uncredited), Helen Lowell (uncredited), Raymond Brown (uncredited)

Plot:
Set in the 1850s, Sally (Dunne) travels in a medicine show with her father Doc Watterson (Walburn) and his partner Mac (Frawley). When their wagon catches on fire and burns down in a small Pennsylvania town, they stay with Peter Cortlandt (Scott) and his grandma (Patterson). Sally and Peter fall in love, and on their wedding day, Peter strikes oil. As Peter works to grow his oil business, Sally is frequently left alone.

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Musical Monday: Joy of Living (1938)

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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:
Joy of Living (1938) – Musical #276

Studio:
RKO Radio Pictures

Director:
Tay Garnett

Starring:
Irene Dunne, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Alice Brady, Guy Kibbee, Jean Dixon, Lucille Ball, Eric Blore, Warren Hymer, Billy Gilbert, Dorothy Steiner, Estelle Steiner, Frank Milan, Franklin Pangborn, John Qualen, Clarence Nash (uncredited), Grady Sutton (uncredited), Charles Lane (uncredited), Richard Alexander (uncredited), Tay Garnett (uncredited)

Plot:
Margaret Garrett (Dunne) is an overworked Broadway star whose family (Brady, Ball, Kibbee) is living off of her. Exhausted and also learning she’s near broke because of the chiseling family, she meets Dan Brewster (Fairbanks), who teaches her how to have fun and relax.

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Musical Monday: Sweet Adeline (1934)

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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:
Sweet Adeline (1934) – Musical #195

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Mervyn LeRoy

Starring:
Irene Dunne, Donald Woods, Hugh Herbert, Ned Sparks, Joseph Cawthorn, Wini Shaw (billed as Winifred Shaw), Louis Calhern, Nydia Westman, Dorothy Dare, Phil Regan, Noah Beery (uncredited), Milton Kibbee (uncredited)

Plot:
In the early 1900s, Adeline Schmidt (Dunne) is the daughter of a beer garden owner (Cawthorn). He disapproves of show business and his daughter’s romance with composer Sid Barnett (Woods). The show Sid wrote is produced, and Adeline gets the lead. In her success, Adeline starts seeing the rich Major Day (Calhern), leaving Sid feeling jilted.

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Musical Monday: Show Boat (1936)

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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:
Show Boat (1936) – Musical #78

Studio: Universal Pictures

Director: James Whale

Starring:
Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Helen Westley, Helen Morgan, Paul Robeson, Queenie Smith, Donald Cook, Sammy White, Hattie McDaniel, Marilyn Knowlden, Sunnie O’Dea, Arthur Hohl, J. Farrell MacDonald, Francis X. Mahoney, Clarence Muse, Eddie Rochester Anderson (uncredited), Dennis O’Keefe (uncredited), Barbara Pepper (uncredited), Bobs Watson (uncredited), Delmar Watson (uncredited),

Plot:
Set in the 1880s, the Cotton Palace Show Boat travels from town to town to perform. When the show’s leading lady Julie LaVerne (Morgan) is told to leave because of a case of miscegenation, or an interracial relationship, Capt. Andy (Winninger) and his wife (Westley) have to find a new leading man and leading lady. Their daughter Magnolia (Dunne) takes the part and a gambler Gaylord Ravenal (Jones) is hired. The two fall in love and are married, against Magnolia’s parent’s wishes. The couple moves to Chicago and lives off of Gaylord’s gambling success, which is short-lived.

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