Tag Archives: judy garland

Musical Monday: The Pirate (1948)

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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 Pirate (1948) – Musical #17

pirate5

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Vincente Minnelli

Starring:
Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Walter Slezak, Gladys Cooper, Reginald Owen, George Zucco,
Lester Allen, Lola Albright, Ellen Ross, Mary Jo Ellis, Jean Dean, Mario Murray, Ben Lessy, Jerry Bergen, Val Setz, Anne Francis (uncredited), Alex Romero (uncredited), Dee Turnell (uncredited), Marie Windsor (uncredited)
Specialty Acts: Fayard Nicholas, Harold Nicholas, The Gaudsmith Brothers

Plot:
Manuela (Garland) lives with her aunt (Cooper) in the Caribbean. She’s never been anywhere or done anything and wants to travel and experience excitement, inspired by the adventures of Macoco the Pirate. However, her aunt feels it’s high time for Manuela to be married and arrange a marriage with the town’s mayor, Don Pedro (Slezak). To have excitement before she’s wed, she asks if they can go to the sea to pick up her wedding trousseau. While there, a traveling acting troupe lead by Serafin (Kelly). Serafin is immediately taken with Manuela and invites her to their performance, where he hypnotizes her. Under hypnosis, Manuela reveals her love for Macoco the Pirate. When Manuela and her aunt return home, Serafin and his troupe turn up in her town for a performance.

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Musical Monday: Little Nellie Kelly (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.

little nellie kellyThis week’s musical:
Little Nellie Kelly (1940) – Musical #238

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Norman Taurog

Starring:
Judy Garland, George Murphy, Charles Winninger, Douglas McPhail, Arthur Shields, Rita Page, Forrester Harvey, James Burke, George Watts, Joseph Crehan (uncredited), Milton Kibbee (uncredited), Sidney Miller (uncredited), Addison Richards (uncredited), John Raitt (uncredited), Mel Ruick (uncredited)

Plot:
Nellie (Garland) and Jerry (Murphy) want to marry and move to the United States from their home country of Ireland, but her father Michael (Winninger) doesn’t think Jerry is a proper suitor for his daughter. Nellie goes against her father’s wishes and marries Jerry anyways. All three move to the United States, where they become citizens and build a life, but with Jerry and Michael still at odds. Years later, when Nellie and Jerry’s daughter, little Nellie (also Garland) is a teenager, history repeats itself when Michael once again has strong opinions about the young men in his granddaughter’s life.

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Musical Monday: Till the Clouds Roll By (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:
Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) – Musical #166

till the couds

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Richard Whorf
Vincente Minnelli (Judy Garland’s numbers)

Starring:
Robert Walker, Van Heflin, Lucille Bremer, Dorothy Patrick, Harry Hayden, Mary Nash, Paul Langton, Paul Maxey, William ‘Bill’ Phillips
Specialty Performances from: June Allyson, Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Kathryn Grayson, Angela Lansbury, Van Johnson, Tony Martin, Cyd Charisse, Gower Champion, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, Ray Macdonald, Virginia O’Brien, Caleb Peterson, Karin Booth, Sally Forrest, Johnny Johnston, Matt Mattox, Lee Wilde, Lyn Wilde

Plot:
The musical biographical film on the life songwriter Jerome Kern (Walker) and his rise to fame, starting with his collaboration with song arranger James I. Hessler (Heflin).

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Musical Monday: Pigskin Parade (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.

pigskin paradeThis week’s musical:
Pigskin Parade (1936) – Musical #179

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
David Butler

Starring:
Stuart Erwin, Jack Haley, Patsy Kelly, Johnny Downs, Arline Judge, Betty Grable, Dixie Dunbar, Judy Garland, Tony Martin (billed as Anthony Martin), Grady Sutton, Julius Tannen, Fred Kohler, Jr.
Themselves: The Yacht Club Boys

Plot:
Texas State University is accidentally picked as the team to play against Yale in a big football game. When new coach Slug Winters (Haley) and his wife Bessie (Kelly) realize the football team is hopeless, they look for an answer. That comes in the form of hillbilly Amos Dodd (Erwin), who has never played football but can kick and throw like a dream. The only issue is getting Amos and his sister Sairy (Garland) enrolled in the college.

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Musical Monday: Presenting Lily Mars (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.

presenting lily mars5This week’s musical:
Presenting Lily Mars (1943) – Musical #182

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Norman Taurog

Starring:
Judy Garland, Van Heflin, Fay Bainter, Richard Carlson, Spring Byington, Mártha Eggerth, Ray MacDonald, Connie Gilchrist, Patricia Barker, Janet Chapman, Annie Ross (Annabelle Logan), Douglas Croft, Marilyn Maxwell (uncredited), William Tannen (uncredited)
Themselves: Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, Bob Crosby and his Orchestra

Plot:
Lily Mars (Garland) is eager to become an actress. Major Broadway producer John Thornway (Heflin) is from Lily’s Indiana hometown, and while visiting his mother (Bainter), Lily tries to make an impression. John finds Lily to be a nuisance, but despite his deterrence, Lily goes to New York City to try to break into acting.

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Mickey Rooney’s Halloween Party

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Halloween Party Micky Judy and Ann

Mickey Rooney is having a Halloween party and of course all of his friends pitch in to bring snacks for the party. For the occasion his frequent co-stars Ann Rutherford and Judy Garland help Mickey’s mother make a cake. Or that’s what Modern Screen Nov. 1941 says.

“Ann and Judy are helping Mickey’s mother with the party,” the magazine article by Helen Holmes said. “Mickey wants to doughnuts and fresh country cider, his mother thinks that sandwiches and coffee would be nice, and hte girls want to try the Hallowe’en cake for which we are giving the recipe.”

The cake in question is a three layer chocolate cake with orange-flavored icing decorated with chocolate cream candies painted with icing as ghosts. (The recipe will be provided below).

Last Halloween, I had a such a good time making Jackie Cooper’s Halloween party treats that I decided to try another one of these film fan magazine recipes geared for a holiday event.

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Musical Monday: In the Good Old Summertime (1949)

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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 500. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
“Meet Me After the Show” – Musical #25

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Robert Z. Leonard

Starring:
Judy Garland, Van Johnson, S.Z. “Cuddles” Sakall, Buster Keaton, Spring Byington, Clinton Sundberg, Marcia Van Dyke, Lillian Bronson, Liza Minnelli, Joi Lansing (uncredited), Chester Clute (uncredited), Anna Q. Nilsson (uncredited), Charles Smith (uncredited)

Plot:
A musical remake of the 1940 film “Shop Around the Corner,” “In the Good Ole Summertime” takes place in the early 1900s in Chicago. Veronica Fisher (Garland) is corresponding through letters with an unknown man.

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Musical Monday: Girl Crazy (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.

This week’s musical:
Girl Crazy (1943) – Musical #165

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Norman Taurog, Busby Berkeley

Starring:
Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Gil Stratton, Robert E. Strickland, Rags Ragland, June Allyson, Nancy Walker, Guy Kibbee, Frances Rafferty, Henry O’Neill, Howard Freeman, Karin Booth (uncredited), Georgia Carroll (uncredited), Jimmy Butler (uncredited), Peter Lawford (uncredited), Charles Walters (uncredited)
Themselves: Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra, Six Hits and a Miss, The Music Maids, The King’s Men, The Stafford Sisters (Jo Stafford, Christine Stafford, Pauline Stafford)

Plot:
Wealthy collegiate playboy Danny Churchill Jr. (Rooney) often frequents the headlines for his philanderings. Tired of reading about his son in print (and not for academics), his father (O’Neill) pulls Danny out of Yale and sends him to the desert of Arizona to all-male Cody College of Mines and Agriculture. While Danny adjusts to a more active lifestyle, he meets postmistress Ginger Gray (Garland) and granddaughter of the man who runs the college, and falls for her. However, when the college is failing enrollment, Danny hatches a plan to get more students.

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Musical Monday: Summer Stock (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:
Summer Stock (1950) – Musical #9

Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director: Charles Walters

Starring:
Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Gloria DeHaven, Phil Silvers, Marjorie Main, Carleton Carpenter, Eddie Bracken, Ray Collins, Hans Conreid, Nita Bieber, Carol Haney (uncredited), Johnny Duncan (uncredited), Michael Chapin (uncredited), Bunny Waters (uncredited), Almira Sessions (uncredited

Plot:
Jane Falbury (Garland) runs her family farm. Her peaceful daily life is disrupted when her sister Abigail (DeHaven) returns home to the farm accompanied by an acting troupe. Abigail and the group’s director Joe Ross (Kelly) are in love, and the show has to be a hit for the two to be married. Jane agrees that the actors can stay at the farm and rehearse if they Jane’s fiancé Orville (Bracken) disapproves of showbusiness and wants the actors to leave. Jane also finds that she is falling in love with Joe.

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Musical Monday: A Star is Born (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 500. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
A Star Is Born (1954) – Musical #342

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
George Cukor

Starring:
Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson, Charles Bickford, Tommy Noonan, Lucy Marlow, Hazel Shermet, Amanda Blake, Irving Bacon, James Brown, Nancy Kulp (uncredited), Barbara Pepper (uncredited), Dick Simmons (uncredited), Grady Sutton (uncredited)

Plot:
Singer Esther Blodgett (Garland) is spotted by film star Norman Maine (Mason). Though Norman is one of Hollywood’s top stars, his career is on the decline due to his alcoholism. Norman helps Esther into the picture business and Esther becomes successful film star Vicki Lester. The two fall in love and marry, but will their marriage enough for Norman?

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