Tag Archives: Kathryn Grayson

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

Screenshot 2024-10-04 172405This week’s musical:
Rio Rita (1942) – Musical #532

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
S. Sylvan Simon

Starring:
Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Kathryn Grayson, John Carroll, Patricia Dane, Tom Conway, Barry Nelson, Peter Whitney, Arthur Space,
Themselves: Eros Volusia, Eros Volusia Brazilian Dancers

Plot:
Rita Winslow (Grayson) runs the Hotel Vista del Rio, which is located in Texas on the border of Mexico. She eagerly awaits for famous singer Ricardo Montera (Carroll) to arrive for his visit. Rita and Ricardo had a brief romance years before. To help manage the hotel, Rita hired Maurice Craindell (Conway), who is also a Nazi spy and using his work at the hotel as a cover. A bumbling pair Doc (Abbott) and Wishy (Costello) arrive at the hotel and unwittingly expose the Nazi spy ring.

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Musical Monday: The Vagabond King (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.

vagabound kingThis week’s musical:
The Vagabond King (1956) – Musical #773

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Michael Curtiz

Starring:
Kathryn Grayson, Oreste Kirkop (billed as Oreste), Rita Moreno, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Walter Hampden, Leslie Nielsen, William Prince, Jack Lord, Tom Duggan, Lucie Lancaster
Narrator: Vincent Price

Plot:
Set in 15th century France, King Louis XI (Hampden) is at risk of being overthrown by the Duke of Burgundy. When King Louis meets poet, criminal, François Villon (Oreste), he appoints him as his provost to help in the fight against the Duke of Burgundy. In the process, Villon falls in love with King Louis’s niece, Catherine (Grayson).

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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: So This Is 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.

so this is love 2This week’s musical:
So This is Love (1953) – Musical #325

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Gordon Douglas

Starring:
Kathryn Grayson, Merv Griffin, Joan Weldon, Walter Abel, Rosemary DeCamp, Ann Doran, Jeff Donnell, Douglas Dick, Mabel Albertson, Fortunio Bonanova, Marie Windsor, Tristram Coffin (uncredited), Barbara Pepper (uncredited), Moroni Olsen (uncredited)
Themselves: Francois and Giselle Szony

Plot:
Musical biographical film of opera singer and actress, Grace Moore (Grayson). The film follows Moore’s struggles in her early career, loss and regain of voice, and her rise to fame.

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Musical Monday: The Toast of New Orleans (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.

toast of new orleansThis week’s musical:
The Toast of New Orleans (1950) – Musical #86

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Norman Taurog

Starring:
Kathryn Grayson, Mario Lanza, David Niven, J. Carrol Naish, James Mitchell, Rita Moreno, Richard Hageman, Clinton Sundberg

Plot:
Bayou fisherman Pepe Duvalle (Lanza) is discovered for having a beautiful opera singing voice by visiting opera singer Suzette Micheline (Grayson) and her manager Jacques Riboudeaux (Niven). Pepe is rough around the edges and has to be groomed to be presentable for society.

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

This week’s musical:
Show Boat (1951) – Musical #29

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
George Sidney

Starring:
Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel, Joe E. Brown, Agnes Moorehead, Marge Champion, Gower Champion, Robert Sterling, William Warfield, Linda Christian (uncredited), Adele Jergens (uncredited), Regis Toomey (uncredited), Lyn Wilde (uncredited), Dee Turnell (uncredited)

Plot:
Set in the 1880s, the Cotton Blossom Show Boat is run by Capt. Andy Hawke (Brown) and his wife Parthy (Moorehead). When the boat arrives in a Mississippi town, there’s trouble for the show’s leading lady Julie Laverne (Gardner) and her husband, Steve Baker (Sterling). In revenge for Julie turning him down, riverboat worker Pete (Erickson) tells the sheriff (Toomey) that the boat has a case of miscegenation, an interracial relationship. Julie is part black, and Steve is white, and even though he cuts her hand and sucks some of it out, the two are forced out of town by the law. In a hurry to replace their leading lady and leading man, Capt. Andy recruits his daughter Magnolia (Grayson) and a gambler Gaylord Ravenal (Keel), who was seeking passage on the boat. Magnolia and Gaylord get married, though her parents object, and the two move to Chicago, where Gaylord hopes to keep them living on velvet through gambling. However, his luck soon sours.

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Musical Monday: The Kissing Bandit (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 500. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
The Kissing Bandit (1948) – Musical #236

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Laslo Benedek

Starring:
Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, J. Carrol Naish, Mildred Natwick, Billy Gilbert, Mikhail Rasumny, Sono Osato, Clinton Sundberg, Carleton G. Young, Edna Skinner, Nana Bryant (uncredited)
Specialty dancers: Ricardo Montalban, Cyd Charisse, Ann Miller, Sally Forrest

Plot:
Set in the 1800s, shy Ricardo (Sinatra) returns to Spanish California after receiving his education in Boston. Ricardo believes he’s taking over his deceased father’s business, running an inn. However, his father’s friend Chico (Naish) informs him, but the family business is being the Kissing Bandit, a robber who kisses women. When he meets Teresa (Grayson), the daughter of the governor, he is smitten but doesn’t kiss her, much to Teresa’s dismay. Ricardo can’t get close to her because the governor is searching for the Kissing Bandit, so Ricardo pretends to be the tax collector.

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Musical Monday: It Happened in Brooklyn (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 500. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
It Happened in Brooklyn (1947) – Musical #263

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Richard Whorf

Starring:
Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, Peter Lawford, Jimmy Durante, Gloria Grahame, Marcy McGuire, Aubrey Mather, Bobby Long, William Roy (billed as Billy Roy)
Themselves: The Starlighters – Pauline Byrns, Vince Degen, Tony Paris, Howard Hudson

Plot:
Danny Miller (Sinatra) has been homesick for his hometown of Brooklyn for four years while fighting in World War II. When he returns to Brooklyn, he meets music teacher and unsuccessful opera singer Anne (Grayson) who disagrees with Danny about Brooklyn being the best place in the world. Unable to find a place to live, Danny stays with old friend Nick (Durante). Nick also wants to be better liked by the students at the school, like Robert Donat in “Goodbye, Mr. Chips.” Danny has his own issues to when he can’t find a job right away. Englishman Jamie (Lawford) comes to visit from England after Danny talks about Brooklyn. The problem is that Jamie and Danny both fall for Anne.

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Classics in the Carolinas: Kathryn Grayson

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Actress, singer Kathryn Grayson

With her soprano voice and sweet, heart-shaped face, Kathryn Grayson was one of the many stars in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s constellation.

But before the singer and actress was one of the studio’s top stars, Grayson was born Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick in Winston-Salem, N.C. Zelma was one of four children born to Charles and Lillian Hedrick. The other siblings – Bud, Hal and the youngest Millie, who were also born in North Carolina. Though Zelma was born in Winston-Salem, she spent most of her childhood in Kirkwood, Mo., near St. Louis, when her family moved due to her father’s work as a real estate contractor. Zelma aspired to be an opera singer and studied voice while she was growing up.

The family moved from Kirkwood to Texas to California. Grayson continued studying and improving her singing and was discovered in California, according to a July 1, 1944, issue of “The State,” a monthly North Carolina-focused magazine that has been published from 1933 to present, which is now titled “Our State.”

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Musical Monday: That Midnight Kiss (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:
That Midnight Kiss (1949)– Musical #258

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Norman Taurog

Starring:
Kathryn Grayson, Mario Lanza, Ethel Barrymore, Keenan Wynn, J. Carrol Naish, Jules Munshin, Thomas Gomez, Arthur Treacher, Marjorie Reynolds
Themselves: José Iturbi, Amparo Iturbi
Narrator: Leon Ames

Plot:
Wealthy Abigail Trent Budell (Barrymore) wants pianist José Iturbi (himself) to help launch the opera career of her granddaughter Prudence (Grayson). Iturbi finds her talented and Abigail sponsors an opera company so Prudence can get her start. With a new talent, famous tenor Guido Russino Betelli (Gomez) is hired as her lead. Betelli is demanding and difficult to work with. Abigail meets singing truck driver Johnny Donnetti (Lanza) and encourages Iturbi to also make him a singing star.

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