Musical Monday: Carolina Blues (1944)

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.

carolina bluesThis week’s musical:
Carolina Blues (1944) – Musical #378

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Leigh Jason

Starring:
Themselves: Kay Kyser, Georgia Carroll, Harry Babbitt, Ish Kabibble, Sully Mason
Also starring: Ann Miller, Victor Moore, Jeff Donnell, Howard Freeman, Ruby Dandridge (uncredited), Frank Orth (uncredited), Doodles Weaver (uncredited)
Specialty Acts: Harold Nicholas, the Cristiani Family, the Layson Brothers, the Four Step Brothers, the Golden Gate Quartette

Plot:
Kay Kyser and his band (all playing themselves) return home to the United States from a tour overseas. All of them are exhausted and ready for a vacation, but Kyser’s publicist (Donnell) signed the band up for a bond tour. Kyser agrees to do a performance if it can raise money for a destroyer named for his hometown of Rocky Mount, N.C. Another problem is that Kyser’s lead girl singer, Georgia Carroll (herself), is leaving the band to get married. When Kyser and his band play at a shipyard, the plant’s manager, Phineas Carver (Moore), hopes his daughter Julie (Miller) can be the band’s next singer.

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Musical Monday: Swing Fever (1943)

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:
Swing Fever (1943) – Musical No. 391

Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director: Tim Whelan

Starring: Kay Kyser, Marilyn Maxwell, William Gargan, Nat Pendleton, Curt Bois, Andrew Tombes, Maxie Rosenbloom, Morris Ankrum, Pamela Blake, Ava Gardner (uncredited), Karin Booth (uncredited)
Themselves: Lena Horne, Harry Babbitt, Sully Mason, Ish Kabibble, Trudy Erwin, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James

Plot:
Lowell Blackford (Kyser) wants to publish music for a symphonietta, but his desire to publish serious music is overshadowed by his hypnotic”evil eye” he can put on people to make them do what he wants. Fight promoter ‘Waltzy’ Malone (Gargan) wants to use Lowell’s skill to help his boxer win the championship. Malone uses attractive singer Ginger Gray (Maxwell) to help get Ginger to help convince Lowell to help them out.

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