TCMFF Musical Monday: It’s Always Fair Weather (1955)

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:
It’s Always Fair Weather – Musical #150

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly

Starring:
Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey, Cyd Charisse, Michael Kidd, Dolores Gray, David Burns, Jay C. Flippen, Madge Blake (uncredited)

Plot:
After serving in World War II, three Army pals — Ted Riley (Kelly), Doug Hallerton (Dailey) and Angie Valentine (Kidd) — promise to continue to stay friends and meet 10 years later. When they meet again, they find themselves changed and living entirely different lives. Doug and Angie have settled down with families, and Ted is living a fast life with gambling and women.

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Musical Monday: Breakfast in Hollywood (1946)

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.

breakfast in hollywood2This week’s musical:
Breakfast in Hollywood (1946) – Musical #704

Studio:
United Artists

Director:
Harold D. Schuster

Starring:
Bonita Granville, Beaulah Bondi, Billie Burke, Raymond Walburn, Zasu Pitts, Edward Ryan,
Themselves: Tom Breneman, Hedda Hopper, Spike Jones, Andy Russell, The King Trio, Anna Le Seur, Ida Beneman, Alice Cooper

Plot:
Several people attend the “Breakfast in Hollywood” radio program, hosted by Tom Breneman (himself):
• Dorothy Larson (Granville) who is looking for her solider fiancée, who she hasn’t heard from
• Elderly Mrs. Annie Reed (Bondi), who has no one to look after her
• Plain Mrs. Frances Cartwright (Burke) who’s husband (Walburn) is stepping out on her
• Elvira Spriggens (Pitts), who desperately wants to win the radio’s crazy hat contest.
While all of seemingly only attending the program for fun, each of them has an experience that follows that alters their life.

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Musical Monday: I’ll Remember April (1945)

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.

i'll remember april2This week’s musical:
I’ll Remember April (1945) – Musical #703

Studio:
Universal Studios

Director:
Harold Young

Starring:
Gloria Jean, Kirby Grant, Milburn Stone, Edward Brophy, Samuel S. Hinds, Jacqueline deWit, Hobart Cavanaugh

Plot:
When her father (Hinds) goes bankrupt, April Garfield (Jean) tries to get a job singing on the radio to help out financially.

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Musical Monday: You Were Never Lovelier (1942)

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.

you were never lovelir5This week’s musical:
You Were Never Lovelier (1942) – Musical #66

Studio:
Columbia Studios

Director:
William A. Seiter

Starring:
Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Adolphe Menjou, Isobel Elsom, Leslie Brooks, Adele Mara, Gus Schilling, Barbara Brown, Douglas Leavitt
Himself: Xavier Cugat, Lina Romay,

Plot:
Eduardo Acuña (Menjou) wants his daughters to be married in order of age. While his two youngest daughters are eager to be wed, his second eldest Maria (Hayworth) is indifferent. To instill some romance in her life, Eduardo arranges a ruse of a secret admirer, who she mistakes to be New York dancer Robert Davis (Astaire).

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Musical Monday: Top o’ the Morning (1949)

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:
Top O’ the Morning (1949) – Musical #450

top o the morning

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
David Miller

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Ann Blyth, Barry Fitzgerald, Hume Cronyn, Eileen Crowe, John McIntire, Tudor Owen, Jimmy Hunt, Morgan Farley,

Plot:
When the Blarney Stone is stolen from an Irish village, an American insurance investigator Joe Mulqueen (Crosby) travels to Ireland to investigate. In Ireland, the local police Sergeant Briany McNaughton (Fitzgerald) is trying to investigate the case. Joe falls for McNaughton’s daughter Conn (Blyth).

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Musical Monday: Roberta (1935)

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.

robertaThis week’s musical:
Roberta (1935) – Musical #106

Studio:
RKO Studio Pictures

Director:
William A. Seiter

Starring:
Irene Dunne, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Randolph Scott, Helen Westley, Claire Dodd, Ferdinand Munier, Luis Alberni, Victor Varconi

Plot:
Former American football hero, John Kent (Scott), travels to Paris with his pal Huck Haines (Astaire) and Haines’s jazz band. Huck and his band fail to secure a job, and the group is down on their luck. John seeks help from his Aunt Minnie (Westley) who runs an exclusive fashion house, immediately falling for her assistant Stephanie (Dunne). The jazz band finds success with the help of a phony countess (Rogers). But things get complicated when John inherits the fashion house.

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Musical Monday: Stars Over Broadway (1935)

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:
Stars Over Broadway (1935) – Musical #700

stars on broadway3

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
William Keighley

Starring:
Pat O’Brien, James Melton, Jane Froman, Jean Muir, Frank McHugh, Eddie Conrad, William Ricciardi, Marie Wilson, Frank Fay, E.E. Clive
Himself: Jack Dempsey, the Morgan Family

Plot:
Theatrical agent Al McGillevray (O’Brien) is on the ropes and unsuccessful. He’s about to end it all until he hears the singing voice of porter Jan (Melton). Al is reinvigorated and wants to try to put over Jan King as a singer. Training his voice, he finds him a steady gig. But success goes to Jan’s head and starts to tumble.

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Musical Monday: Reet, Petite, and Gone (1947)

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:
Reet, Petite, and Gone (1947) – Musical #702

Reet Petite

Studio:
Astor Pictures

Director:
William Forest Crouch

Starring:
Louis Jordan & The Tympany Five, June Richmond, Milton Woods, Bea Griffith, Lorenzo Tucker, Pat Rainey, Vanita Smythe, David Bethea

Plot:
Sklyer Jarvis (Jordan) is on his death bed and remembering his lost love. He wants his son, bandleader Louis Jarvis (also Jordan), to marry Honey Carter (Griffith), the daughter of Skyler’s former girlfriend. The marriage is the only way Louis will inherit his father’s fortune. Unfortunately, Skyler’s unscrupulous lawyer (Tucker) tries to change Skyler’s will and keep the couple apart.

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Musical Monday: Ski Party (1965)

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.

ski partyThis week’s musical:
Ski Party (1965) – Musical #696

Studio:
American International Pictures

Director:
Alan Rafkin

Starring:
Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman, Deborah Walley, Yvonne Craig, Aron Kincaid, Michael Nader, Bobbie Shaw, Patti Chandler, Luree Holmes, Robert Q. Lewis, Steven Rogers, Mikki Jamison, Salli Sachse
Themselves: James Brown, Lesley Gore, The Hondells
Cameo: Annette Funicello

Plot:
Todd (Avalon) and Craig (Hickman) are unsuccessful with women, especially compared to campus hunk Freddie Carter (Kincaid). To better understand women, learn how Freddie wins women, and get closer to the girls they like —Linda (Walley) and Barbara (Craig) — Todd and Craig join a college ski trip. Part of this involves dressing up like English co-eds, Nora and Jane.

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Musical Monday: Thin Ice (1937)

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.

thin ice 2This week’s musical:
Thin Ice (1937) – Musical #701

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Sidney Lanfield

Starring:
Sonja Henie, Tyrone Power, Joan Davis, Arthur Treacher, Raymond Walburn, Sig Ruman, Alan Hale, Leah Ray, Melville Cooper, George Givot

Plot:
An international conference is held at the ski resort, Grand Hotel Imperial in St. Christophe in the Alps, where a pact will be signed. Prince Rudolph (Power) pretends to be ill to create tensions before the pact is signed and goes skiing. While on skis, he meets the hotel’s skate instructor Lili (Henie). The two fall in love without Lili knowing who he is.

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