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:
Your Cheatin’ Heart – Musical #252
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Director: Gene Nelson
Starring: George Hamilton, Susan Oliver, Red Buttons, Arthur O’Connell, Rex Ingram, Shary Williams, Chris Crosby
Plot: A biographical film on the life and career of country singer Hank Williams.
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:
Seven Days Ashore (1944) – Musical #669
Studio:
RKO Radio Pictures
Director:
John H. Auer
Starring:
Gordon Oliver, Marcy McGuire, Virginia Mayo, Elaine Shepard, Amelita Ward, Wally Brown, Alan Carney, Dooley Wilson, Marjorie Gateson, Margaret Dumont, Dorothy Malone (uncredited), Lawrence Tierney (uncredited)
Himself: Freddie Slack and his Orchestra
Plot: Merchant Marine Dan Arland Jr. (Oliver) got himself engaged to three girls, two of which (Mayo, Ward) play together in Dot Diamond’s (McGuire) band. The other, Annabelle (Shepard), is a family friend who Dan really cares for. When the Merchant Marines have a week leave in San Francisco where all the women are located, Dan has his buddies (Brown, Carney) date two of the girls to help him out.
Trivia: • Originally planned as a U.S. Navy musical but was rewritten as a Merchant Marine musical.
• Alan Carney and Wally Brown were hired to be groomed as Abbott and Costello-like comedy team.
Marcy McGuire in “Seven Days Ashore”
Highlights: • I like the part when the men and women trade off walking in and out playing instruments.
Notable Songs: • “Apple Blossoms in the Rain” performed by Dooley Wilson
• “Ready, Aim, Kiss” performed by Marcy McGuire
• “Sioux City Sue” performed by Marcy McGuire
• “Jive Samba” performed by Freddy Slack and his Orchestra and Marcy McGuire
• “Over the Waves” performed by Marcy McGuire
• “The Poor Little Fly on the Wall” performed by Freddie Slack and his Orchestra
• “Improvisation in B Flat” performed by Freddie Slack and his Orchestra
Chorus girls perform “Seven Days Ashore”
My review:
Not to be confused with Seven Days’ Leave (1942), this low budget B-musical was surprisingly better than I expected.
The first few moments of the film are like “who’s who” early in their careers in Hollywood. We see Dorothy Malone in an uncredited role playing the piano in an all girl’s band, Lawrence Tierney as an uncredited Merchant Marine, and Virginia Mayo in a credited role (and main character) though still early in her career.
The film follows a Merchant Marine (Gordon Oliver) who got himself engaged to too many girls and it complicates his shore leave. His pals try to help out by also dating the girls.
Judging by the photos and how the film started, I thought this musical would be about Marcy McGuire’s character, but she’s really just there to supply the music and some comedic antics.
I almost think the film may have be more fun if it had been centered around McGuire. I’m not certain of her appeal, but I also liked when she was on screen.
Dooley Wilson also co-stars and has the opportunity to sing a few songs.
The film had some great snappy songs, especially performed by Freddie Slack and his Orchestra. I honestly was surprised at how much fun this film ended up being.
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:
Melody Cruise (1933) – Musical #458
Studio:
RKO Studios
Director:
Mark Sandrich
Starring:
Charles Ruggles, Phil Harris, Helen Mack, Greta Nissen, Chick Chandler, June Brewster, Shirley Chambers, Florence Roberts, Marjorie Gateson, Betty Grable (uncredited), Clarence Muse (uncredited)
Plot:
Friends Pete Wells (Ruggles) and Alan Chandler (Harris) escape the winter of New York and go on a cruise. Pete is a philanderer and Alan drunkenly writes a letter to Pete’s wife about all of his affairs, to be opened only if Alan ever married — something Alan has sworn he won’t do. Complications arise when Alan falls in love and wants to marry.
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:
Melody for Two (1937) – Musical #667
Studio:
Warner Bros.
Director:
Louis King
Starring:
James Melton, Patricia Ellis, Marie Wilson, Fred Keating, Dick Purcell, Wini Shaw, Charley Foy, Craig Reynolds, Bill Elliott, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson
Plot:
Bandleader Tod Weaver (Melton) has a hard time finding success and is unhappy. Tod is unhappy that he’s scheduled to play at a small-time venue while his girlfriend singer Gale Starr (Ellis) performs at a top-notch nightclub. However, when Weaver’s band and singer Lorna Wray (Shaw) play swing music (thanks to an idea from janitor Exodus Johnson, played by Eddie Anderson), Weaver’s band finds success while Starr’s nightclub act does poorly.
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:
Meet Me on Broadway (1946) – Musical #648
Studio:
Columbia Pictures
Director:
Leigh Jason
Starring:
Marjorie Reynolds, Frederick Brady (billed as Fred Brady), Jinx Falkenburg, Spring Byington, Allen Jenkins, Gene Lockhart, Loren Tindall
Plot:
Broadway director Eddie Dolan (Brady) quits the show he’s directing over artistic differences with his producer. His star (and girlfriend) Ann Stallings (Reynolds) and songwriter Deacon McGill (Jenkins) quit with Eddie. Believing he can stage a better show without the involvement of a producer, Eddie searches for a new show. He lands in a small community who is putting on a country club show for charity, headed by Sylvia Kane Storm (Byington) and her son Bob (Tindall). The show may not be as profitable as he thinks.
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.
Starring:
Virginia Weidler, William Gaxton, Tommy Dix, Nancy Walker, June Allyson, Gloria DeHaven, Chill Wills, Harry James, Henry O’Neill, Sara Haden, Stanley Donen (uncredited cadet), James Ellison (uncredited cadet)
Themselves: Lucille Ball, Harry James and His Music Makers
Plot:
Bud Hooper (Dix), a cadet at a military school, sends a prom invitation to movie star Lucille Ball (as herself). Ball’s agent thinks it would be a great publicity stunt and she attends the dance, much to the chagrin of his girlfriend Helen (Weidler) and to Ball. However, since it was Helen who was approved to attend the dance, Bud as Ball pose as Helen.
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 Gang’s All Here (1943) – Musical #310
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Director: Busby Berkeley
Starring: Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda, James Ellison, Phil Baker, Eugene Pallette, Charlotte Greenwood, Edward Everett Horton, Dave Willock, Sheila Ryan, Jeanne Crain (uncredited), June Haver (uncredited), Adele Jergens (uncredited), Adele Jergens (uncredited), Mary Stewart (uncredited), Frank Faylen (uncredited), Charles Saggau (uncredited)
Themselves: Benny Goodman and his Orchestra, Tony De Marco
Plot:
Nightclub performer Edie Allen (Faye) meets soldier Andy Mason (Ellison) in a night club. Andy falls for her, but gives her a false name. Edie writes to Andy (or Casey which is the name he gave her), while he is fighting in the Pacific. When he returns home a hero, a War Bond benefit is given in his honor starring Edie and the rest of the nightclub performers. The problem is, Andy is engaged to another girl (Ryan).
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:
Porgy and Bess (1959) – Musical #601
Studio: Samuel Goldwyn Studios
Director: Otto Preminger, Rouben Mamoulian (uncredited)
Starring: Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr., Pearl Bailey, Brock Peters, Diahann Carroll, Clarence Muse, Claude Atkins
Plot:
Set in 1912 Charleston, SC, in a black fishing community, Crown (Brock) kills a man and when he flees, his girlfriend Bess (Dandridge) is left behind. Scorned by most of the community because of her past with drug abuse, Porgy (Poitier), who is a crippled beggar, takes Bess in. Bess and Porgy fall in love and she tries to turn her life around, but is tempted by Crown and drug dealer Sportin’ Life (Davis Jr).
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.
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?
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:
“Colleen” (1936)– Musical #284
Studio:
Warner Brothers
Director:
Alfred E. Green
Starring:
Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Jack Oakie, Joan Blondell, Hugh Herbert, Louise Fazenda, Paul Draper, Marie Wilson, Luis Alberni, Hobart Cavanaugh, Berton Churchill, J.M. Kerrigan, Addison Richards
Plot:
Donald Ames, III, (Powell) runs the Ames Company and works to keep his uncle Cedric (Herbert) out of business decision. But when Donald heads out on a business trip, Uncle Cedric wreaks havoc by hiring grifter Joe Cook (Oakie) and pretty chocolate dipper Minnie (Blondell), and buys a dress shop where Colleen (Keeler) works for Minnie because she loves fashion. When Donald returns, he has to clean up the mess.
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Comet Over Hollywood 