Tag Archives: Musical Monday

Musical Monday: Nice Girl? (1941)

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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:
Nice Girl? (1941) – Musical #808

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
William A. Seiter

Starring:
Deanna Durbin, Franchot Tone, Robert Stack, Robert Benchley, Walter Brennan, Helen Broderick, Ann Gillis, Anne Gwynne, Elisabeth Risdon, Nana Bryant, Georgia Billings, Tommy Kelly, Marcia Mae Jones, Frank Sully (uncredited)

Plot:
Prof. Oliver Dana (Benchley) is a professor living with his three daughters: actress Sylvia (Gwynne), boy crazy Nancy (Gillis) and practical Jane (Durbin), who helps her father with his experiments. Everyone considered Jane as a reliable nice girl, including her unromantic boyfriend, Don (Stack), who cares more about cars than love. When famed traveler and researches Richard Calvert (Tone) comes to town to meet with Professor Dana, the three sisters are all smitten with the young professor. When it’s time for Richard to leave, Jane fixes it so that he will miss his train and that she’ll have to drive him back to New York City, so that Don and everyone will no longer dismiss her as just a nice girl.

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Musical Monday: Are You With It? (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:
Are You With It? (1948) – Musical #807

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Jack Hively

Starring:
Donald O’Connor, Olga San Juan, Martha Stewart, Lew Parker, Walter Catlett, Patricia Dane (billed as Pat Dane), Ransom Sherman, Louis Da Pron, Noel Neill, Julie Gibson, George O’Hanlon, Eddie Parks, Raymond Largay, Jody Gilbert, Howard Negley, Charles Bedell, Jimmie Dodd (uncredited), Sally Forrest (uncredited), Edward Gargan (uncredited),

Plot:
Milton Haskins (O’Connor) is a math wiz at the Nutmeg Insurance Company and rarely makes a mistake. But when one day he makes a decimal error, Milton leaves work feeling like a failure. He meets Goldie (Parker), who helps Milton become “with it” by hooking him up with a carnival and becoming a performer. Milton’s sweetheart, Vivian (San Juan), becomes concerned about Milton’s whereabouts and begins looking for him. Vivian also joins the carnival, and shortly after, strange and dangerous things begin to happen, and Milton begins to investigate.

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Musical Monday: Kiss Me Again (1930)

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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:
Kiss Me Again (1930) – Musical #807

Studio:
First National Pictures, a Warner Bros. subsidiary

Director:
William A. Seiter

Starring:
Bernice Claire, Edward Everett Horton, Walter Pidgeon, June Collyer, Frank McHugh, Claude Gillingwater, Judith Vosselli, Albert Gran

Plot:
Fifi (Claire) works in a dress shop with ambitions of becoming an opera singer. She’s in love with soldier Paul de St. Cyr (Pidgeon), but he is also engaged to Marie (Collyer), the daughter of the general (Gran). When Paul’s father (Gillingwater) asks Fifi to leave her son alone, she departs to fulfill her dreams of a singing career.

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Musical Monday: Lucky Me (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 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Lucky Me (1954) – Musical #184

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Jack Donohue

Starring:
Doris Day, Robert Cummings, Phil Silvers, Martha Hyer, Eddie Foy Jr., Nancy Walker, Bill Goodwin, Marcel Dalio, Hayden Rorke, James Burke, John Alvin (uncredited), Angie Dickinson (uncredited), Dabbs Greer (uncredited)

Plot:
Candy Williams (Day) is incredibly superstitious. She’s also part of an unsuccessful acting troupe, led by Hap Schneider (Silvers). When they wrap up a stint in a movie house, the group doesn’t know where to go next since they are out of money. When the group enjoys an expensive dinner in a Miami hotel with no way to pay for it, they all get jobs at the hotel to pay for their debt. While there, they meet successful songwriter Dick Carson (Cummings), who tries to work them into his show. The only problem is that the show is financed by the father of Lorraine Thayer (Hyer), who carries the torch for Dick.

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Musical Monday: Playing Around (1930)

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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:
Playing Around (1930) – Musical #796

playing around2

Playing Around, lobbycard, from left: Chester Morris, Alice White, 1930. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)

Studio:
First National Pictures, distributed by Warner Bros.

Director:
Mervyn LeRoy

Starring:
Alice White, Chester Morris, William Bakewell, Richard Carlyle, Marion Byron, Maurice Black, Lionel Belmore, Shep Camp, Ann Brody, Nellie V. Nichols, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes (uncredited), Carolynne Snowden (uncredited), Doris McMahon (uncredited)

Plot:
When Sheba Miller (White) and her boyfriend Jack (Bakewell) are at a nightclub, Sheba enters a “best legs” contest, judged by club patron, Nickey Solomon (Morris). Sheba wins and Nickey begins wooing Sheba, making her toss Jack to the curb. Sheba believes Nickey is wealthy playboy, but the way he earns his money isn’t as honest as she thinks.

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Musical Monday: Mardi Gras (1958)

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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:
Mardi Gras (1958) – Musical #806

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Edmund Goulding

Starring:
Pat Boone, Christine Carère, Tommy Sands, Sheree North, Gary Crosby, Fred Clark, Dick Sargent (billed as Richard Sargent), Barrie Chase, Jennifer West, Geraldine Wall, King Calder, Robert Burton,
Cameo: Robert Wagner

Plot:
The students at Virginia Military Institute (VMI) are notified that they will get attend the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans and march in the parade. Three pals — Paul (Boone), Barry (Sands) and Tony (Crosby) — realize that French film star Michelle Marton (Carère) will also be in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. The three hatch a plan to hold a raffle with the VMI students where the winner will ask Michelle Marton as their date to VMI’s graduation. Once in New Orleans, while the guys try to meet Michelle, she goes undercover so she can have some fun.

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Musical Monday: Playmates (1941)

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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:
Playmates (1941) – Musical #375

Studio:
RKO Radio Pictures

Director:
David Butler

Starring:
As themselves: Kay Kyser, John Barrymore, Ginny Simms, Harry Babbitt, Ish Kabibble, Sully Mason,
In acting roles: Lupe Velez, May Robson, Patsy Kelly, Peter Lind Hayes, Hobart Cavanaugh, George Cleveland, Marie Windsor (uncredited), Leon Belasco (uncredited)

Plot:
The agents of Kay Kyser (himself) and John Barrymore (himself) hatch a plan to connect the bandleader to the Shakespearean actor to help boost Barrymore’s career. The idea is that Kyser will recite Shakespeare with Barrymore, much to Barrymore’s chagrin.

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Musical Monday: Basin Street Revue (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.

This week’s musical:
Basin Street Revue (1956) – Musical #802

Studio:
Studio Films

Director:
Joseph Kohn, Leonard Reed

Starring:
Host: Willie Bryant
As Themselves: Sarah Vaughn, Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra, Paul Williams and his Orchestra, Jimmy Brown, Amos Milburn, Faye Adams, Charles ‘Honi’ Coles, Colly Atkins, Herb Jeffries, Cab Calloway, Martha Davis, Mantan Moreland, Nipsey Russell, Marie Bryant

Plot:
A musical review of the top performers of the time.

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Musical Monday: The Proud Valley (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.

The Proud Valley, poster, Paul Robeson, 1940. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)

This week’s musical:
The Proud Valley (1940) – Musical #801

Studio:
Ealing Studios

Director:
Pen Tennyson

Starring:
Paul Robeson, Edward Chapman, Simon Lack, Rachel Thomas, Edward Rigby, Dilys Thomas, Janet Johnson, Charles Williams, Jack Jones, Dilys Davies, Clifford Evans, Allan Jeayes, George Merritt, Edward Lexy

Plot:
American David Goliath (Robeson) leaves his ship when he arrives in Wales. He hops on a freight and ends in a small town. Hearing a choir, conducted by Dick Parry (Chapman), David stops to sing outside to sing along. Dick Parry is stunned by David’s beautiful voice and hopes he will sing with the miner choir in competition. Dick also invites David to come stay with his family and helps him get a job with him in the coal mines. When disaster strikes the mines and closes them down, David helps by walking with the miners to London to get them open and working again.

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Musical Monday: Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)

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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:
Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) – Musical #799

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Mervyn LeRoy

Starring:
Esther Williams, Victor Mature, Walter Pidgeon, David Brian, Donna Corcoran, Jesse White, Howard Freeman, Maria Tallchief, Charles Watts, Wilton Graff, Frank Ferguson, James Bell, James Flavin, Willis Bouchey, Paul Frees (uncredited), Dabbs Greer (uncredited), Creighton Hall (uncredited), Betty Lynn (uncredited)

Plot:
Biographical film about Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman (Corcoran as child, Williams as adult). As a child, Annette had polio and strengthened her legs with swimming. The daughter of a musician, Frederick Kellerman (Pidgeon), Annette had ambitions of becoming a ballerina and the Kellermans travel to England to find work in the arts. When Mr. Kellerman’s job falls through, Annette links up with promoter, James Sullivan (Mature). James builds Annette up through a series of publicity stunts, and she eventually finds fame performing at the Hippodrome Theater in New York City.

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