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:
Priorities on Parade (1942) – Musical #828

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Albert S. Rogell

Starring:
Ann Miller, Johnny Johnston, Jerry Colonna, Betty Jane Rhodes, Barbara Jo Allen (billed as Vera Vague), Harry Barris, Eddie Quillan, Dave Willock, Nick Cockrane, Rod Cameron, Arthur Loft, William Forrest, Warren Ashe, Charles Halton, Lee Shumway, Karin Booth (uncredited), Matt McHugh (uncredited), Cyril Ring (uncredited)
Specialty Performers: The Debonnaires

Plot:
Johnny Draper (Johnston) and his band want to perform in an aircraft defense plant; saying it would help with morale and production. While the plant’s leaders think it’s a good idea, they say they also can’t pay them only to play music and recommend that they work as defense workers at the plant. While the band agrees to work at the plant, the band’s glamorous singer, Donna D’Arcy (Miller), declines and finds a job singing in a nightclub. Johnny meets a lady welder, Lee Davis (Rhodes) who first seems tough as nails but then they fall in love. Problems arise when Donna comes to work at the plant.

Continue reading →