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:
“She’s Back on Broadway” (1953) — Musical #450

Studio:
Warner Brothers Pictures

Director:
Gordon Douglas

Starring:
Virginia Mayo, Gene Nelson, Frank Lovejoy, Steve Cochran, Patrice Wymore

Plot:
Hollywood actress Catherine Terris (Mayo) finds her film career is declining. She decides to return to Broadway where she started out to get a fresh start. The director of the musical play is Rick Sommers (Cochran), who Catherine had a relationship with during her stage days. However, he has been bitter ever since she left six years before to go to Hollywood. The two clash during rehearsal and nearly ruin the play.

Cochran and Mayo in a publicity photo for “She’s Back on Broadway”

Trivia:
-Virginia Mayo is dubbed by Bonnie Lou Williams
-Though the two films have no plot connection, She’s Back on Broadway is supposedly a sequel to “She’s Working Her Way Through College” (1952), which is a remake of “The Male Animal” (1942). The only connection is the Mayo and Nelson re-teaming.

Notable Songs:
I’m not left humming any of the songs from this film but I would say “I’ll Take You” performed by Gene Nelson and Virginia Mayo is the most memorable.

Highlights:
-The audition montage at the beginning of the film for the play including dancer and goofy male singers.

My Review:
Musical films about musical theater are interesting. The play being performed in “She’s Back on Broadway” is called “Breakfast in Bed.” There is one song called “Breakfast in Bed” but other songs include a Latin dance vibe, a song about Mardi Gras and then a few romantic ballads. Numbers within the musical play don’t make sense to have an actual story line, so I guess we are supposed to assume it’s a musical revue.
“She’s Back on Broadway” is a run of the mill, early 1950s Warner Brothers musical-several songs mixed with some melodrama and filmed in Warnercolor.
Whether it’s Doris Day in “Lullaby of Broadway” or Virginia Mayo on this, they are all relatively similar with Gene Nelson dancing somewhere in the background. Steve Cochran plays his usual moody role in this as well.
Not to say that these colorful musicals aren’t mildly entertaining, but they are rather forgettable.

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