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An extra nod to Mr. Spilker, whose passion for this near-forgotten era knows no equal — and who coined the term “nervous As” for those not-quite-Bs-not-quite-As, a few of which will be found here. (The debate over what defines a B continues!) and special thanks to Bob O’Neil, Paul Ginsburg (Universal Pictures); Michael Schlesinger, Grover Crisp (Sony Pictures); Schawn Belston, Caitlin Robertson (Twentieth Century Fox); Rick Yankowski (Criterion Pictures); Marilee Womack (Warner Bros.); Melanie Valera, Barry Allen (Paramount Pictures); Mike Mashon (Library of Congress); and Robert Gitt, Todd Wiener (UCLA Film Archive). |
“Yes, they don't make them like this anymore. They couldn't if they tried. But at Film Forum for the next month, “The festival features 49 of the era's best bargain musicals, rarely seen by contemporary audiences and representing a serious triumph of film archivists and restoration efforts.” |
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MARCH 30 FRI (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) (1941, ALLAN DWAN) As the Big Game approaches, lazy gridiron great Jack Oakie is tutored by Linda Darnell, protected by ex-All American/niteclub hoofer George Murphy, and menaced by gangster Milton Berle. Screenplay by Herman Mankiewicz (who wrote Citizen Kane the same year), from James Thurber’s My Life and Hard Times. “DELIGHTFUL! Written by Herman Mankiewicz the same year he collaborated on Citizen Kane and starring the ethereally beautiful Linda Darnell.” (1938, GEORGE MARSHALL) Football mania gone wild, as rival Senate candidates John Barrymore and George Barbier back different schools in the showdown game — loser drops out of the race! With George Murphy as the coach and Joan Davis as a goalkicking co-ed. “WONDERFULLY NONSENSICAL! John Barrymore even sings a bit and the comic honors belong to the undeservedly forgotten Joan Davis as the team's star place-kicker.” “Works up into a fine frenzy!” – Leslie Halliwell MARCH 31 SAT (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) (1942) Boy, that campus show sure looks good — and why not, when the songwriters are Jule Styne and Frank Loesser (then unknowns) — but those putting-on-a-show kids keep getting bumped off! Unique college musical/murder mystery, with Eddie Bracken in his star-making role and, in a B movie first, two Hit Parade songs: Frank Loesser and Jule Styne's “I Said No” and the wartime chartbuster “I Don't Want to Walk Without You, Baby.” DOUBLE OR NOTHING (1937) Each given 5Gs by an eccentric zillionaire, Bing Crosby, Martha Raye, William Frawley, and Andy Devine have 30 days to double their stake and win a million, with plenty of songs ensuing when Bing opens a niteclub. “Cavernous-mouth comedienne Martha Raye steals the show with her boisterous antics APRIL 1 SUN (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) (1933) Budding songsmiths Jack Haley and Jack Oakie (sample tune: “I Wanna Meander with Miranda”) hitchhike to Hollywood for that big break, joined en route by singing, dancing Ginger Rogers, with “Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?” a musical highlight. With Thelma Todd. “The tunes are sublime!” – Time Out New York (1933) Claudette Colbert sings the blues and lullabies, as she’s alternately both niteclub thrush and host of kiddies’ radio show — which she uses to search for the illegit kid she gave up. Pre-Code soaper with songs, with Polish bombshell Lyda Roberti. “Claudette Colbert sizzles in the title role!” – Time Out New York APRIL 2 MON (3 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) (1942) Flunking out of college, Richard Davies is packed off to a Western dude ranch, where he falls for thrush Mary Healy. With 16 songs packed into less than an hour and a comedy and musical cast including Grace McDonald, Leon Errol, and Ozzie Nelson and Band. (1941) Not a Western, but a jam-packed musical, featuring Eve Arden, Lon Chaney Jr. & Shemp Howard (as a kinda “Two” Stooges), and Jane Frazee, a Universal B Musical Queen. BABES ON SWING STREET (1944) With their music school running out of dough, Ann Blyth and Peggy Ryan decide to “put on a show,” with friends like Marion Hutton, June Preisser and Andy Devine helping out. “Big-band vocalist Marion Hutton (Betty’s sister) steals the show with her winning warbling.” APRIL 3 TUE (3 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION)
(1945) “It’s breezy! It’s teasy! It’s easy on the eyes!” Ann Miller supports her daytime studies at a strait-laced girls’ school by nightly bumping-and grinding in a local burlesque house, her terpsichory with legendary choreographer Jack Cole a highlight. “One of Dreifuss’ liveliest, with Ann Miller in the title role, (1942) “The jive charmers who turn out the dive bombers!” The ad says it all, as Ann Miller (“a treat in overalls” – Clive Hirschhorn) sings and taps in between turning out those planes. With songs by Jule Styne, Frank Loesser, et al. “Zestful Ann Miller hoofs up a storm in an aircraft factory while Jerry Colonna and Vera Vague supply comic relief.” (1943) Tap-dancing d.j. Ann Miller keeps the troops entertained with “music videos” from Duke Ellington, Count Basie, the Mills Brothers and Frank Sinatra in his solo movie debut. “Ann Miller makes an extremely attractive early VJ in this tuneful revue of great talents!” – Time Out New York
APRIL 4 WED (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) MELODY CRUISE (1933, MARK SANDRICH) Tough ocean trip for hard-boozing Charlie Ruggles and playboy Phil Harris: embarrassment-packed letter; passed-out, scantily-clad “nieces”; and, oops! — there’s Ruggles’ wife’s friend! Plus editing shenanigans, rhyming dialogue and final ice ballet. “A Sexy pre-code musical with imaginative use of photography and optical effects.” – Leonard Maltin (1933, KARL FREUND AND MONTE BRICE) 42nd Street on a shoestring, shot in Astoria (!), as brash songwriter Roger Pryor battles producers; smalltown muse Mary Brian fends off gambling sleazeballs: and Lillian Miles booms “Dusty Shoes” in the big Depression finale. “The climax, a big social commentary Depression number about the army of the unemployed “Merits inclusion among the screen's most successful invasions of the musical comedy field.” – New York Times
APRIL 5 THU (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) EARL CARROLL SKETCHBOOK (1946) William Marshall composes jingles, while secretary Constance Moore wants to be a singer — what if one of his songs got accepted by Broadway bigwig Carroll? New songs by Sammy Cahn & Jule Styne. HIT PARADE OF 1943 (1943) Publisher John Carroll steals Susan Hayward’s song, then offers her a job as ghostwriter! Count Basie Orchestra number, featuring Dorothy Dandridge, a highlight. Oscar nominations, Best Song and Score. “Lively comedy musical-- and the best of its series.” – Leslie Halliwell APRIL 6 FRI (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) (1952) Befriended by hillbilly Mitzi Gaynor while lying low, Broadway bookie Scott Brady helps her to stardom, despite jealous girlfriend and a crime committee cop. Based on Damon Runyon stories, remade (with Madonna!) in 1989. “Harmon Jones was an accomplished film editor at Fox who achieved only modest distinction as a director. This amiable musical is probably his finest moment as a director. Mitzi Gaynor stars as a backwoods Southern belle transplanted to Broadway and Edward Cronjager's Technicolor lensing is easy on the eyes.” (1949, DOUGLAS SIRK) Pygmalion Hollywood-style, as washed-up movie director Don Ameche palms off Irish cooch dancer Dorothy Lamour as an exotic French actress. Songs by Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler, et al. “An enjoyable divertissement by the great melodramatist Douglas Sirk! APRIL 7 SAT (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) EVERYTHING I HAVE IS YOURS (1952, ROBERT Z. LEONARD) Just as dance team Marge and Gower Champion hit it big on Broadway, she finds out she’s expecting. Family vs. career questions ensue, complicated by Gower’s new partner and producer Dennis O’Keefe. Marge’s only solo movie number is a highlight. “A lively musical vehicle for the Champions!” – Leslie Halliwell THE AFFAIRS OF DOBIE GILLIS (1953, DON WEIS) Co-ed Debbie Reynolds’ education plans get sidetracked when she meets party animal Bobby Van and roommate Bob Fosse, but after too many chem lab explosions, she’s shipped East, and only Happy Stella Kowalski’s all-girl band can patch things up. “Entertaining musicomedy based on Max Shulman’s book of college kids. Debbie and Van make a cute couple!” APRIL 8 SUN (3 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) (1941) In the runaway hit of its year, Abbott & Costello find themselves unwittingly sent to boot camp, with The Andrews Sisters at their most iconic, close-harmonizing “Bounce Me Brother With a Solid Four” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B” for the war effort. “Abbott and Costello hit the big time! There are monkeyshines galore and gags dropped once a minute, and the Andrews Sisters, decked out as WAACS, croon patriotic boogie-woogie tunes. It makes for a very merry World War II. A huge hit that rocketed the comic team to major stardom!” (1940) With those creditors knocking at their door, Patty, Maxene and Laverne — The Andrews Sisters — and their managers Al, Jimmy and Harry — The Ritz Brothers — head for... where do you think? “The Andrews Sisters are a knockout in their screen debut and belt out some lively tunes! Romance is supplied by Constance Moore and George Reeves- yes, Superman!” (1942) When heiress Grace McDonald makes it big in show biz, the Andrews Sisters masquerade as her three elderly aunts. Don’t ask why! With Dan Dailey, Donald O’Connor, Peggy Ryan, et al. “Silly but entertaining! One of the main interests is its talent roster includes both people on their way up and on thier way down: Donald O'Connor dancing up a storm with Peggy Ryan, and directing veteran Eddie Cline who had started in 1913 as a Keystone Kop, directed many of Buster Keaton's silent classics, and then a batch of hilarious W.C. Fields comedies. The counter of these talents in the same movie is fascinating.” APRIL 9 MON (3 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) JOAN OF OZARK (1942) When quail-hunting hillbilly Judy Canova becomes “public patriot number one,” theatrical agent Joe E. Brown signs her up for an NYC appearance — in Nazi spy chief Jerome Cowan’s niterie! Listen to Diana Canova talk about her mother's career on WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show [mp3] SIS HOPKINS (1941) Country bumpkin Judy Canova comes to college to room with ultra-sophisticated cousin Susan Hayward, with Judy’s hillbilly “La Traviata” a highlight. Songs by Jule Styne and Frank Loesser. “Judy Canova's second movie is tailor-made for her backwoods style of delivery and vocal abilities. Bob Crosby and band keep the jive alive. Canova shines, with great vocal talent equally at home in hillbilly songs and Verdi opera arias, while pre-stardom Susan Hayward scores as Judy's snobbish cousin.” (1945) When impresario Ross Hunter discovers Judy Canova singing arias while milking a cow, he signs her up for an opera career. “Judy Canova is going to be the revelation of the series. Her films haven't been on TV for 40 years. APRIL 10 TUE (3 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) (1943, EDWARD F. CLINE) Always-anarchic comics Olsen & Johnson take over Miracle Studios to make an epic with no money, enlisting look-alikes instead of stars. Guests include Count Basie, Glenn Miller Singers, and Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce! A Quentin Tarantino favorite! “A wealth of talent on display! Lavishly produced!’ HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY “One of Wheeler & Woolsey’s best vehicles! Wild production numbers!” – Leonard Maltin (1938) Fed up with Hollywood, star Charles Starrett enrolls in college, but can’t match his screen exploits on the football field. With Broderick Crawford, Jimmy Durante and the Three Stooges! “Hunky gridiron star Charles Starrett, who became a cowboy star in Hollywood, plays a matinee idol who decides to duck it all for a college education. Zany Jimmy Durante is a hoot, and sultry Gertrude Niesen proves she knows how to put over a song.” APRIL 11 WED (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) (1934, NORMAN TAUROG) More campus hi-jinks, with Jack Oakie, Polish bombshell Lyda Roberti, and radio comic Joe Penner. Plus songwriters Gordon & Revel in the hilarious short Hollywood Rhythm. THIS WAY, PLEASE (1937, ROBERT FLOREY) Economy musical comedy A Star is Born, as singer Buddy Rogers helps usherette Betty Grable into the big time, but her stardom includes marriage to somebody else. With radio stars Fibber McGee & Molly and Jack Benny’s Mary Livingston. “One of the more pleasing rarities [in the series], a modest romantic comedy with Betty Grable and in her only credited screen appearance, Jack Benny's wife, Mary Livingstone.”
APRIL 12 THU (3 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) (1949, PHIL KARLSON) Marilyn Monroe sings and dances in her first featured role, as mom and chorus partner Adele Jergens (only 9 years Marilyn’s senior) alternately promotes and protects as a wealthy suitor looms. From the director of Walking Tall! “Directed by Phil Karlson and featuring Marilyn Monroe in one of her first top-billed roles, the film is blessed by a backstage bizarro-world plot that builds to a borderline surreal party sequence and a gently moralist twist. The film has the relentlessly forward motion of a confused but vivid dream.” MOONLIGHT IN HAVANA (1942, ANTHONY MANN) Baseball? Music? Thrush Jane Frazee? Owner’s daughter Marjorie Lord? Tough choices for Allan Jones, singing catcher suspended from the Blue Sox, who takes a niteclub gig in Havana to stay close during spring training. From the director of El Cid! MINSTREL MAN (1944, JOSEPH H. LEWIS) Blackface performer Dixie Boy Johnson (real-life vaude star Benny Fields) makes it to Broadway, only to have his wife die in childbirth, but returns for his grown-up daughter’s big break. Oscar nominations, Score and Song. With John Raitt in his first featured movie role. From the director of Gun Crazy! “From the most impoverished of the Poverty Row studios, which rarely turned out products of interest. APRIL 13 FRI (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) (1936) Warner Baxter decides to move up from 14th street to Broadway and from “pal” Alice Faye to classy dame Mona Barrie, but who’s there to bankroll his comeback? With Fats Waller pounding the ivories in the finale. “This was sweetie-pie Alice Faye's classiest musical to date.... good numbers and an appearance by the great Fats Waller!” “A well-written musical with plenty of variety talent!” – New York Times HOORAY FOR LOVE (1935, WALTER LANG) For love of Ann Sothern and conned by her dad, Gene Raymond mortgages everything to put on that show. With finale featuring dual legends Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Fats Waller. “If Ann Sothern is the object of your affection, than hooray, indeed! The duet between Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and ivory-tickler Fats Waller makes this time capsule worth your dime.” APRIL 14 SAT (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) (1951, LASZLO KARDOS) Korean War vet Mickey Rooney tries to resume jazz drummer career despite gambling czar James Craig and star wannabe Sally Forrest. Noirish mystery, with jazz greats Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, Earl Hines, et al. Oscar nomination, Best Song. “Rooney gives a sincere, energetic performance. (1946, ANTHONY MANN) Niteclub thrush Frances Langford helps moneybags flyboy Russell Wade avoid the shore patrol, then becomes his crew’s unwitting good luck charm during Pacific Theater missions. With femme-fatale-to-be Jane Greer (Out of the Past). APRIL 15 SUN (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) VITAPHONE VARIETIES, 1926-1930 Another great program of long-unseen Vitaphone shorts restored by the UCLA Film Archive, featuring an eclectic assortment of Broadway, night club and vaudeville stars, including singing group “The Revelers,” eccentric dancer Jimmy Clemons, comedy team Jans & Whelan, Earl Burnett & His Biltmore Hotel Orchestra, comedian (later character actor) J.C. Flippen and the bizarre comedy duo Shaw & Lee, hands-down audience favorite of the 2004 restorations. Screenings introduced by Ron Hutchinson of The Vitaphone Project. SONG OF LOVE (1929) Father-Mother-Son vaudeville team break up when Mom (legendary Belle Baker, in her only movie appearance) decides to retire for son Ralph Graves’ sake — and that’s when flirtatious Mazie (Eve Arden in her debut, billed as Eunice Quedens, her real name) moves in. Once thought lost, but rediscovered in 2001. “In Song of Love Belle Baker sings better than Sophie Tucker. On film, she's a better comedian than Fanny Brice.
She's one of those talents who made one or two movies, then went to England, came back and was totally forgotten.
It's a great film.” APRIL 16 MON (3 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) MISTER BIG (1943) High School principal Florence Bates wants to put on Antigone, but students Donald O’Connor, Gloria Jean, and Peggy Ryan want a musical — guess who wins. When O’Connor soared to stardom, an added $50,000 upped this from a B to an A. “All told, for a pleasant Session, Mister Big is right out of the apothecary's mortar and pestle for these heavy days.” THE MERRY MONAHANS (1944) Turn-of-the-century vaudevillian Dad Jack Oakie keeps getting thwarted from marrying his true love, siblings Donald O’Connor and Peggy Ryan sing and dance, while O’Connor chases Ann Blyth — in between 20 song/dance numbers! Oscar nomination, Musical Score. “If Jackie Oakie, Donald O’Connor and leggy Peggy Ryan were in your family, you’d probably be considered (1942) Singing prodigy Gloria Jean rebels at her aunt’s slave-driving and heads for the hills — in this case Connecticut. Dickensian dilemmas, high school heartbreak, hep dialogue, and Donald O’Connor & Peggy Ryan, Universal’s answer to Mickey & Judy. “Donald O’Connor, Peggy Ryan, dominating mothers, singing ingenues and plenty of the old razzle-dazzle!” APRIL 17 TUE (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) PIGSKIN PARADE (1936, DAVID BUTLER) Invited by mistake to play mighty Yale, tiny Texas State’s husband-and-wife coaching team Jack Haley and Patsy Kelly recruit melon-flinging hayseed Stuart Erwin, with musical support from the zany Yacht Club Boys and Judy Garland, in her feature debut. “This entertaining college musical is notable for the first feature film appearance of Judy Garland, who steals the show. “Entertaining!” – Leonard Maltin. (1936) Suddenly an orphan, singing and dancing 9-year-old Irish immigrant Jane Withers is befriended by Russian immigrant Rita Cansino (soon-to-be Hayworth), maid Jane Darwell, and wimpy heir Pinky (“The Object of My Affection”) Tomlin. “Singing and prancing Jane Withers is an irresistible life force in the title role! Rita Casino, APRIL 18 WED (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) ATHENA (1954, RICHARD THORPE) Bodybuilding, health food, yoga — hey, this is the 50s! — as singer Vic Damone and stuffy lawyer Edmund Purdom react to eccentric grandpa Louis Calhern and his equally far-out (but cute) daughters, Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds. Songs by Meet Me in St. Louis’s Martin and Blane. “Jane Powell and Li’l Debbie Reynolds do look just as cute as buttons here!” – Time Out New York SWEET AND LOW-DOWN (1944, ARCHIE MAYO) Trombonist James Cardwell gets a shot at Benny Goodman’s band, then gets too big for his britches. With Dickie Moore as an obnoxious military school cadet, Linda Darnell in a rare nice girl role, and the King of Swing himself. Oscar nomination, Best Song. 
APRIL 19 THU (3 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION) (1944) “It’s a super celebration with the swing stars of the nation!” Kansas actress wannabe Ann Miller becomes a one-woman wrecking crew in Hollywood — in between numbers by the Pied Pipers, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington’s Band. (1944) “THE KHAKI-GO-WAACY MUSICAL!” Enlisted Broadway producer Larry Parks (two years before his Jolson) puts on an army show, with cast including Ann Miller, Jack Gilford, Joe Besser, and The Condos Brothers. Choreographed by Stanley Donen. (1944) The Navy needs a new cruiser, so bandleader Kay Kyser and his girl singer/dancer Ann Miller hit the war bond rally circuit. Songs by Sammy Cahn & Jule Styne, with Nicholas Brother Harold (sans sibling Fayard) stopping the show as “Mr. Beebe.” “Starring Ann Miller and 'Kollege of Musical Knowledge' bandleader Kay Kyser, it briskly builds to a show-stopping finale performed by one half of legendary movie-dance team the Nicholas Brothers!” |
RISE AND SHINE 
SWEATER GIRL
STRICTLY IN THE GROOVE 
MOONLIGHT AND PRETZELS
BUCK PRIVATES
HIT THE HAY 
CRAZY HOUSE
LADIES OF THE CHORUS 
KING OF BURLESQUE
THE STRIP
THE BAMBOO BLONDE
HEY, ROOKIE