"Pardon My Sarong" (1942)

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were back at their home studio of Universal for their next movie, "Pardon My Sarong" from 1942!

This movie puts the boys front and center, making it more like "Hold That Ghost" than the service comedies or "Ride 'Em Cowboy" or "Rio Rita."

A couple of things, though, strike me as you consider these films chronologically.

The first is that Lou really takes over as the dominant comedy force. He still interacts with Bud a lot, but he gets a ton of solo bits and actually drives the plot. It's rare for Bud to get to do anything without Lou.

The other thing is that this is the first time that Abbott seems really nasty to Costello. Up to now, they've been buddies with Bud always taking advantage of Lou, but it was still friendly.

Interestingly, female lead Virginia Bruce calls out Abbott a couple of times, which is rare for an A & C film, so I guess it was all intentional on the part of the filmmakers.

Virginia Bruce is quite lovely and talented and leading man Robert Paige is also very good, but their roles here are pretty perfunctory. They argue a lot, but even Costello knows they'll get married, so no spoiler there!

The movie is quite episodic, but moves along pretty well.

The boys get a few scenes with William Demarest at the beginning and he's extremely funny with them. Abbott even gets a bit with him without Costello and he's quite good!

The villain of the piece is Lionel Atwill, who's always a blast in this type of role. He's kind of in on the joke with us or something.

As for the songs, there are a couple of faux tropical ones from Don Raye and Gene DePaul, "Lovely Luana" and "Vingo Jingo," which are well-staged in the film.

The gorgeous Nan Wynn, former band singer with Hal Kemp, does very well.

I'm kind of surprised that none of the record labels at the time had a recording of either song, as movie sings were always being pushed by the music publishers.

And there must be sheet music for the songs, as they had to have been published, but I can't find an example.

The beginning of the film has a long sequence in a night club which features the (Four) Ink Spots singing a couple of songs, but those were already in their repertoire and seemingly shoehorned into the movie.

But, they're good, so let's hear them with "Do I Worry?" on Decca:

So typical of their hits, following the "If I Didn't Care" formula, but it works.

They display some versatility with "Shout, Brother, Shout":

In the movie, "Shout, Brother, Shout" also features a dynamite dance routine by Tip, Tap & Toe!

I will say that the presentation of the musical acts here is stereotypical, but the talent shines through and it's good to have theses acts preserved.

And since we're listening to old Decca records and we don't have any strictly from "Pardon My Sarong," let's take this opportunity to hear Benny Carter and his Orchestra with "Serenade to a Sarong":

Sounds good!

Next: No music!

"Rio Rita" (1942)

The next film from the team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello is "Rio Rita" from 1942, but it was released by MGM, rather than the usual Universal!

Apparently the success of the boys' movies caught the attention of mega-studio MGM and since Bud and Lou had a clause in their contract with Universal that they could make a picture a year for another studio, they wound up making three at MGM over the next few years

Fair enough, but the only problem is that a glossy studio like MGM had  no idea what to do with a wacky comedy team.

They went the MGM-esque route of having Bud and Lou provide comedy relief in a relatively straight musical, the result of which was this remake (with an updated WWII theme) of "Rio Rita," which had earlier been filmed by RKO in 1929 after a successful stage run.

That 1929 movie was the first to feature the team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, so maybe MGM thought if it worked for one wacky comedy team, why not another?

In any event, although it's not  really a bad movie, it just doesn't gel and is missing the fast-paced zip of the Universal movies and is not well-regarded by A & C fans or MGM musical fans!

There are quite a few songs in the movie, carried over from the original show, but they're kind of light operatic, which is a total contrast from Universal's brassy Don Raye boogie woogie songs.

That being said, new MGM Kathryn Grayson is very lovely and a fine singer. 

Leading man John  Carroll is pretty good, but he didn't quite have that extra je ne sais quoi needed to break through to stardom.

The sheet music at the top (which proves my "lovely" point) is British and the only tie-in I can find with the movie.

I think the only song to get a contemporary recording was the title song, which Ted Fio Rito recorded for Decca:

The funny thing is that Ted had already been using the song as his band's theme song (I guess because it sounds like his name), but I think this was the only time he recorded it, so I appreciate it as a theme song buff!

Oh, and interesting that we hear band vocalist Bob Carroll twice in a row, but with two different bands!

Next: Back in form at home!

"Ride 'Em Cowboy" (1942)

As we continue with the films of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, we hit "Ride 'Em Cowboy," their first release of 1942 for Universal Pictures!

This movie was apparently in production before "Keep 'Em Flying" but the latter movie was rush-released due to a tie-in with the War Department's "Keep 'Em Flying Week."

Whatever the case, this is their second film in a row to feature Dick Foran as the romantic lead as well as with "'Em" as part of the title!

Dick Foran plays a more sympathetic role than usual, as he's not just a brash fellow steamrolling everybody in sight! This is actually a bit of a throwback to the singing cowboy series of  westerns he had made for Warner Brothers in the 1930s.

His love interest is the lovely Universal starlet Ann Gwynne, who is the grandmother of modern-day movie star Chris Pine (Chris's dad, TV actor Robert Pine, is married to Ann's daughter Gwynne Gilford)!

Since this film has a western setting, someone had the great idea to include the studio's resident cowboy star, Johnny Mack Brown. Johnny's character is called "Alabam'" and as we know, Johnny had been an All-American at Alabama prior to his film career!

I think "Ride 'Em Cowboy" is a fun movie, but it's pretty formulaic, with Bud and Lou basically providing the comedy relief again rather than carrying the story. But, oh, they are funny!

Don Raye and Gene DePaul are back to provide the songs and the hit from the movie is a real gem - "I'll Remember April" (co-written with Pat Johnston), probably the best song to be introduced in an A & C movie!

Dick Foran sings the song in the movie, but since it's in a standalone scene, it often got cut a lot during TV broadcasts, just like "Pig Foot Pete" from "Keep 'Em Flying" did.

I don't know if Dick Foran made any records at all, but "I'll Remember April" has been recorded many times over the years.

But from back in the day, we have this nice version on Bluebird by Charlie Barnet featuring vocalist Bob Carroll:

Bob Carroll was a really good singer and this shows the swinging Barnet band could play a ballad! 

Another swinging bandleader, Woody Herman, sang it with his band on Decca:

And Martha Tilton sang it on an early release from the new Capitol Records with Gordon Jenkins:

Let's sneak in one more (reasonably contemporary) version from a couple of years later, with alto man Johnny Bothwell and this instrumental version from 1945 on Signature Records:

Such a great song!

There are a bunch of other songs in the movie, with The Merry Macs and (for some reason) Ella Fitzgerald(!) 

I don't think any of the songs were commercially recorded at the time, although there was a promo disc of two songs by The Merry Macs (I don't have access to the audio):

I kind of surprised that The Merry Macs didn't record "Wake Up, Jacob" and "Beside the Rio Tonto" for Decca!

For some reason, Louis Jordan recorded "Wake Up, Jacob" for Decca in 1954:

Don't know what's up with that, but I always enjoy Louis and his Tympany Five!

Since Ella Fitzgerald was in the movie incongruously anyway, I guess they figured they'd have her sing her dynamite specialty, "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," which she had first recorded with Chick Webb's band in 1938!

Let's hear that Decca record:

Again, always glad to hear it!

Next up: an interloping studio!

"Keep 'Em Flying" (1941)

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello return with their fourth release of 1941 (and their third service comedy), "Keep 'Em Flying" from Universal Pictures!

This one follows the "Buck Privates" blueprint, but ratchets up the propaganda even more, as by November of 1941 it probably seemed inevitable that the U.S. would enter WWII, but who would have expected that the Pearl Harbor bombing would happen with a week or two?

In any event, Dick Foran, who had appeared in a supporting role in "In the Navy," plays the male lead. He's the cocky recruit who wants to do things his own way. But will he see the error of his ways and redeem himself by the end? If you've seen any other movie ever made, you'll know the answer!

The female lead is Carol Bruce, who made a couple of movies for Universal at the time. She was mainly a stage performer, but she later reemerged later as a character actress. I remember her from the TV series "WKRP in Cincinnati," which was on during the same time period I was watching A & C movies every weekend, and she was still striking!

As in "Hold that Ghost," the boys get a strong comedic female co-star, this time Martha Raye. And Martha plays twins, one for Bud and one for Lou!

The two Marthae(?) are basically a substitute for The Andrews Sisters but Martha has way better acting and comic chops than the Andrews ever did!

She has great chemistry with the boys, as did Joan Davis, but after this movie, however, they didn't get a "name" comedy co-star (male or female) again until Marjorie Main in 1947!

For the songs, Don Raye and Gene DePaul were back!

The big ballad is "The Boy with the Wistful Eyes," which is sung by Carol and the two Marthas as part of a charming production number in the tunnel of love.

Carol Bruce recorded it for Columbia:

Very nice!

Another version of the song was recorded for Bluebird by the great Earl Hines and his Orchestra with vocalists Madeline Greene and The Three Varieties:

That's the sort of record I just love! An underrated movie song performed by a great band!

And I really like Madeline Greene's singing!

The most noteworthy song from "Keep 'Em Flying" is "Pig Foot Pete," which was nominated for an Academy Award as best song, but it's officially listed as being from the movie "Hellzapoppin'" for some reason! The latter was a Universal movie from 1941 co-starring Martha Raye with a wacky comedy team, but that was Olsen & Johnson and it's a different move anyway!

Whatever the case, Martha (apparently as "Gloria," the brash twin teamed with Costello) sings "Pig Foot Pete" in "Keep 'Em Flying" in a dynamite performance, but it was often cut during TV broadcasts as it's in a standalone scene and stations were often shoe-horning the A & C movies into 90-minute slots.

Martha did record the song for Decca:

Martha Raye was known for her big mouth and wacky antics, but she was a talented singer and dancer. She's great performing "Pig Foot Pete" in the movie!

What's cool is that the pianist in the movie is Freddie Slack, the brilliant boogie woogie specialist who had been featured on Will Bradley and Ray McKinley's hit record of "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar," which was another Don Raye number, to which "Pig Foot Pete" is almost a sequel!

To make things even cooler, Freddie Slack cut "Pig Foot Pete" for Decca with Don Raye himself on the vocal:

The cool meter goes up even higher as that's Spike Jones on drums!

Adding to the song confusion is that Carol Bruce had recorded another song for "Keep 'Em Flying" that was cut from the final release!

This was "You Don't Know What Love Is," which made it onto some sheet music and was recorded by Carol as the flip of her Columbia record of "The Boy with the Wistful Eyes":

The would-be soundtrack recording also wound up on this promo item from Universal:

And the flipside of that was the song "Together," which was apparently sung by the Twin Martha Rayes:

Odd that Universal would promote the two songs cut from the film!

Carol Bruce did get to sing "You Don't Know What Love Is" in her next picture, which was "Behind the Eight Ball" starring the Ritz Brothers. Was it gong from Abbott & Costello to the Ritz Brothers that made her leave Hollywood and go back to the stage?

Carol did sing one more song in "Keep 'Em Flying," but it was an oldie, "I'm Gettin' Sentimental Over You," the famous Tommy Dorsey theme song.

She didn't record it commercially, but we got a nice piece of sheet music anyway!

Let's listen to the Dorsey Brothers with their first version of "I'm Gettin' Sentimental Over You," recorded for Brunswick in 1932 with vocalist Jean Bowes:

That's the stuff!

There was also a title song for "Keep 'Em Flying" written by Don Ray and Gene DePaul, which was sung in the film by Dick Foran and reprised by Carol Bruce, but I don't think it was commercially recorded.

And to me it sounds just like "You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith" from Buck Privates," but I guess that was the point!

Happy Groundhog Day!

Happy Groundhog Day!

In keeping with the situation, here's Tex Beneke and The (Glenn) Miller Orchestra with "The Woodchuck Song" from 1946 on RCA Victor:

I hear the little varmint did not see his shadow, so here's to an early Spring!