"In the Navy" (1941)

Our next movie starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello is 1941's "In the Navy" from Universal Pictures!

This film followed hot on the heels of "Buck Privates" as Universal wanted another service comedy with the boys as soon as possible. As I understand it, "Hold That Ghost" was put in hold and "In the Navy" was filmed and released quickly.

The unusual opening credits make the connection quite clear!

Bud and Lou are in top form with many very funny routines, so this is a fun movie, although I feel it doesn't zip along as well as "Buck Privates," but few do!

This movie is unusual for A & C as it's really the only one to co-star them with a real actual movie star, in the person of Dick Powell, who's billed above the title with them!

I talk about Dick Powell all the time and about his transition from romantic crooner to hard-boiled tough guy and "In the Navy" is late in the crooner period. Is it a coincidence that Powell's character is a populaur crooner who's tired of being a crooner? Hmmm...

This was probably not the type of role that Dick was looking for in 1941, but he was a pro and does a good job as always.

Claire Dodd plays the love interest and she does a good job with an oddly written part.

It's interesting to see Dick Foran in a similar supporting role as he had in the earlier "Shipmates Forever from Warner Brothers in 1935, a movie that also starred Dick Powell. 

Dick Foran was later the male lead in a couple of A & C movies.

The Condos Brothers dance duo show some fancy steps, but the obnoxious Universal kid comedy team of Butch & Buddy also show up, not helping the proceedings!

The Andrews Sisters return to sing some numbers and they're good while singing, but can't act at all, although Patti has an expanded role as Lou's love interest.

Onto the  songs, which were again supplied by Don Raye, but with Gene DePaul this time.

Dick Powell sings the ballad "Starlight, Starbright" in the movie, but wasn't making records at that time, so we'll hear Dick Jurgens and his Orchestra with vocalist Harry Cool on Okeh records:

I always enjoy the Dick Jurgens band and although I miss star vocalist Eddy Howard, Harry Cool is pretty good too!

The Andrews Sisters get another snappy number, the not-overly-PC "Gimme Some Skin, My Friend," which they recorded for Decca:

That's the sort of song that I don't think was meant to be offensive, and I don't think it really is, but times were different then.

The Decca Band with The King's Men return with the (more or less) title song:

So, some good stuff!

Christmas Countdown - Day 14 - "Roses in December" (1937)

Day 14 of our Christmas Countdown brings us another seasonal song from 1937, "Roses in December" from the RKO picture "The Life of the Party" starring Gene Raymond and Harriet Hilliard along with a very RKO cast!

As we know, in addition to her movies, Harriet was the vocalist with the band of her husband, Ozzie Nelson.

As such, she recorded the song with Ozzie for Bluebird:

Harriet's vocals seem very distinctive to me. She sings like she talks or something, so you know it's her!

Another version of "Roses in December" was recorded by Bunny Berigan on Victor with vocalist Ruth Bradley:

Bunny's trumpet always delivers the goods!

For some reason, Dick Powell also recorded the song on Decca:

I don't think Dick recorded very many songs from movies in which he didn't star!

For one more version of "Roses in December," let's go across the pond to London's Piccadilly Hotel with Maurice Winnick and his Sweet Music on British Decca:

The vocalist is Vera Lynn, very early in her long career, but already sounding great!

Christmas Countdown - Day 13 - "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" (1937)

For Day 13 of our countdown of Holiday and Seasonal songs, we encounter the most well-known of all the songs I'll be featuring: Irving Berlin's "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" from 1937!

The song is from the 20th Century Fox movie "On the Avenue" and is sung in the movie by Dick Powell and Alice Faye. 

Neither star made a ton of records, so we're fortunate that both recorded the song commercially. Let's hear their records!

Dick Powell is top-billed, as he was the bigger star in 1937, so here he is on Decca Records:

Alice Faye was still on the rise as a movie star and she's actually third-billed (below the title with the Ritz Brothers!) beneath Dick and the lovely Madeleine Carroll, but she gets my vote in a tight race!

Here's Alice on Brunswick:

"I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" got a lot of action at the time, as befitting a song from a great songwriter from a major movie release, so a bunch of bands recorded it. Let's hear some!

Also on Brunswick is Red Norvo's version with Mildred Bailey:

Within seconds of dropping the needle, you hear Red's xylophone and Mildred's singing and there's not doubt who this record is by!

Ray Noble recorded the song for Victor with vocalist Howard Barrie:

That version has been a staple of my big band seasonal playlist for years, as I've had the 78 forever!

The Victor subsidiary, Bluebird Records, had Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra record the song with vocalist Bobby Goday:

I say it all the time, but the rippling rhythm fascinates me!

Back to Decca with Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra and Kenny Sargent:

Kenny and the Casa Loma band make another of the memorable combinations of the era!

Despite it's popularity and status as a standard, I think "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" is underrated as a seasonal song, especially considering it even mentions December in the lyrics!

Which brings us to the most famous recording of the song, the no-lyrics-involved hit Les Brown recording of Skip Martin's great arrangement on Columbia:

That's such a brilliant and iconic record that it's hard to believe it sat in the vault for a couple of years before Columbia finally released it in late 1948!

"Lonely Lane" (1933)

Leaving the busy Old Ox Road, we run across a "Lonely Lane" in the form of this song from the Warner Brothers picture "College Coach" from 1933!

It's not specifically a college song, but Dick Powell croons the tune as a college football player in the movie.

Dick did get a chance to record the tune for Brunswick Records:

Solid job as always from Mr. Powell!

What's curious to me is that the song seems to have gotten more recordings by British artists at the time. Fair enough, but the movie was re-titled "Football Coach" for England!

Isn't that sort of backwards? Wouldn't British audiences expect a story about soccer?

Although he's featured on the British sheet music, I don't think Ambrose recorded the song.

British bandleader Roy Fox did, however, so here's his band with vocalist Peggy Dell on British Decca:

Very good and I kinda like Peggy Dell! I wonder if she's still hanging around the Kit Kat Restaurant?

"I'll String Along with You" (1934) - Part 2!

Dick Powell did record his own version of “I’ll String Along with You” for Brunswick Records, which was issued on the British Decca label and presumably on Brunswick in the U.S. although I’ve only seen the British issue.

In any event, Dick is backed by Ted Fio Rito’s band on the recording with a different arrangement from the dance band version Ted cut with Muzzy Marcellino as vocalist.

Here it is:

 

Dick Powell was great!

"I'll String Along with You" (1934)

We jump back to 1934 with this song from the Warner Brothers pictures “20 Million Sweethearts” starring Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers.

Dick and Ginger make a very charming couple and I dig the radio studio setting of most of the movie.

It seems like Dick sings “I’ll String Along with You” about a dozen times in the movie, but it’s a great song from the prolific team of Al Dubin & Harry Warren.

Ted Fio Rito appeared with his band in the movie, and he had a big hit with this studio recording on Brunswick Records featuring vocalist Muzzy Marcellino:

Such a great mid-1930s sound!

Bonus 78s - Varsity Show!

Hey, let's listen to some 78s of the songs from 1937's Warner Bothers feature "Varsity Show!"

As I mentioned last time, "Varsity Show" has about 40 minutes missing from the original release, so not all of the songs are in the surviving print as they originally presented, but Decca Records recorded them all.

Leading man Dick Powell was the only featured cast member to have a recording contract at the time and he recorded four of the Johnny Mercer/Richard Whiting songs for Decca with backing from Lou Forbes.

Here's the most popular song from the movie, "Have You Got Any Castles, Baby?":

I'm guessing that Dick Powell sang that in the movie, but as it stands, we only hear it in a reprise from Priscilla Lane then Buck & Bubbles in the finale.

The flipside is "Moonlight on the Campus," which I don't think appears in the current print:

We do see Dick Powell sing "You've Got Something There" as a duet with Rosemary Lane, but he cut it solo for Decca:

The flipside of that record is "Love is on the Air Tonight," which is another song that is only in the finale:

I'm very partial to songs like that which are rich in period flavor. It's about radio (as opposed to TV) and namedrops Bing Crosby and Rudy Vallee (and Jell-O!), which is really fun!

Fred Waring was on his self-imposed hiatus from recording in 1937 - he felt that records would compete with his radio and personal appearances - so other artists needed to fill the gap to record the other songs from "Varsity Show."

Another Mercer/Whiting song is "On With the Dance," which is first sung by Rosemary Lane in the movie, then it pops up in the finale. Decca had Will Osborne and his Orchestra record it:

Interesting that the label says the vocal is by Dorothy Rogers and chorus, but it's really more of a duet between Dorothy and Will Osborne (with chorus)!

Decca also released an unusual version of "On With the Dance" by stringed instrument virtuoso Roy Smeck and his Serenaders with vocalist Donald King:

It's different but I like it!

Frances Langford channels her inner Roy Smeck!

The song "Little Fraternity Pin" (written by Roy Ringwald and Paul Gibbons) is listed in the opening credits, but does not appear in the shortened version of "Varsity Show." Decca had Frances Langford recorded this lovely version with The Foursome and backing from Phil Ohman:

The Foursome was led by future Spike Jones cohort Del Porter and we had previously head them singing "Jingle Bells" with Dick Powell!

Pricilla Lane sings "I'm Dependable" with Fred Waring (the sing was co-written by Fred's brother Tom) in the movie and Decca had Ben Pollack and his band record it with vocalist Frances Hunt:

Drummer/leader Ben Pollack always had solid bands!

The swingiest number from "Varsity Show" was "Old King Cole" by Johnny Mercer and Richard Whiting and it was sung twice(!) by Johnny "Scat" Davis. Johnny wasn't making records at that time, so Decca assigned it to pianist Edgar Hayes and his band:

Pretty snappy! I believe the uncredited vocal is by trombonist Clyde Bernhardt.

And to show that Decca Records really went to town, here's four songs from "Varsity Show" on a two-sided record from pianist Franke Carle (moonlighting from Horace Heidt):

So, lots of 1930s fun in some different styles!

Thanks, Decca!

Movie Time: "Varsity Show" (1937)

Another movie of the older variety I just watched is "Varsity Show" from Warner Brothers in 1937.

I'm kinda fascinated by the college musical genre that was popular during the 1930s, things like "College Humor" (1933), "Pigskin Parade" (1936), "College Swing" (1938), etc.

"Varsity Show" is another in that line and it's enjoyable if you like that sort of thing, but it has a few things of interest to separate it from the pack a bit.

The star is Dick Powell, who plays an alumnus of the fictional Winfield College who's now a Broadway producer and is called upon current students to help them with the... Varsity Show!

Dick Powell was about 32 when the movie was filmed and he was youthful looking, but I think it was smart not to cast him as a current college student, which would have been the case just a couple of years earlier.

He's totally convincing in this movie and I can't imagine that anyone in 1937 would have thought that he'd be a hard-boiled, film noir type actor within a decade!

Powell's sidekick in "Varsity Show" is Ted Healy, who's best (only?) remembered these days as the star comedian to whom the Three Stooges were the stooges. He seems to be largely dismissed as a footnote of entertainment history, but was actually a talented comedian who could toss off a cynical one liner with the best of them. 

Second-billed to Dick Powell, though, was bandleader Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians. Waring plays a music professor at the college and is pretty good for a non-actor, as those things go.

Members of the Pennsylvanians aggregation appear as students at the college and that's where things really get interesting...

Rosemary (above right) and Priscilla Lane had been featured singers with Fred Waring and came to Hollywood to make this movie. They have featured parts and do quite well, which led to each appearing in several subsequent movies for Warner Brothers, including the "Four Daughters" series with older sister Lola Lane and not-actual-sister Gale Page.

Of all the main players, Priscilla seems the most age-appropriate to play a college student and she was about 21-22 at the time. She's adorable!

Rosemary was a little older, so she got to be Dick Powell's romantic interest!

The other member of the Pennsylvanians to get a contract from Warner Brothers was Johnny "Scat" Davis, who's kind of a bizarre 1930s caricature of a singing, trumpet-playing swing musician. You can see him as the rather square Fred Waring's concession to the swing movement. Everything about Davis is exaggerated but he's sure enthusiastic!

Fred Waring always seemed to have a lot of siblings in his group, including his own brother Tom, and in additional to the Lane Sisters, he also featured the McFarland Twins who were both saxophone players.

They both appear in "Varsity Show," but only George (and not Arthur) is credited for some reason. They have the look of 1930s college students!

The McFarlands later had their own band, and the idea of identical twin bandleaders is fun!

A longtime member of the Fred Waring band was drummer Poley McClintock, who also supplied a wacky Popeye-type voice. He was too old in 1937 to be a college student, so they explained it away by Dick Powell's character remarking that Poley was junior when he (Powell) was a freshman. Apparently Poley could never pass Latin!

Left to right: Carole Landis, Sterling Holloway, Priscilla Lane, Lee Dixon, Rosemary Lane, Dick Powell, Mabel Todd, Ted Healy.

The other main students are played by non-Waring actors Sterling Holloway, Mabel Todd and Lee Dixon, who vaguely seem college-age.

A then 18 year old Carole Landis also pops up, dancing with Holloway (of all people!) in the finale.

The outstanding dance team Buck & Bubbles appear in the stereotypical role of janitors, but they get to show off their skills a couple of times. John Bubbles in particular is brilliant!

So, I think the cast is interesting, but that may not even be the most interesting thing about the movie.

The tantalizing thing is that "Varsity Show" was originally about 120 minutes when released in 1937. Then it was re-released in the 1940s, but cut by about 40 minutes. But no one knows what happened to those 40 minutes and the only known print available is a mere 80 minutes!

So, what was cut? I'm guessing a lot of musical numbers, as some songs that were listed in the credits do not appear in this print and others seem to be reprised during the finale, but had probably been featured earlier in the film.

What makes me wonder the most, though, is why (as mentioned) George McFarland is credited (as "Hap") and Arthur is not. Was there a cut scene in which George had more dialogue or something and someone actually called him Hap?

Note: this George McFarland is definitely not George "Spanky" McFarland of "Our Gang" fame, so don't worry that somehow "Varsity Show" featured a lost Spanky appearance!

Does anyone care enough about "Varsity Show" these days to track down and release a complete print? We can only hope!

What's left is fun, though, if you like that sort of thing or any of the featured players.

The finale was staged by Busby Berkeley and includes a fun salute to other actual colleges:

Of course, the spectacle could never fit on an actual theater stage, but that's also part of the fun!

1945: Movies

You know I'm not going to leave 1945 quickly, so we're going to look at some non-holiday movies I like from that year.

It was a great year for movies and there are a number of classics I think are great, such as "Spellbound," "Mildred Pierce," "The Lost Weekend," etc., but I thought I'd focus on a bunch that are a bit more off-the-beaten-path.

So, here a ten somewhat wacky choices...

First off we have an entry from the Roy Rogers series of westerns from Republic Pictures:

His movies are always enjoyable, but this one is extra fun as it has Roy playing a version of himself as a western star at Republic Pictures! And he enlists the help of his fellow Republic cowboy stars:

Plus, we have Gabby Hayes, Dale Evans, Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers, and with billing second only to Roy, Trigger!

Next up is Dick Powell, putting his new hard-boiled persona to good use:

He really delivered the goods:

I love Abbott and Costello and they were riding high in 1945 with three releases, including this one:

Lots of good 1940s Universal Pictures fun! Lou even gets a love interest in Peggy Ryan - and gets in a quip about Peggy's frequent co-star Donald O'Connor! 

And a blast to see Lon Chaney, Jr. with the boys a couple of years before "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein!"

The last time that Chaney had played Larry Talbot (AKA The Wofman) before "A & C Meet Frankenstein" was in this 1945 release:

Love seeing all those monsters together! And Larry Talbot has a mustache:

Also, the "hunchback," as played by Jane Adams is otherwise lovely:

This next one is based on the great radio show created by Carlton E. Morse:

Always interesting to see how the movie studios adapted popular radio shows:

Speaking of radio shows, this next one is a ton of fun for fans of master comedian Fred Allen:

Really funny and great to see Fred interact with his "nemesis" Jack Benny:

We also get Jerry Colonna, Walter Tetley, Minerva Pious ("Mrs. Nussbaum" from Allen's Alley, with Fred below) and a bunch of others:

This next one features the Hoosier Hot Shots and Spade Cooley along with the Three Stooges.

Love to see the Hot Shots in action!

Interesting in that the Stooges don't really act as a team here (at least in their traditional sense) and Moe has a bigger part and a regular haircut!

Johnny Weissmuller had brought Tarzan over to RKO studios from MGM a couple of years before and this was the third entry in that new series:

This was the first RKO release in which they stopped trying to explain why Jane wasn't around and recast Brenda Joyce in the role (Maureen O'Sullivan had stayed at MGM):

Besides B-Westerns with all those stars, Republic turned out a lot of B-Pictures in other genres (like "Smuggled Cargo") such as this one:

Interesting to note that Cy Kendall, the guy with the headshot on the left, played the Ghost of Christmas Present on Ronald Colman's Decca recording of "A Christmas Carol!"

I think Kane Richmond is awesome, perhaps the best serial star ever, so it's always good to see him:

Last (and maybe least?) is this feature from RKO starring their road company thrown-together-to-compete-with Abbott and Costello team of Wally Brown and Alan Carney:

Always great to see Bela Lugosi in a sort-of mainstream picture at a sort-of big studio!

Wally Brown and Alan Carney were separately under contract to RKO when someone decided to team them à la Abbott and Costello, with Brown as the fast-talking Abbott-type and Carney as the dimwitted Costello-type.

By no means are they any competition for Bud and Lou, but I think they're pretty funny and their movies are entertaining in a 1940s RKO kind of way!

I think RKO, Universal, Columbia and Republic were great at putting out unpretentious entertainment in the mid-1940s.

All of these studios put out solid B-Westerns and the latter three (not RKO) also produced serials.

Republic made the best serials and I think this one was their best from 1945:

This serial has a great cast and George J. Lewis steals it as the sophisticated "Moonlight Sonata" playing villain:

I feel that at this time Republic had relatively weak leads (Kane Richmond was over at Columbia for serials that year) and the FBI agent here played by the bland Marten Lamont has a British accent!

Barry MacKay could have easily played this part if he stayed with Republic and would have been much better as the unexplained-British-accent guy!

And before we leave the theater, this offering from Tex AVery is my favorite cartoon from 1945:

MGM had very unappealing posters!

Lots of fun to be had at the local movie palace in 1945!