d Henry King. w Kathryn Scola, Lamar Trotti, Richard Sherman. ph Peverell Marley. m/ly Irving Berlin. 20th Century-Fox. 105 min.
Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Ethel Merman, Jack Haley, Jean Hersholt, Helen Westley, John Carradine, Paul Hurst, Ruth Terry, Wally Vernon, Douglas Fowley, Chick Chandler, Eddie Collins.
This film was a tremendous box office hit, and it certainly merits a high position on any serious list of Hollywood's most entertaining musicals. Over a year in production, and costing two million dollars, it features nearly 30 Irving Berlin songs.
Alice Faye was our guest at the Stanford Theatre on October 10, 1992. She watched this movie with our audience, actually singing (softly) along with Ethel Merman. Our audience must resist this temptation!
Songs: Now It Can Be Told, I'm Marching Along with Time, My Walking Stick, Alexander's Ragtime Band, Ragtime Violin, That International Rag, Everybody's Doing It Now, This Is the Life, When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam, For Your Country and My Country, I Can Always Find a Little Sunshine at the YMCA, Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning, We're on Our Way to France, Say It with Music, A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody, Blue Skies, Pack Up Your Sins and Go to the Devil, What'll I Do?, Remember, Everybody Step, All Alone, Gypsy in Me, Easter Parade, Heat Wave
first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 3, 1938; last played Feb 2011
d Walter Lang. w Robert Ellis & Helen Logan. ph Leon Shamroy. m/ly Mack Gordon & Harry Revel. 20th Century-Fox. 95 min.
Alice Faye, Betty Grable, John Payne, Jack Oakie, Allen Jenkins, Esther Ralston, The Nicholas Brothers, John Loder, Elisha Cook, Jr.
Songs: "You Say the Sweetest Things, Baby"; "America, I Love You"; "Goodbye, Broadway, Hello, France"; "K-K-K-Katy"; "Moonlight Bay"; "Honeysuckle Rose"; "The Sheik of Araby"
This snappy Fox musical about a couple of down-and-out songwriters features Alice Faye and Betty Grable as two sisters who introduce some of their songs. Alice Faye sings two of her all-time best numbers, You Say the Sweetest Things, Baby and America, I Love You, and the Nicholas Brothers do a sensational tap dance number to The Sheik of Araby.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Dec 15, 1940; last played July 2008
d Walter Lang. w Vincent Lawrence, Brown Holmes. ph Peverell Marley, Leon Shamroy. m/ly Leo Robin, Ralph Rainger. 20th Century-Fox. 92 min.
Betty Grable, Don Ameche, Robert Cummings, Carole Landis, Charlotte Greenwood, Jack Haley, Cobina Wright, Jr, Robert Greig.
Two sisters look for rich husbands in Miami. The basic plot may be silly, but this is one of those exuberant Technicolor Fox musicals, with Betty Grable at the peak of her popularity, that helped America through WWII. Interesting location photography in Cypress Gardens.
first played at the Stanford Theatre July 24, 1941; last played Oct 2005
d Irving Cummings. w Karl Tunberg, Darrell Ware. ph Ray Rennahan, Leon Shamroy. m/ly Harry Warren, Mack Gordon. 20th Century-Fox. 94 min.
Betty Grable, Don Ameche, Carmen Miranda, Charlotte Greenwood, J. Carrol Naish, Henry Stephenson, Katharine Aldridge, Leonid Kinskey, Chris-Pin Martin, Robert Conway, Gregory Gaye, Bobby Stone, the Nicholas Brothers.
Betty Grable finds love in South America and happily ends a long family feud. Great fun!
Grable had appeared in more than 30 movies, but this was her big break, and by 1943 she was Hollywood's number one box office star. This very popular film also introduced Carmen Miranda, and started a trend of "South of the Border" musicals.
Songs: Two Dreams Met, Down Argentine Way, Nenita, and Sing to Your Señorita
first played at the Stanford Theatre Nov 6, 1940; last played Nov 2005
d H. Bruce Humberstone. w Robert Ellis, Helen Logan. ph Edward Cronjager. m/ly Mack Gordon, Harry Warren. 20th Century-Fox. 86 min.
Sonja Henie, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, John Payne, Milton Berle, Lynn Bari, Joan Davis, the Nicholas Brothers, Dorothy Dandridge.
Sonja Henie, an Olympic ice skating champion, was a popular star of the forties. Here she plays a war refugee who ends up at the famous Idaho resort with Glenn Miller' band.
Best of all is the famous 'Chatanooga Choo Choo' number, sung and danced by the Nicholas Brothers and Dorothy Dandridge.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 14, 1941; last played Aug 2019
d Archie Mayo. w Karl Tunberg, Darrell Ware, from an original story by James Prindle. ph Lucien Ballard. 20th Century-Fox. 97 min.
George Montgomery, Ann Rutherford, Glenn Miller and his Band, Lynn Bari, Carole Landis, Cesar Romero, Virginia Gilmore, Mary Beth Hughes, Nicholas Brothers, Tamara Geva, Frank Orth, Tex Beneke.
A naive young woman marries a trumpet player and tries to adjust to life on the road as an orchestra wife. This was Glenn Miller's second and final film.
Songs include Moonlight Serenade, Chattanooga Choo-Choo, and I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Oct 8, 1942; last played Aug 2019