Hollywood Hotel

Warner Bros, 1937

Starring Dick Powell, Lola Lane, Rosemary Lane, and Ted Healy

Directed by Busby Berkeley

Music by Johnny Mercer; Lyrics by Richard A. Whiting

Back at Warners, Berkley was now choreographing and directing his films. Warners had cut back on the budgets when a few too many flopped, but this one had a pedigree beyond mere imitation. Hollywood Hotel was both a real hotel in Hollywood for the rich and famous (which was slightly past its prime in 1937), and a radio series where gossip columnist Louella Parsons would interview celebrities who would then perform condensed versions of the latest films. Since Dick Powell was a regular on the show, it made sense for him to appear in a film version. Parsons made her film debut here as well. How well does the film adapt a show made for a very different medium? Let's begin not in Hollywood, but with Benny Goodman and his orchestra as they cheer singer and saxophonist Ronnie Bowers and find out...

The Story: Bowers (Powell) just signed a ten-week contract with All-Star Pictures. His first assignment is to escort major screen star Mona Marshall (Rosemary Lane) to her latest premiere and out to the Orchid Room afterwards. Turns out he's not really escorting Mona, who threw a fit and refused to attend her premiere, but her double Virginia Stanton (Lola Lane). The real Mona figures it out and has Ronnie fired. 

Ronnie is reduced to working for a drive-in diner along with his newly-appointed manager Fuzzy Boyle (Healy). Director Walter Kelton hears him and hires him to dub Mona Marshall's usual screen partner Alex Dupre (Alan Mowbray). He's not thrilled about it, and is even less happy when called on to dub him on the Hollywood Hotel radio show. Fuzzy and Virginia finally find a way for him to be seen for the wonderful singer he is while on the air.

The Song and Dance: This is one of the better Warners musicals of the late 30's. It's too bad Healy, who died under shady circumstances less than a month before its premiere, didn't live to see his very funny performance as the photographer-turned-manager. I also like that the real-life Lane sisters look enough alike to fool people realistically, no illusion or lavish special effects needed. Lola is charming as the sensible Virginia, while Rosemary is a riot as spoiled, obnoxious, and ridiculously dramatic Mona Marshall. Not only do we get gorgeous sets and costumes depicting Hollywood during the 30's, we actually get scenes filmed in the real Hollywood. I also appreciate the relatively unique story for a Berkeley 30's musical. This one is less about putting on a show and more about who gets seen and who doesn't in Tinseltown.

The Numbers: We open with the movie's best-known song and major standard. Benny Goodman and his band sing "Hooray for Hollywood" while riding out to the airport in cars with boards claiming stars of the era could learn a thing or two from Ronnie. Virginia and Ronnie admit "I'm Like a Fish Out of Water" while splashing around outside of the movie premiere. Mona initially performs "Silhouetted In the Moonlight," which is eventually picked up by Goodman singers Frances Langford and Jerry Cooper. Benny Goodman and His Orchestra (including later orchestra leaders Harry James, Lionel Hampton, and Gene Krupa) perform "I've Got a Heartful of Music" and "Sing, Sing, Sing" at the club. 

"Let That Be a Lesson to You" is the sole large-scale chorus number, as Ronnie explains about his trouble in Tinseltown to everyone at the drive-in. Ronnie dubs Alex Dupre to sing "I've Hitched My Wagon to a Star" in Mona's big Civil War vehicle. The movie ends at the Orchid Room during the Hollywood Hotel broadcast with Ronnie insisting "Sing, You Son of a Gun" with the cast and both orchestra.

Trivia: Look fast for Ronald Reagan as the radio announcer at the premiere of the Civil War movie, Susan Hayward as a starlet, and Carole Landis as a cigarette girl.

Goodman was thrilled when the success of his band in this film gave him enough clout to pull off his famous Carnegie Hall concert in 1938. This movie is also the first time a racially mixed music group was depicted on the big screen.

What I Don't Like: The numbers here are a bit disappointing. Though some of the songs aren't bad, both the opening number and "Let That Be a Lesson to You" go on for way too long, and there's little of the playing with the camera and geometric formations Berkeley's known for. In fact, like Vogues of 1938, the movie is way too long for a fluffy 30's musical and some of the numbers could have been trimmed. No wonder Louella Parsons was so bad at remembering character names, it took all day to shoot one of her scenes. She's a much better gossip columnist and radio hostess than she is an actress. There's also Hugh Herbert and Mabel Todd, both annoying as heck playing Mona's starstruck father and sister. No wonder Mona's nerves are shot, with obnoxious relatives like these. And Herbert turns up blackface in Mona's Civil War vehicle to boot.

The Big Finale: For the most part, this is a surprisingly charming later gem from Warners with some decent music and a fairly unique plot. For fans of Berkeley's films, Powell, or the big lavish musicals of the 1930's.

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Cult Flops - Walter Wanger's Vogues of 1938

United Artists, 1937

Starring Warner Baxter, Joan Bennett, Helen Vinson, and Mischa Auer

Directed by Irving Cummings and Charles Kerr

Music and Lyrics by various

We jump back to the US this week for two more 30's musicals, both of them later versions of the lavish Busby Berkeley style. By 1937, Berkeley's scores of showgirls dancing in unique "story" numbers with overhead shots had become commonplace in musicals not only in the US, but around the world. Producer Water Wanger had been bouncing around the studios since the 1920's. He had tried to set himself up as an independent producer earlier in the 30's, but it hadn't worked out. After producing two hits at MGM, he once again struck out on his own...and this time, did much better. Though this wasn't one of his bigger hits, it did produce an Oscar-nominated standard, the ballad "That Old Feeling." How does the story of an heiress who joins a major fashion house and falls for its owner look today? Let's begin at the House of Curon as a show is starting and find out...

The Story: George Curson (Baxter) is having a really rough time. His wife Mary (Vinson) is desperate to go back on the stage and begs him to fund her big starring show, Vogues of 1938. His vice-president Sophie Miller (Alma Kruger) is having anxiety attacks and heart problems. Right after said show, one of his best customers, Wendy Van Klettering (Bennett), turns up claiming she doesn't want to marry her dull fiancee Henry Morgan (Alan Mowbray) and would rather work for him as a model. She basically pesters him into it, even though the last thing he wants is to have her in his home or his fashion house. He even gets Sophie to teach her how to model.

Her fiancee is furious when he finds out she's doing something so common and demands she be taken out of his fashion show. He finds a way for her to appear anyhow. She helps him get his customers back and prove that one of his competitors (Auer) is stealing his ideas. He still insists on staying with his wife, even after Wendy helps him win a big fashion contest...until his wife's show fails, and she dumps him. He put all of the money from the House of Curon into that show. Now, his beloved fashion house may go under, unless he can put on one more spectacular show and prove that the House of Curon still has what it takes to compete with the big Parisian houses.

The Song and Dance: And song and dance, along with some truly spectacular costumes and sets, are the major selling point here. Elegant Baxter and Bennett are dwarfed by some gorgeous Art Deco sets and the amazing dresses, especially at the big contest mid-way through where older ladies show off the creations of the Houses they buy clothes from. The music is actually quite good; "That Old Feeling" was nominated for an Oscar and is now considered to be a standard ballad. Auer and Kruger come off the best as the supercilious Russian who tells his elderly customers his designs are inspired by classical music and the perpetually anxious older vice-president.

The Numbers: After the fashion show opening, we don't have another number until more than 20 minutes in. An all-black cast energetically performs "Turn On that Red Hot Heat." The Cotton Club Singers really burn up the stage with their wild routine before four men in white tuxes get even more into the dancing. Maurice Rocco has even more fun with it on the piano. The dancers reprise it in the dark, writhing wildly to the music. Singer Virginia Vaill introduces "That Old Feeling" directly after. We then get an excellent tap dancer whom Curson claims is his wife's favorite. 

The next fashion show gets around Henry and his lawyer Richard Steward (Gonzolo Merono) by claiming Wendy is there "only as a spectator," then letting her "watch" the show onstage and model dresses while doing it. The third fashion show is "The Rayon Ball," with each lady showing off an outfit that's more outrageous than the next. Only Henry appreciates Prince Muratov's outlandish gold gown with the enormous feathered shoulders...and Henry's the only one who doesn't appreciate Wendy modeling a far more simple and elegant white gown. 

Mary and her director Mr. Brockton (Jerome Cowan) watch a truly amazing roller skating couple perform a death-defying couples dance in her living room. The big finale begins with Lawrence performing the sweet ballad "Lovely One" to Virginia Vaill, while the chorus models add their own commentary. A trio of dancing violinists pick up the song next, giving us a comic soft shoe. Lawrence picks up with "Lady of the Evening" (along with bits of the Hawaiian "Aloha Ole" and the Navy theme "Anchors Aweigh") as he describes all of those fabulous fashions.

Trivia: Was nominated for Art Direction along with "That Old Feeling." 

What I Don't Like: First of all, the movie is almost two hours. That's way too long for a story this fluffy. I do appreciate that the discussions of Curon's unhappy marriage gives it a slight edge over your usual 30's backstage spectaculars. Thing is, Bennett's character is more of an annoying pest than a sweet girl who just wants out of a bad marriage, and she never was comfortable in musicals. A lot of the non-musical dramatic scenes towards the middle probably could have been trimmed with no one the wiser. Second, Warners or whomever owns this now really needs to take a crack at restoring it. The color on the copy at YouTube is soft and scratchy. 

The Big Finale: Worth seeing for the musical numbers alone if you're a fan of Baxter, Bennett, or the big spectacular Art Deco musicals of the 1930's. 

Home Media: It can be easily found on YouTube and on some shady DVD releases.

DVD

YouTube

Family Fun Saturday - Bye Bye Birdie (1995)

ABC, 1995

Starring Jason Alexander, Vanessa Williams, George Wendt, and Chynna Phillips

Directed by Gene Saks

Music by Charles Strouse; Lyrics by Lee Adams

Let's head back to the US for this remake of the 1963 movie. Though it did fairly well at the time and it certainly wasn't bad, it had a lot of problems, including deleting five songs and the two leading ladies being miscast. As in the Broadway show, they went with stage veterans who also knew their way around TV. How well does the story of how a rock star on his way to the army and his entourage descend on a typical small town work in a very different time period? Let's begin with those screaming fans of Conrad Birdie (Marc Kudish) and find out...

The Story: Albert Peterson (Alexander), Birdie's manager and songwriter, is trying to figure out how to deal with Birdie being drafted into the army. His long-time girlfriend Rose Alverez (Williams) would rather he gave up managing to marry her and be an English teacher, but Albert is under the thumb of his formidable mother and partner Mae (Tyne Daly). Mae sees him and Birdie as her meal ticket and threatens to kill herself every time he even remotely considers leaving show business or marrying Rose. 

Rose comes up with the idea of Birdie kissing one typical fan on The Ed Sullivan Show as a farewell publicity stunt. The girl she chooses is Kim McAffee (Phillips), a normal energetic teenage girl in Sweet Apple, Ohio. She adores Birdie, sure, but she also loves her boyfriend Hugo Peabody (Jason Gaffney). Neither Hugo nor Kim's gruff father Harry (Wendt) are thrilled with the chaos that invades their home or with Birdie's screaming fans awakening them at all hours, until Harry finds out they're going to be on television. 

Rose, however, is fed up with everything, including Mae when she turns up whining and begging her son to come back to New York. She lets Hugo hit Conrad on national television before Kim gets her kiss. Now Kim's furious with Hugo, and Conrad is bored stiff and tired of girls watching his every move. His insistence on taking Kim out for some fun and Rose's on going out on the town ends with all of the parents in Sweet Apple literally up in arms and Hugo and Albert learning how important their ladies are to them.

The Song and Dance: This time, it's the supporting cast and an impressive production for a 90's TV musical that really shines. Williams is a delight as the strong-willed Rosie, who may love Albert, but sure as heck won't let his obnoxious mother bully her. Her Shriner's Ballet, with Rose letting out her inhibitions at a local bar, is a highlight. Wendt has a few good moments as the frustrated Harry, especially early-on when he can't even read his newspaper without either Albert or Conrad's entourage interfering. Broadway star Kudisch projects so much heat as Conrad, you can totally understand why the girls are so crazy about him. The period-accurate costumes and colorful sets representing typical small-town America in 1959 are truly well-done, from Rose's dresses to Mae's fluffy furs and the pastel poodle skirts on the teenagers. I also appreciate that this comes a lot closer to the original Broadway show, without the silly subplot with Albert being a chemist that cluttered up the second half of the 1963 film. 

The Numbers: We open with the title song over footage of Conrad's many screaming fans. It's heard later at the soda shop when four of the girls lament losing their idol. At their office in New York, Rosie tries to convince Albert that he's better off being "An English Teacher." The Sweet Apple teens crowd around two telephone booths to tell each other the latest gossip about Hugo and Kim in "The Telephone Hour." "How Lovely to Be a Woman" introduces Kim, dressing for a day out with her friends in boy's clothes despite talking about dressing up in the song. Albert encourages a despondent Birdie fan to "Put On a Happy Face" in Penn Station before he leaves for New York.

Hugo is furious when he discovers his steady girl is going to kiss a rock star on national television. Kim and her friends placate him by saying there's only "One Boy" for her. Albert and Rosie give very different versions of Conrad's background as "A Healthy, Normal American Boy" when they're about to leave for Sweet Apple. They drag out his fans to sing whenever the questions get too probing. The brief "Let's Settle Down" has Rosie impressed with small-town Ohio life and hoping she and Albert can have that for themselves. Conrad claims he's "Honestly Sincere" on his arrival in Sweet Apple, which causes just about everyone in town to faint at his charms. 

Harry is finally won over by a "Hymn for a Sunday Evening" and the chance to be on national television. "One Last Kiss" is Conrad's big TV song, complete with the McAfee's in patriotic costumes and other Sweet Apple officials singing the chorus. Furious with their men, Rosie and Kim insist "What Did I Ever See In Him?" and go out for a night on the town. Conrad's pretty fed up, too, and tells Kim he has "A Lot of Livin' To Do." The McAfees wonder where they went wrong with the current generation in the ragtime lament "Kids." Rosie becomes the "Spanish Rose" Mrs. Peterson thinks she is as she sasses a bartender and dances with Shriners. The barflies become the chorus as Albert tries to get Rose to "Talk to Me" over the phone. "A Mother Doesn't Matter Anymore" wails Mae when Albert insists on dissolving their firm. Albert tells Rosie he's thrilled to have taken "A Giant Step" at the ice house and dances with his "Rosie" at the train station after he's gotten his mother and Conrad out of their lives for good.

Trivia: "A Mother Doesn't Matter Anymore" had apparently been written for the original 1960 Broadway production, but was dropped because Kay Medford wasn't a singer. It was reinstated to give Tyne Daly, who has sung on Broadway, more to do. "Let's Settle Down" and Albert's "What Did I Ever See In Her?" were written for the TV version. "A Giant Step" was written for a 1990 US tour. The title song originally turned up in the first film version and has been used in most productions of Bye Bye Birdie since. 

"What Did I Ever See In Him," "Spanish Rose," "A Healthy, Normal American Boy," "Talk to Me," "An English Teacher," and the original music for the Shriners' Ballet were dropped from the 1963 version. Rose's fantasy ballet on what she'd do to Albert if she could, "One Hundred Ways to Kill a Man," is the only number to have been omitted from both screen and TV versions. (To be fair, it's usually cut from most stage versions nowadays as well, including the 2009 Broadway revival.) 

NBC kept announcing a live version of Bye Bye Birdie with Jennifer Lopez, but it was finally canceled in favor of Dr. Seuss's The Grinch in 2020.

What I Don't Like: First of all, while Chyanna Phillips certainly looks more like a normal small-town woman than sensual Ann-Margaret, she's still no teenager. In fact, all of the so-called "teens" are obviously way too old for their roles and for screaming over rock idols. Stage and TV vets Daly and Alexander overdo their roles; Alexander in particular is a wonderful singer, but he's not really a leading man type. Daly's Mae is obnoxious to the point of nearly being unbearable. Vanessa Williams is African-American/Native American, not Hispanic. 

In fact, we have the opposite problem from the 1963 film, which mainly focused on Kim, her father, and Albert. Here, it's Albert who is miscast. Wendt's funny when we see him, but he doesn't really have enough to do, especially in the first half. And yes, there's a reason I'm not a huge fan of this show in general. While some of it (like it's interracial main couple) may actually have been ahead of its time, other aspects of this show haven't dated well. Though The Ed Sullivan Show is slightly more visible on streaming than it would have been on TV in 1995, it and other similar variety programs of the 50's and 60's still aren't that well-remembered by families, let alone adored enough to have a whole number around it. There's also Rose's obsession with getting Albert to settle down, which may come off as annoying or too needy nowadays. 

The Big Finale: Honestly, if you took the best parts of this and the best parts of the original 1963 film, you might get one good version of Bye Bye Birdie. As it stands, I did enjoy this one slightly more than the original film for its decent cast and fidelity to the stage show. If you love big, bold 60's musicals or the cast, you might want to give this "one last kiss" a look.

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming, the latter often for free with commercials.

DVD

Tubi

First a Girl

Gaumont British, 1935

Starring Jessie Matthews, Sonny Hale, Anna Lee, and Griffith Jones

Directed by Victor Saville

Music and Lyrics by Maurice Sigler, Al Goodheart, and Al Hoffman

If the story here seems familiar, this is not the first time we've seen it at this blog. I reviewed the 1982 remake Victor/Victoria way back in January 2019. The British, however, got there almost 50 years before MGM did. Evergreen was such a massive success, a follow-up with Matthews and Hale was likely inevitable. This time, Gaumont turned to Germany, where Viktor und Viktoria had been a hit in 1933. They adapted it for the enchantingly gamine Matthews and for English sensibilities. How does the story of a woman who dresses as a man who dresses as a woman look today? Let's begin as shop girls watch a lavish society fashion show and find out...

The Story: Shop girl Elizabeth (Matthews) loses her job when she wears the clothes she's supposed to be delivering to an audition instead. Caught in the rain, she meets Shakespearean actor Victor (Hale), who is currently performing a music hall drag act he calls "Victoria." After he comes down with laryngitis, he convinces Elizabeth to take his place as a female impersonator. They play the act for comedy and are such a success, promoter McLintock (Alfred Drayton) offers Elizabeth a contract. Elizabeth takes the name "Bill," and Victor is her manager.

Elizabeth eventually falls for the handsome and wealthy Robert (Jones), while Victor pursues his fiancee Princess Mironoff (Lee). Robert, however, still thinks Elizabeth is a man. She even drinks whiskey and smokes cigars to convince him she's the gender she claims to be. It's not until he rescues her from drowning on the French Riviera that he realizes she's all woman. Elizabeth is tired of the charade, but first Victor has to explain to the Princess that he and Elizabeth are only friends, and then they both have to figure out how to get Victoria off the stage for good.

The Song and Dance: Hale and Matthews are having just as much fun as Robert Preston and Julie Andrews would 50 years later, if not more. In fact, considering the subject matter, this is downright adorable. Hale and Matthews were married at the time, which explains their delightful chemistry and how they worked so well together. The costumes are gorgeous, the production sumptuous, and the farcical script hilarious at times. Heck, just the fact that they can get away with the female impersonator thing in 1935 is notable. This would not have been made in the US in 1935. 

The Numbers: We open with "Little Silkworm," that society fashion show. Elizabeth and the shop girls watch from windows looking into the auditorium. At one point, Elizabeth does an incredibly limber dance full of such high kicks, she actually kicks a shoe into the main theater! She does make a joke about it, but it gets her into trouble. She joins a mass audition singing in chorus, but is pulled quickly. Her first number as a female impersonator is "It's Written All Over Your Face." She's not entirely sure what to do...and then geese come out in the middle of the number. 

She's the toast of Europe by the time of "Half and Half." This one starts out looking normal, with women in male tuxes...before we see they're half in tuxes, and half in frilly dresses. "I Can Wiggle My Ears" is a big chorus routine in a lavish Art Deco nightclub. Singer Donald Stewart performs with the ladies in stripes, while Victor sings to the Princess. Elizabeth revels in wearing women's clothes while basking in the paradise of the French Riviera in "Say the World and It's Yours." "Everything's Rhythm In My Heart" showcases Elizabeth as literally a bird in a cage, as the other birds pamper and dress her. Victor reprises it in drag near the end of the film.

What I Don't Like: Alas, this doesn't have Rodgers and Hart writing songs. The music here is disappointingly bland, with only "I Can Wiggle My Ears" as a stand-out. And although the story makes slightly more sense than Evergreen, this is still a fluffy 30's musical. It's not for those looking for something deeper, or even the slightly naughty things Victor/Victoria did with this material in 1982. 

The Big Finale: Charming and hilarious, I enjoyed this even more than Evergreen. Highly recommended for fans of big 30's musicals, Matthews, or vintage British cinema.

Home Media: Too bad this one can only be found on YouTube at press time.

YouTube

Evergreen

Gaumont British, 1934

Starring Jessie Matthews, Sonny Hale, Betty Balfour, and Barry MacKay

Directed by Victor Saville

Music and Lyrics by various

Come with us across the Atlantic on a holiday trip to jolly old England this week as we take a look at the two most popular vehicles featuring beloved British dance star Jessie Matthews. Matthews started out as a dancer on the London stage in revues for Noel Coward and producer Andre Charlot. She'd been making movies since 1923. By the time this came out in 1934, she had just appeared in the successful movie version of The Good Companions and was looking to follow up on that success. How does the story of a young woman who poses as her own mother to get publicity look nowadays and on this side of the pond? Let's begin "yesterday" with popular music hall singer Harriet Green (Matthews) and her adoring audiences and find out...

The Story: Harriet gives up her career to marry the Marquis of Staines (Ivor McLaren), only to leave him and return to South Africa when her former partner George Treadwell (Hartley Power) tries to blackmail her over her illegitimate daughter. She leaves that daughter to be raised in the country by her old nursemaid. Years later, her daughter, Harriet Hawkes (Matthews), comes to London to get into show business herself. Handsome young publicity man Tommy Thompson (MacKay) sees Harriet's resemblance to her mother and convinces producer Leslie Benn (Hale) to feature her in a new revue as her well-preserved mother. Trouble arises when Harriet falls for Tommy, and not only does the public believe he's her son, but Treadwell comes knocking too, still looking for money. After they discover that they could get arrested for the deception, they have to figure out how to let Harriet be herself, without ending up in jail.

The Song and Dance: No wonder this was a huge hit in 1934 on both sides of the Atlantic. Matthews is simply luminous, an adorable cross between the dainty elegance of Audrey Hepburn and the ingenue proficiency of Eleanor Powell. Some of the numbers simply defy description. They're stranger than what even Busby Berkeley was doing in 1934, especially the "through the years" routine that begins with Matthews singing "When It's Springtime In Your Heart" in 1934 and ends up with women dressed in metal-covered robot costumes being turned into robotic workers in 1918 and people doing the waltz in 1904. The costumes and sets are absolutely gorgeous, with Mathews floating in acres of ruffles, lace, and fluff against a curving Art Deco backdrop. 

The Numbers: We open with Harriet Green wowing her audiences with an instrumental dance in a frilly gown, then singing the traditional music hall number "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow-Wow." She and fellow actress-turned-titled lady Maudie (Betty Balfour) sing another music hall ditty, "I Wouldn't Leave My Little Wooden Hut For You" singing and dancing on the tables at their reception. Harriet sings "When You've Got a Little Springtime In Your Heart" twice, as an audition for Leslie Mann and Tommy Thompson after Tommy comes up with the idea of her being her mother, and later in that insane "through the years" number I mentioned above. The number starts with Matthews performing the song in one of her floaty dresses. She keeps turning a time piece, going further and further back, from the Charleston to the women turned into robots for Great War industry, to a waltz. 

Harriet wants to sing "If I Give In to You" and does a wonderful dance to it, but Maudie tells her it would give her away as a young woman. Leslie does the charming "Tinkle Tinkle" with the chorus at a rehearsal. Harriet goes Spanish in another instrumental dance, this time in a ruffled senorita outfit swirling with a passionate matador. Tommy's not really happy with Harriet when they rehearse "Dear Dear." Harriet keeps avoiding giving him a kiss, despite Leslie's insistence on it. The standard from this one is Rogers and Hart's "Dancing on the Ceiling," which Harriet dances in her living room while Tommy listens in his. 

"Over My Shoulder" begins as a romp in 1900, with Harriet and Tommy playing mother and son on an outing in their car. It turns into a more typical Berkeley-esque chorus girl routine in wild costumes. Harriet, finally fed up, comes out and does a striptease during her dance, ditching her "old lady" costume to reveal the young woman she truly is. Harriet reprises "Springtime," singing with her mother's own recording in court, then in a literal heavenly chorus. We end with Harriet singing "Over My Shoulder" with an angelic chorus. 

Trivia: Ever Green debuted at the Adelphi Theater on London's West End in 1930, with Matthews and Hale in MacKay's role. It originally had an all Rodgers and Hart score, but only "Dancing On the Ceiling," "Dear, Dear," and "If I Give In to You" were used in the movie. "In the Cool of the Evening" turned up as background scoring. To my knowledge, it has never made it to this side of the pond and has not been revived.

What I Don't Like: While I give the British credit for getting cheeky in a way no American musical would even attempt in 1934, this is still a fluffy 30's musical. MacKay is cute but otherwise dull as Harriet's love interest, and Hale can get annoying, especially early on when he's barking at everyone. And I do wish they'd kept the full Rodgers and Hart score! Though I do like "Over My Shoulder" (and it became a signature number for Matthews), most of the other non-Rodgers and Hart songs are pretty dull.

The Big Finale: If you love big 30's musicals or vintage British cinema, you'll want to step across time and join Harriet in her backstage adventure, too.

Home Media: Not on disc in North America, but it can be found on streaming.

Amazon Prime

Family Fun Saturday - Standing Ovation

Rocky Mountain Pictures, 2010

Starring Kayla Jackson, Alanna Palumbo, Joei DiCarlo, and Pilar Martin

Directed by Stewart Rafill

Music and Lyrics by various

Let's hit the Jersey Shore this holiday weekend with this independent backstage tale. High School Musical was pretty much the template for all teen and tween musicals made from 2006 well into the 2010's, and this one was no exception. Apparently, despite Rocky Mountain Pictures hyping it to the skies in 2010, it was a huge flop with critics and audiences. Now that it's easily available on several streaming platforms, how does this tale of big hopes and bigger dreams come off today? Let's begin at a local contest for pre-teen dance groups and find out...

The Story: The Five Ovations are a talented song and dance pre-teen girl group in Atlantic City. They keep getting sabotaged by the Wiggies, a group of spoiled rich girls who specialize in outrageous wigs supplied by the wealthy father (Sal Dupree) of Ziggy Wiggs (London Clarke). Brittany O'Brian (Kayla Jackson) lives on the boardwalk above a 99 cent store with her Irish grandfather (P. Brendan Mulvey) and her musician songwriter brother Mark (Austin Powell). She's desperate to find the father who abandoned her and her mother. Her family is broke; her grandfather keeps using their money to play the horses.

Major network CDS announces a huge music video contest for pre-teen groups. After the Wiggies take over the school gym to rehearse, the Ovations convince Eric Bateman (William McKenna) to loan them his father's recording studio. They do make the video, but Ziggy and Mark sabotage it. Unfortunately, their "sabotage" turns it into a comedy and makes it popular with the audience at CDS. 

The Wiggies do make it to the finals. So do the Ovations, once someone else drops out. They recruit local dancers to help with their big number. Alanna Wannabe (Palumbo), a young girl who desperately wants to be a star, gets in on it, too. She and her father made a video, but it didn't make it to the finals. Meanwhile, tough girl Joei Battaluci (Joei DiCarlo), the Ovations' manager, uses her tough-guy attitude and menagerie of biting animals she keeps in her purse to help Brittany find out what happened to her father and find out who stole money from Joei's father.

The Song and Dance: This was cuter than I thought it would be from the low-budget pedigree. The numbers have real energy, the dancing isn't bad, and some of the comedy lands. DiCarlo steals the show as the hilariously tough kid who can talk herself into and out of anything and has an army of venomous critters at her disposal to back her up. As someone who has lived in Southern New Jersey all her life, I appreciate the filming in and around the Atlantic City area, including the boardwalks in Atlantic City, Cape May, Ocean City, and Wildwood. 

The Numbers: We actually open with a group performing a nervy "Thing 4 U" in 40's threads...before Mr. Wiggs turns off the lights and ruins their number. The Wiggies' first number is the too-sexy-for-their-ages "Blush" in pink wigs. The Ovations attempt "Bounce," but Ziggy paid a stagehand to put pepper on Brittany's microphone and make her sneeze. The Wiggies' rehearsal number is "That Boy," a song Mark was working on (to Brittany's disgust). They film the number on the Ocean City boardwalk, but Mr. Wiggs makes it clear that Alanna is not invited to join them.

Brittany performs a stirring "God Bless America" on a rain-soaked Atlantic City boardwalk, but she and Joei end up confronting a jerk who steals the money she made. Rap group Dacav5 performs "The Runaway" and "The Music Is Dropping You" as the Wiggies shimmy in a nightclub that, once again, is way too old for kids who can't be more than 13 or 14. The Ovations demonstrate different forms of dancing across the 20th and 21st century at an old folks' home in "Crazy Feet." "All I Want To Do Is Sing" provides the backdrop for Joei telling Brittany she has a line on the thief who stole her dad's money. 

The Ovations' first attempt at a music video is the late 60's themed Beach Party spoof "River Deep, Mountain High." While they try to figure out something more modern, Mr. Wiggs and the Wiggies perform "Soup to Nuts" dressed in their idea of upper-crust outfits at a local diner. The Ovations get stuck doing a commercial for a really awful brand of soda, singing "Shake It and Make It"...but they just can't drink that nasty stuff, no matter how much the director wants them to. They finally end up filming "Scream" at the Wildwood boardwalk, including a rap battle with local boys. Alanna's music video is "Go After Your Dream," complete with dancing firemen and her dancing with a moving teddy bear. "Superstars" is the Wiggies' self-aggrandizing video in glittery dresses with scads of dancers. 

Mr. Wiggs and the Wiggies perform "Under the Boardwalk" and "Splish Splash" in rather ridiculous mid-60's-style wigs and dresses at their big show. They look so silly, it's almost a relief when the Ovations let fleas loose in their wigs. A genuinely good gospel group performs "Our Song Begins Again" at the music video finals in New York. The Wiggies' "Dancing Girl" is actually rather bland for their energetic performance of it. Alanna and her dancer cousins from Florida join the Ovations for the vastly more unique space opera-themed "Shooting Star." The movie concludes over the end credits with "Turn It Up," a reprise of "All I Want to Do Is Sing," and the title song. 

What I Don't Like: As funny as this can be, in other ways, it's the ultimate in teen cliches. Even the names on a lot of the characters are painfully obvious. Who on Earth calls a teen music group the Wiggies? There's Alanna Wannabe the wannabe singing star, too. Some of the acting is stiff as a board. The ending is not only a complete wish-fulfillment deux ex machina, but it goes on for at least 15 minutes too long. Ending with the contest and maybe briefly letting Brittany meet her father would have sufficed, instead of drawing it out and having him be the solution to everyone's problems. For all their energy, the original songs are bland and unmemorable. 

The Big Finale: Most critics were really harsh on this one when it came out, but I'll give it a pass for the high-energy numbers, some hilarious bits, and just because not many movies were filmed and set in South Jersey. If you have pre-teen girls looking for background noise at a girl's day in or slumber party this holiday weekend, they can do far worse than this bit of showstopping lunacy.

Home Media: The DVD is currently expensive, but you can find this streaming for free with commercials just about anywhere online, including Tubi and Pluto TV.

DVD

Tubi

Pluto TV On Demand

Thanksgiving Short Subject Special - A Thanksgiving Tale

Showtime, 1983

Directed by James Field

Voices of Paul Fusco, Lisa Buckley, Richard Schellbach, and Lisa Fusco

Music and Lyrics by Richard Schellbach

In 1982 and 1983, Paul Fusco made four holiday puppet-based holiday specials for Showtime that showed off his puppeteering abilities. I covered the Easter special back in April. The Thanksgiving special debuted later in 1983 and would also turn up on Nickelodeon and elsewhere throughout the 80's. Like the rest of Fusco's early work, it vanished in the early 90's, only to reappear in the 2010's as streaming made early holiday programming more widely available. Is it as enjoyable as the Easter special? Let's begin in an alley in Newark, New Jersey with a group of very hungry cats and find out...

The Story: The cats live in a tool shed in the alley. They have a home, but have run out of food. The dogs who guard the restaurant next-door have cleared out all of the mice. They have plenty of food, thanks to their jobs, but live outside in the freezing cold. The cats think they have their Thanksgiving dinner all sewn up when Tom, a turkey with Broadway ambitions (Fusco), turns up on their doorstep. The dogs try to rescue him, which eventually results in a literal cat and dog fight. It's Queenie the female cat (Buckley) and Tom who finally realize that each group has what the other needs. Tom puts on a play that finally teaches both groups the importance of sharing what they have and working together.

The Song and Dance: For 30 years, I had vague memories of a Thanksgiving puppet special involving a group of cats and dogs who end up helping each other. I couldn't remember the title or any other details, until the Fusco shows started turning up on YouTube. I definitely enjoy this one more than the Easter special. The story is charming and unique, Fusco's Tom Turkey and his theatrical aspirations are hilarious (and he doesn't sound too much like his later creation ALF this time), and the cats and dogs all have well-delineated and very funny personalities. The puppets are slightly more interesting, too, with Tom being by far the most expressive.

The Numbers: The dogs get our first song, as they lament shivering outside and being homeless in "They Say It's a Dog's Life." The cats give their side of the story and why they think they own their turf in "We are the Cats." We finish after their Thanksgiving pageant with Tom and both groups realizing how important friendship and cooperation is in "Thanksgiving Magic." 

What I Don't Like: Though the story and puppets are a bit more interesting than the ones made for the Easter show, this is still pretty obviously a low-budget special made for cable in the early 80's. The sets are minimal, the characters can occasionally be grating, the score mainly consists of synthesizer music, and there's some mild Mexican stereotypes with the displaced chihuahua. 

The Big Finale: I'm glad to see that this mostly holds up pretty well. It remains a fun watch before Thanksgiving dinner for families with young kids or fans of ALF, the Muppets, or other similar kids' puppet shows.

Home Media: Streaming only, but it can be found for free with commercials pretty much anywhere, including Tubi and Amazon Prime.

Tubi

Amazon Prime