Thursday, May 23, 2024

The Five Pennies

Paramount, 1959
Starring Danny Kaye, Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong, and Harry Guardino
Directed by Melville Shavelson
Music and Lyrics by various

Our next big band leader may not have had the lengthy career that Goodman did, but he frankly had the more interesting story. Red Nichols began playing in his father's brass band at 12 before falling in love with early Dixieland recordings. By the early 20's, he'd joined bands in the Midwest, then moved out to New York. His own band was hugely popular...but first the hot jazz he loved was replaced by swing, then his beloved daughter came down with polio, and he left show business to help take care of her. His comeback in the early 50's made him a hit all over again. 

Danny Kaye was also trying for a comeback after his last three films hadn't done well at the box office. How well does his manic style work with Nichols' hot jazz? Let's start at a speakeasy in New York as Nichols (Kaye) brings his date Willa "Bobbie" Stutsman (Bel Geddes) to hear Louis Armstrong (himself) play and find out...

The Story: Nichols works with crooner Will Paradise (Bob Crosby) and his band, but he makes jokes about their softer style. He starts a band with his buddies Jimmy Dorsey (Ray Anthony), Glenn Miller (Ray Daley), Artie Schutt (Bobby Troup), and Dave Tough (Shelly Manne) that he calls The Five Pennies. They tour the United States and become wildly popular, especially among jazz-loving college students. 

He marries Bobbie, the band's singer, and they have a daughter, Dorothy (Susan Gordon). Dorothy is the darling of every musician in her father's band, until she contracts polio. Nichols gives up the band to settle in Los Angeles and help Bobbie take care of her. As World War II rages, he takes a job in the West Coast shipyards. Years later, the now-teenaged Dorothy (Tuesday Weld) hears his music and is shocked at how good he is. He claims he's no good anymore, but his wife and daughter know better. If Dorothy can walk at least somewhat well, her father can reclaim his place among the jazz greats.

The Song and Dance: This ended up being very sweet. I love how believable manic, goofy Kaye and warm, down-to-earth Bel Geddes are as a couple. Their up and down relationship is one of the best things about this movie, especially the first half, when they're still on the road. Kaye also works well with Gordon and Weld, and doesn't do too badly later either when he thinks he can never play again. 

The cameos here are pretty cool, too. Bob Crosby was a famous bandleader in his own right, Ray Anthony was an actual trumpeter, and Bobby Troup was a musician and songwriter. Honestly, the movie's worth seeing just for Kaye's delightful two numbers with Louis Armstrong. There's also the gorgeous (and for once, relatively period-accurate) costumes and sets. They and the sound were Oscar-nominated. 

Favorite Number: We open with three early songs turned into jazz hits by Louis Armstrong and his band at the speakeasy. Bel Geddes tries to get Kaye to move along with "Ja-Da," After they've joined their friend Tony Valani (Guardino) and his date at a table, Armstrong moves into "After You've Gone" and "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home?" He doesn't think Nichols can play, but the younger man shows him otherwise with "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Crosby croons "My Blue Heaven" as Nichols rehearses with his band, but Nichols finds his crooning absurd and makes fun of it. Nichols is far happier singing his own "The Five Pennies" to Dorothy. Bobbie (dubbed by Eileen Wilson) sings it again for her husband in the finale, when he also reprises "Battle Hymm."

Kaye joins the real Red Nichols for three very odd variations on "Back Home Again In Indiana" as he moves to different radio shows with very different sponsors and their national stereotypes! After the band becomes popular, we head to one of the college dances they would perform at and hear "Runnin' Wild" and "Washington and Lee Swing." Nichols is a little bit more worried about his wife bouncing around with the kids to "Follow the Leader" after he finds out she's pregnant! 

We see them take baby Susan on the road, singing "Lullaby In Ragtime" to calm the crying baby. Susan, now about 6, joins her father for "The Music Goes 'Round and 'Round" as he teaches her about his coronet. Hoping to get her to sleep, her father takes her to see Louis Armstrong. This turns into the delightful "When the Saints Go Marching In," with hilarious new lyrics written by Kaye's wife Sylvia Fine. The only way poor Susan can hear her parents at Christmas is to listen to her father sing "Jingle Bells" on the radio. Her father cheers up the children in her hospital room with the comic German novelty "Schnizelbank."

Trivia: That was the real Red Nichols playing his solos in the film. Nichols' comeback was, indeed, a success. He would continue to play venues across the US with his newly-formed orchestra until his death in 1965. 

Nichols' wild Charleston with the dancer (Lizanne Truex) in the opening wasn't scripted. She was only supposed to dance. He grabbed her and joined in. Shavelson liked it so much, he kept it in.

Keep an eye out for the quick cameo by Bob Hope - and the joke Nichols makes about him - as he and his wife and daughter wait to enter The Brown Derby Restaurant. 

Silent and early sound actress Blanche Sweet's last movie (she was the headmistress of the boarding school in the Christmas sequence). Danny Kaye's last film musical. 

What I Don't Like: This is about as sentimental as you can get, especially in the second half, after Susan contracts polio. Though the plot gets a lot closer to the truth than The Benny Goodman Story, it's still a huge pile of biographical cliches. Red played in a lot more bands before he formed his own. After swing supplanted hot jazz, he played in a lot of stage show orchestras and pit bands, which you don't really see. Willa was a dancer and chorus girl, not a singer, when she married Nichols. 

The Big Finale: This is a warm and loving look at a jazz legend who deserves to be better-known. Highly recommended for fans of Kaye or jazz. 

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.

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