Happy 4th of July! - Meet Me In St. Louis (1959)

CBS, 1959

Starring Jane Powell, Tab Hunter, Patty Duke, and Myrna Loy

Directed by George Schaefer

Music and Lyrics by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine and others

We'll stay in the same time period, but jump on a cross-country train from New Hampshire to Missouri to celebrate Independence Day at the St. Louis World Fair. The original Meet Me In St. Louis debuted during World War II, where it was considered a celebration of the American family and everything Americans were fighting for "over there." Over fifteen years later, it was reworked for TV as a major "spectacular" at a time when American family values were considered just as important, even if the country was no longer under threat. How well did they do with this remake of one of the great classic MGM musicals? Let's begin in front of the Smiths' home in St. Louis in 1903 as children sing the title song and find out...

The Story: The biggest news in the Smith household is oldest sister Rose's (Jeanne Crain) beau calling long-distance from New York and the building of the St. Louis World's Fair. Second-oldest sister Esther (Powell) is more interested in admiring handsome boy next door John Truitt (Hunter), who just moved next-door. He's oblivious to her advances until she finally makes her feelings clear during a trolley ride to the under-construction fairgrounds.

Halloween doesn't go nearly as well. Littlest sister Tootie (Duke) runs home crying from the dress-up bonfire because she claims John hit her. Esther dashes over to her house and pounds him, only for Tootie to admit she lied and John was actually trying to keep her and her sister Agnes (Ginger McManus) from the police. 

Esther returns home to worse news. Their father Lon (Walter Pidgeon) intends to move the family to New York after Christmas. This makes the big Christmas ball even more important. Esther is upset when John can't go, until her Grandpa (Ed Wynn) intervenes. It takes a devastated Tootie destroying her snowman family to make Mr. Smith realize that his family is fine where they are...and there's nothing in New York that they don't already have at home.

The Song and Dance: Considering how beloved the original is, this was far better than I expected it to be. Twinkly Ed Wynn and pointed Myrna Loy steals the show as a far more charming Grandpa and slightly more caustic Mrs. Anna Smith. Wynn singing and dancing the title song with a delectably macabre Duke is a sheer delight. Hunter is such a sweet and adorable "boy next door" (especially compared to bland Tom Drake in the original), you have no problems understanding why Esther is crazy about him. (The additional two songs for him help flesh out his character further as well.) The costumes and sets are mostly historically accurate, especially the gowns at that ball later. 

And I still love how realistic all of this feels, even 120 years later. I grew up in a family of mostly women where Dad was frequently out of the loop, you never had less than three people hearing your conversation with your boyfriends (even after cell phones came into regular usage), and Halloween was scary whether you were running around bonfires or just gathering candy. 

The Numbers: We open with the title song first being sung by children playing outside the porch. Esther wistfully sings about "The Boy Next Door" who doesn't notice her. Grandpa and Tootie delightfully pick up the title song from the kids outside, dancing around Tootie's "dying" dolls as Esther and Rose play it inside. "Skip to My Lou" is the big chorus number at Esther and Rose's going away party for their brother Lon (Kelly Brown). Esther sings the genuine early 1900's ballad "Over the Bannister" in an attempt to get a kiss out of John, but he ducks out of it. 

"The Trolley Song" is performed before the trolley leaves, not on it, but it's just as spirited. John is so thrilled to have finally admitted his feelings, he tells Esther what he would do "If You Were the Only Girl In the World." He wonders "When Does This Feeling Go Away?" after a picnic with Esther on the fairgrounds. Thankfully, Walter Pidgeon is a good singer and didn't need to be dubbed for the gentle ballad "You and I," which Alonzo and Anna sing at Halloween after his announcement. Loy isn't a good singer, but she manages her part well enough. 

"After the Ball" and "Auld Lang Syne" are instrumental chorus dance numbers at the Christmas ball. Esther sings a devastating "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" with a sobbing Tootie in her arms after the ball...and Powell thought the song was so upsetting, she couldn't bring herself to perform the whole thing for Duke. We end with the entire cast singing the title song as they prepare to head to the World's Fair itself.

Trivia: This was performed live, which explains some of the cast flubs, including Loy missing a line and Powell changing the lyrics to "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" to make them less upsetting for Duke.

It also isn't the last time Meet Me In St. Louis would be adapted for another medium. A 1966 non-musical pilot featuring Shelley Fabares as Esther didn't make it to a full series. A stage version debuted on Broadway in 1989, but only ran for seven months.

What I Don't Like: Powell herself, for starters. She's cute and sings well enough, but lacks the heart and real feelings Judy Garland brought to this role in 1944. Though they do use most of the original score, they did drop one of my favorite numbers, the adorable (but admittedly extraneous) "Under the Bamboo Tree" cakewalk with Tootie and Esther. And yes, this was live, complete with all the flubs and changes I mentioned above. 

The Big Finale: This also ended up being a surprise. While no replacement for the original, it has enough good points to make it worth a watch for fans of 40's and 50's musicals or anyone in the cast.

Home Media: Currently available on YouTube.

YouTube

Happy 4th of July! - Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure

Disney, 2001

Voices of Scott Wolf, Alyssa Milano, Jeff Bennett, and Chazz Palminteri

Directed by Darrell Rooney and Jeannine Roussell

Music by Melissa Manchester; Lyrics by Norman Gimbel

It's time to celebrate the 4th with friends, fireworks, and a reminder of how important our families are. This came out during the run of animated sequels Disney released on video from 1994 through 2008. Unlike most of these films, this one is not without precedence. Lady and Tramp's son Scamp and his three puppy siblings were familiar characters in comic books and strips from shortly after the release of the film in 1955 through 1988. This would be their first appearance in a movie since their brief cameos at the very end of the original film. How well do they work out in this story of how Scamp wants to break out and lead the wild life? Let's begin as the residents of their sleepy New England town welcome us to their homes and find out...

The Story: Scamp (Wolf) is tired of all the rules imposed on him by his parents and their owners, especially his worried father (Bennett). He wants to run wild with the stray dogs in town and have the same freedom they appear to. After he slips his chain, he falls in with a group of tough junkyard dogs. Their leader Buster (Palminteri) had once been Tramp's best friend, but he now resents him for having left his buddy for Lady. He gives Scamp a series of tests to prove he's worthy of being a junkyard dog. Scamp's delighted at first, until he falls for the gang's sole female member Angel (Milano) and his father confronts Buster, and he starts to wonder if freedom is really all it's cracked up to be.

The Animation: A major come-down. The characters move all right and have the same expressive faces as the original, but the backgrounds lack the detail that made the original so wonderful to look at. It looks more like the Mickey Mouse Works TV shorts of this time period than a feature-length animated film from the time. That's appropriate for its low-budget origins, but is disappointing compared to the exquisite animation of the original.

The Song and Dance: For all the familiar story, there are a few good things here. Milano makes a funny and charming Angel, while Bennett does well as the concerned Tramp. For all the cheap animation, they do manage to give it the same feel of elegance as the original, and it has a slightly slower and gentler pace that's actually rather charming. Angel's story - she's been adopted five times, only to be abandoned - is sweet and even sad. The music for the most part manages the appropriate period air, especially "Junkyard Society Rag." 

Favorite Number: We open with the residents of the New England town where the characters live as they tell us about their lives and the big 4th of July picnic coming up in "Welcome Home." Scamp (dubbed by Roger Bart) sings about a "World Without Fences" after he ends up on the chain, imagining himself roaming free with the strays who pass his home. "Junkyard Society Rag" is for the strays as they sing about their supposedly free life with no masters. 

"I Didn't Know I Could Feel That Way" is the big romantic duet for Scamp and Angel (dubbed by Susan Egan). They even end up eating spaghetti at Tony's like Lady and Tramp. "Always There" is the heartfelt trio for Angel, Scamp, and Tramp after Scamp ends up in the pound as Angel wishes she had a family, Tramp wishes he could talk to his son, and Scamp wishes he'd never left home. The movie finishes with a reprise of "Welcome Home" as Jim Dear (Nick Jameson) and Darling (Barbara Goodson) finally wash Scamp and Angel is officially welcomed into the family. "Belle Note" plays over the credits.

What I Don't Like: My biggest beef with this, other than it more-or-less being a gender-reversed rehash of the original, is the finale. We do get a good action sequence with Tramp breaking Scamp out of the pound, but...nothing really happens after that. They barely confront Buster in the end, and I think he could have gotten into a lot more trouble than just his gang walking out on him. 

There's also the ridiculous dogcatcher who keeps chasing the strays. He's drawn to look like - and Bennett makes him sound like - Don Knotts. Hardly the intimidating dog catchers just barely glimpsed in the original. His antics are annoying and are basically filler. "Didn't Know I Could Feel That Way" stands out as an out-of-place late 90's power ballad amid the relatively period numbers, and none of the songs are especially interesting or memorable. And what age are Scamp and Angel supposed to be again? They're small like puppies, but Wolf and Milano make them sound like adults, and the falling in love thing doesn't help there either. 

The Big Finale: While not great, the heartfelt story and some decent characters help make this one of the more tolerable of the Disney direct-to-home-media sequels from the 90's and 2000's. Worth a look before your own 4th of July picnic for fans of the original or kids who love animal stories. 

Home Media: While it is on DVD and Blu-Ray, your best bet will likely be Disney Plus if you have a subscription. 

DVD

Blu-Ray

Disney Plus

Happy 4th of July! - Sunny Side Up (1929)

Fox Film Corporation, 1929

Starring Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, Marjorie White, and Frank Richardson

Directed by David Butler

Music and Lyrics by B.G DeSylva, Lew Brown, and Ray Henderson

Happy 4th, everyone! Let's jump back to Independence Day in New York 94 years ago, where tenements held massive block parties with dancing, music, recitations, and food from many countries, and the wealthy gathered in Long Island estates for for elaborate soirees with cocktails and elegant garden shows. This is a historic film in many respects. It was one of the first truly original film musicals that wasn't based on a  previous stage show or a backstager that stuffed the songs between the story. 

DeSylva, Brown, and Henderson worked on the songs and the book, assuring that the Cinderella story of a New York shop girl who falls for a playboy was unusually well-integrated for the time. How does it look now? Let's join the camera in roaming across the Manhattan tenement where Molly Carr (Gaynor) and her best friend Bea Nichols (White) live and find out...

The Story: Molly's latest crush is Jack Cromwell (Farrell), the handsome son of a wealthy Long Island family. She's been ogling his picture in the society pages, but the last thing she expects is for him to turn up in her apartment on the 4th of July. Jack got drunk at his parents' party when his fiancee Jane Worth (Sharon Lynn) preferred flirting to setting the wedding date, crashed his car, and stumbled into Molly's apartment.

He's so enchanted by her performance at the block party and her kindness to him afterwards, he encourages her, Bea, Bea's boyfriend Eddie (Richardson), and Eric Swenson (El Brendel), the owner of the grocery store on the bottom floor of their building, to come out to his Long Island mansion and perform at the big charity show his mother (Mary Forbes) is putting on. Jack dresses Molly in fine clothes and tells his mother she's a society lady and the others are her servants. He's hoping to make Jane jealous, but the last thing he expects is to fall for her. His ruse works too well when an angry Jane passes it around that Molly is a kept woman. Molly runs back to Manhattan, but Jack isn't going to let her go so easily...

The Song and Dance: If your only exposure to the early sound era is backstage fluff like The Broadway Melody or Al Jolson's soppy melodramas, have I got a treat for you. This utterly adorable romantic comedy remains delightful today, thanks to its two leads, a decent supporting cast, and how well the charming songs bolster the plot. Gaynor may sound like the Disney Snow White and sing like she's on helium, but she's utterly convincing as the naive shop girl who finds herself courted by a millionaire. White and Richardson have a terrific time as the supportive best pals, and even Brendel's Swedish hayseed gags are more tolerable than usual. 

They're backed by a terrific production, especially for the early sound era. David Butler would make a career out of directing sweet fluff like this for everyone from Bob Hope to Doris Day. His unique opening depicts the residents of Molly's tenement and how they celebrate the 4th of July, roaming from room to room, giving us snippets of their daily lives. The cinematography is gorgeous for the early sound era and even includes some relatively complex outdoor shooting. 

Favorite Number: Molly sings the sweetly simple ballad "I'm a Dreamer, Aren't We All?" three times. The first and last time, she's at home, dreaming of Jack. The second performance is at the charity show, behind a curtain of spouting water, after she thinks she's lost him. This one is much slower and a lot more heartfelt. By contrast, Jane's big song is the jaunty "You'll Find the Time and I'll Find the Place" at the Long Island mansion, her admittance that she's willing to go along with whatever guy comes along. Bea and Frank twit each other in the goofy vaudeville dance routine "You've Got Me Pickin' Pedals off of Daisies" as they literally pick flower crowns. Molly leads the crowd at the block party into a big sing-along for title number

The charity show begins with the totally outrageous "Turn on the Heat." Lynn and the chorus girls begin in furs and igloos...but as the song continues and their wriggling grows wilder, palm trees sprout, the ladies shed their furs, and even the set burns up in the frenzy! It's campy, insane fun of the type Busby Berkeley would perfect in the 30's and early 40's. Gaynor and Farrell appear in the other big number, the hit "If I Had a Talking Picture of You." The song is cheerful and bouncy, but their childish voices don't do it justice, and they sound more like five-year-olds than adults courting each other. This isn't helped when actual kids toddle on dressed exactly like them and sing along. Farrell reprises this more effectively in the finale, when Molly sees him singing it and realizes the true depth of his feelings for her. 

Trivia: This was one of the biggest hits of 1929 and inspired other studios to make their own non-backstage original musicals. 

"Turn On the Heat" was originally filmed in Multicolor, but current prints are only in black and white.

Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell starred together in three previous silent melodramas, Seventh Heaven, Street Angel, and Lucky Star. This would be their first sound film. 

Look for a young Jackie Cooper as the little boy who tries to recite "The Village Smithy" during the block party while squirming to get to the bathroom. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, Farrell doesn't work out quite as well as his co-star. They do have obvious chemistry (and were actually dating at the time), but his nasal voice and flat delivery belie his role as Long Island's most eligible Prince Charming, and his singing is worse than hers. Second, there are times when the early talkie stiffness does turn up, mostly in sequences when people are standing and talking, Also, keep in mind that this is a pre-Code movie. Some relatively racy moments include a sequence with a feminist giving birth control pamphlets to a mother surrounded by children and mild swearing. 

The Big Finale: One of the best movies of its era, this is a sweetheart of a romantic comedy that deserves a place at your 4th of July get-together.

Home Media: At press time, this rarity can only be found on YouTube.

YouTube

Happy 4th of July! - The Music Man (2003)

Disney, 2003

Starring Matthew Broderick, Kristin Chenowith, David Aaron Baker, and Victor Garber

Directed by Jeff Bleckner

Music and Lyrics by Meredith Wilson

Happy 4th of July, everyone! We celebrate America's independence with a nostalgic tale of Independence Day a hundred and ten years ago. The ladies wore big picture hats with lots of pastel feathers and tight linen gowns that they hobbled in and men sported derbies and beige plaid suits, and they all went to concerts with patriotic marches and picnics with fancy cakes and fresh-squeezed lemonade. This is the world in which Meredith Wilson set his biggest hit, currently seeing a popular revival on Broadway. I reviewed the original 1962 film in 2019, but Disney did a version for their Wonderful World of Disney TV series as well. Is it worth bringing the the 4th of July picnic, or should it be tarred and feathered? Let's begin on that train with the rapping salesmen and find out...

The Story: Professor Harold Hill (Broderick) swings into River City, Iowa to sell the townspeople on a non-existent boys' band. Mayor Shinn (Garber) is suspicious of him from the beginning. Marian Paroo (Chenowith), the town's librarian, wishes he'd stop following her and isn't a fan of his odd method of teaching the kids how to read music. Hill has the rest of the town eating out of the palm of his hand, though, including all of the kids, Marian's mother (Debra Monk), and the mayor's wife Eulalie (Molly Shannon). When Marian's lisping brother Winthrop (Cameron Monaghan) joins the band, Marian finally sees how much Hill's band has come to mean to her and the townspeople.

The Song and Dance: I saw this when it came out in 2003, and it's a lot better than I remember. The exuberant choreography by Kathleen Marshall deservedly received one of this movie's five Emmy nominations; it's especially delightful in the chorus routines "Marian the Librarian" and "Shipoopi." The pitch-perfect costumes and sets recreating small-town Iowa in the early 20th Century got two more. Chenowith is simply radiant as Marian, just prior to her breakthrough role on Broadway in Wicked, Debra Monk is adorable as her romantic mother, and Garber and Shannon have some of the film's best lines as the Shinns. They even got an especially good teen couple, Cameron Adams as Zaneeta and Clyde Alves (who was in the 2000 Broadway revival) as Tommy.

Favorite Number: "Iowa Stubborn" shows off the sour citizens of River City, who's give you the plaid shirts off their backs...if they can be bothered to give you the time of day. Chenowith's "Good Night, My Someone" is especially sweet, with her soprano caressing the simple melody. Harold explains to his buddy Marcellus (Baker) and the drinkers in the local bar why he prefers "The Sadder-but-Wiser Girl" and even does a cute little dance with a waitress. "Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little" is now set in a hat shop as the ladies of the town in their heavily plumed headgear tell the Professor why they don't approve of Marian or the books in the library. 

"My White Knight" makes its film debut (it was re-written as "Being In Love" in the '62 film) as Marian wistfully admits to her mother that she's looking for the type of smart, sweet gentleman who only exists in her imagination. "It's You," which was a throwaway number for the Barbershop Quartet in '62, gets a full-out staging here, including a nice duet for Marian and Harold. "Marian the Librarian" and "Shipoopi" make great use of those energetic dances as first Harold tries to get Marian's attention in her place of work, then the town celebrates the 4th of July with everyone dancing along. Even the Shinns get in on "Shipoopi" with their hilariously stiff attempt at a two-step. Chenowith has a lovely "Till There Was You" near the end, under a lovely and romantic gazebo. 

Trivia: The Music Man was one of the biggest Broadway hits of 1957, running almost five years and winning Tony Awards for the show and its original Harold and Marian Robert Preston and Barbara Cook. Van Johnson was Harold Hill in the London mounting. It's been seen many times in New York since then, with brief revivals in 1965 and 1980 (the latter featured Dick Van Dyke as Harold Hill and Christian Slater as Winthrop) and a far more popular one in 2000. The revival currently running at the Winter Garden features Hugh Jackman as Hill and Sutton Foster as Marian.

What I Don't Like: Where this one falters is with the central performance. Matthew Broderick is a charming actor, but he lacks the necessary oomph and rough edges Preston and Jackman bring to the role. The driving "Trouble" and exuberant march "76 Trombones" move far too slowly. That said, he does do somewhat better with songs that require more of a soft sell, like "Sadder but Wiser Girl" and "Marian the Librarian." "Rock Island" has the same problem, with too many of the salesmen not able to keep up with the rap. This does look more cinematic than the stage-bound '62 film, but it also looks duller, with earthier colors and dull tones that don't pop the way the Technicolor on the earlier film does.

The Big Finale: While I prefer the '62 version, this one does have a few of its own charms if you're a really big fan of Chenowith or the show in general. 

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Happy 4th of July! - This Is the Army

Warner Bros, 1943

Starring George Murphy, Joan Leslie, George Tobias, and Ronald Regan

Directed by Michael Curtiz

Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin

This year, we celebrate a rejuvenated 4th with the most patriotic film musical in existence. Berlin originally wrote the songs for Yip Yip Yaphank! in 1918, after the US entered World War I. The Army put on the show as a morale-booster. It went over so well then, they decided to do it again twenty years later for World War II. Berlin wrote new numbers, radio star Ezra Stone directed, and the show was renamed This Is the Army. It was such a smash success on Broadway and on tour, Warner Bros reworked it into a movie. How does this tale of two generation of performers putting on a show for - and with - the boys look now? Let's begin in 1917, just as vaudevillian Jerry Jones (Murphy) is drafted, and find out...

The Story: Jerry's ordered to stage a revue called Yip Yip Yaphank with his fellow Army soldiers. During their final number, his troop gets orders to leave for France. Eddie's hit in the leg by shrapnel, which ends his dancing career, but he does make it home to his wife Ethel (Rosemary DeCamp) and their new son. 

Twenty years later, his son has grown into a man, Johnny Jones (Regan). He's in love with Eileen Dibble (Joan Leslie), the daughter of the former bugler in Jerry's troop Eddie Dibble (Charles Butterworth), and is all set to marry her before Pearl Harbor is bombed. He now says he wants to wait for the wedding and avoid making her a widow. Meanwhile, he's also asked to put on a show with the troops, just like his father. It's such a fabulous hit, they take it on the road. Eileen, now in the Red Cross Auxiliary, follows. She'd better get a move on if she wants to marry him, because they're soldiers, and they won't be doing shows forever...

The Song and Dance: "Song and dance" are the operative words here. The only reason to see this today are the unique numbers, with men in women's roles as they were on the stage. Some of them are still funny as heck. Alan Hale Jr. has a great time as the drill sergeant who terrorizes two generation of New York soldiers, and Butterworth and George Tobias get a few good gags as two of Jerry's buddies in the Army who survive the war. Original stage director Ezra Stone gets a wordless skit doing a magic act while a sergeant gives him orders. 

Favorite Number: The best of the songs in the early Yip Yip Yaphank sequences is the big finale where they end up leaving the theater for good, "Goodbye France" and "We're On Our Way to France." It's truly stirring, especially seeing the reaction from loved ones in the audience whose husbands and sons are going overseas. "God Bless America" is performed by radio favorite Kate Smith as war clouds gather over Europe, providing the background music for a montage showing where the men of the World War I army are in 1941. 

"What Does He Look Like?" and "This Is the Army, Mr. Jones" introduces the World War II soldiers, as four undressed new recruits wonder what army life will be like. "I'm Getting Tired So I Can Sleep" was the hit ballad, here introduced simply onstage by one of the soldiers. "Ladies of the Chorus" and "I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen" are the drag numbers, spoofing chorus routines and the real Stage Door Canteen respectively. We even have men imitating stage luminaries like Alfred Lunt, Lynne Fontanne, and Ethel Barrymore. "Ladies" is the one with Alan Hale Jr. very reluctantly being forced into a pastel gown to dance with the boys. Black soldiers bring their own version of jazz (including another drag dance by telling us "What the Well Dressed Man In Harlem Will Wear" in an incredible jitterbug routine. 

Even Irving Berlin gets in on the show Yes, that's the songwriter himself reprising "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up In the Morning" from the original Yip, Yip Yaphank near the very end. 

Trivia: It entered the public domain in the 70's.

It was a smash as a movie and a show, earning nearly ten million for the Army Relief Fund.

Regan and Murphy went into politics after their film careers fizzled. Murphy was a Senator from 1967 to 1971. Likewise, Regan became the Governor of California from 1967 to 1975, and later became President of the US during the 1980's. 

What I Don't Like: This Is the Army was originally a flat-out revue onstage with no story. Studios were wary of plotless musicals after the failure of many revues during the early sound era, but maybe they should have left this one alone. The corny plot barely exists, especially once the numbers kick in during the second half. We don't even see much of Leslie, despite Johnny's claim that he does intend to marry her eventually. The big "Mandy" minstrel number, with men in blackface and doing bad stereotypes, was nostalgia for an earlier time then, but may offend a lot more people than it inspires now. It doesn't help that the "Harlem" number is also riddled with stereotypes. 

There's also the movie's just too darn long. Probably half the songs during the second half and a lot of the weaker plot moments could have been cut or trimmed with no one the wiser.

The Big Finale: See it for the numbers if you're a fan of Murphy or Regan's film careers, or are feeling especially patriotic. 

Home Media: As mentioned, it's in the public domain, so you can pretty much find it anywhere. I recommend just avoiding all those sub-par cheap DVDs and watching it online, or as part of the Warner Bros Home Front Collection.

DVD - Warner Bros Homefront Collection

Amazon Prime

Happy 4th of July! - Take Me Out to the Ball Game

MGM, 1949
Starring Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams, and Betty Garrett
Directed by Busby Berkeley
Music by Roger Edens and others; Lyrics by Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and others

We celebrate America's birthday with a movie about it's favorite pastime. Kelly and Sinatra came together for a second time to play baseball stars who moonlight as vaudeville performers in the off-season, joined by popular comedienne Garrett and a land-locked Esther Williams. Does this sports tale hit a home run with audiences today, or does it strike out? Let's head to Opening Day for the Chicago Wolves at the turn of the 20th century and find out...

The Story: Dennis Ryan (Sinatra) and Eddie O'Brian (Kelly) return from vaudeville to discover that the Wolves have a new owner. K.C Higgins (Williams) is not only a woman, but is smart, athletic, and knows as much about baseball as the guys do. Dennis is smitten with her, but Eddie thinks she's a pain when she pushes their training. Dennis has his own fan, the very determined Shirley Delwyn (Garrett). Eddie's annoyed by K.C at first, until he too starts to see her charms.

Meanwhile, two gangsters have money on the Wolves losing in the pennant, and they think the best way to do that would be keep their best player, Eddie O'Brian, away from the team. They first offer him a dancing gig to tired him out, and when he quits that, outright knocks him out to keep him out of the game. When Shirley figures out what's going on, she, K.C, and Dennis have to find a way to get Eddie back in the game.

The Song and Dance: Charming confection features some enjoyable dances, glowing Technicolor costumes and sets, and a unique ball-field-meets-backstage plot. There may be a few other musical baseball tales, but not ones where the players are also performers. Kelly and Sinatra show all the chemistry and spirit they'd displayed five years before in Anchors Aweigh and would with Munshin again later that year in On the Town. Garrett is also having a lot of fun as she tries to get Sinatra to see her as more than just a groupie.

Favorite Number: Kelly and Sinatra start off strong with their vigorous rendition of the title song as part of their vaudeville act. "The Girl Said No" and "O'Brian to Ryan to Goldberg" are their numbers with Munshin, describing their adventures with various ladies across the US and their big winning triple play respectively. "Strictly USA" is the sole large chorus number, sung first by the guests at Garrett's big 4th of July clambake, then at the end by the four leads as part of their vaudeville act finale. Kelly's soft-shoe solo spoofs another holiday with an authentic Irish song, "The Hat My Dear Old Father Wore Upon St. Patrick's Day."

Trivia: Berkeley didn't direct that much of the movie, despite his name being on the finished film. He dropped out due to personal problems, and the film was finished by Kelly and Stanley Donen.

Ginger Rogers was originally supposed to play K.C Higgins, but dropped out a month before filming began. She replaced Judy Garland, who left due to her ongoing substance abuse problems.

What I Don't Like: It's pretty obvious Williams, despite her real-life athletic prowess, was a last-minute choice for K.C. She gets one short swimming scene, has zero chemistry with Kelly (and didn't get along with him or Donen in real-life), and doesn't really have that much to do after she shows up the guys on the ball field. The gangster plot also seems shoehorned in to give the second half more of a lift. I actually think seeing the guys go back-and-forth to their two jobs and how they dealt with that would have been more interesting without the cliched betting story. Not to mention, the finale is really kind of abrupt and rather ridiculous.

The Big Finale: Not a bad way to spend an hour and a half between barbecues on the 4th of July if you're a fan of any of the stars or the big MGM Technicolor musicals of the 40's and 50's.

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming, usually for under 10 dollars.

DVD
Amazon Prime

Happy 4th of July! - Yankee Doodle Dandy

Warner Bros, 1942
Starring James Cagney, Walter Huston, Joan Leslie, and Richard Whorf
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Music and Lyrics by George M. Cohan

I couldn't think of a better way to end our All-American Weekdays than with this salute to one America's most patriotic songwriters. The title song, "You're a Grand Old Flag," and "Give My Regards to Broadway" remain popular to this day. When I was in kindergarten, we started off the day by singing "You're a Grand Old Flag." My mother used to put this on every 4th of July either right before or after the fireworks. Is it worth being a part of your holiday barbecue? Let's head to the Music Box Theatre in New York, where Cohan (Cagney) is performing in one of his last shows, and find out...

The Story: Called to the President (Captain Jack Young) to receive a Congressional Gold Medal, Cohan ends up relating his life story. Born on the 4th of July to vaudevillians Jerry (Huston) and Nellie (Rosemary DeCamp) Cohan, he and later on his little sister Josie (Jeanne Cagney) join the act as soon as they're able. They travel from town to town, performing wherever there's a theater. George is eager to show his stuff, but his ego often gets them into trouble, whether it's playing "Peck's Bad Boy" as a child and getting too into his role, or pushing his girlfriend Mary (Leslie) and his music to an uninterested vaudeville producer as an adult.

 He finally leaves the act, joining with producer Sam Harris (Whorf) to hawk their songs to producers. They do manage to find a taker in producer Schwab (SK Sakall). George's show Little Johnny Jones is a huge hit, enough to bring back his family to appear in his next show. He even manages to get huge star Faye Templeton (Irene Manning) to appear in one of his shows. She does get to sing the ballad he wrote for Mary, "Mary's a Grand Old Name," but Mary and George are the ones who wed.

George keeps writing hits, but things are changing. His parents and sister retire, then pass away. He writes a huge hit during World War I, "Over There," then finds himself falling out of favor with the public during the more cynical 20's. After a trip around the world, he settles down on the farm with Mary...but it takes a group of teens and their attitudes and lack of recognition to convince him to make one final show.

The Song and Dance: After Pearl Harbor happened during filming, the cast and crew set out to make the most patriotic musical they could...and they certainly succeeded. Cagney won an Oscar for his performance as the cocky, charming theatrical jack-of-all-trade. His perpetual energy fuels the entire film, especially in the first half, when he and his family are struggling and he's trying to prove to Broadway that some Irish kid can dominate the stage. Huston is warm and funny as his beloved father; Leslie's lovely as his sweet and sensible Mary. Jeanne Cagney, Cagney's real-life sister, is cute as a button as Josie.

Favorite Number: Even where the biography is pure fiction, the numbers are pretty close to the mark. The staging of Little Johnny Jones is pretty accurate to the time, including the flare going up over the boat during "Give My Regards to Broadway." Likewise, Cagney's "Off the Record" in the finale is said to be spot-on. Cagney and Leslie are charming together in their duet to impress a pair of producers, "Harrigan." "Grand Old Flag" may be the most patriotic musical number ever committed to film, with its marching everyday Americans, Civil War veterans, and Huston and DeCamp dressed as no less than Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty.

Trivia: James Cagney actually disliked Cohan because he sided with the producers during the 1919 Equity strike. He agreed to play him because he had been accused of being a communist and needed to make something really patriotic to improve his image. This did it. The movie was a smash, the second-biggest hit of 1942 after MGM's Mrs. Miniver, and Warner Bros' biggest money-maker of the year.

Along with Best Actor for Cagney, it won Best Score of Musical and Best Sound Recording.

That little dance Cagney does going down the stairs after getting his medal wasn't originally in the script. He devised it right before the scene started shooting.

That's Eddie Foy Jr. playing his father in a short sequence where he comments on Cohan's many abilities. Cagney would repay the favor by playing Cohan in the 1955 film biography of Foy and his family, The Seven Little Foys.

There would be a somewhat more accurate Broadway stage version of Cohan's life in 1968 with Joel Gray as George, George M!

What I Don't Like: Cohan himself was a consultant on this movie, and he saw to it that very little that was unflattering got in there. Mary is a condensed version of his two wives Ethel and Agnes. His mother died well before his father. Popularity was a flop...in 1906, not 1915, when the Lusitania was sunk. There's no reference to his dust-ups with Equity in 1919 that soured him on directing for the rest of his life.

The Big Finale: A perfect cast and terrific, period-accurate numbers make all the difference and keep this from feeling as bland as other musical biographies of this period. If you love Cagney or Cohan or just want a blast of Americana, this his highly recommended.

Home Media: The 2-disc Special Edition I have was just re-released this year as part of the Warner Archives, who also put out the Blu-Ray. It's also easily found on several streaming companies.

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DVD - 5 Film Collection: Musicals
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