Happy Mother's Day! - Three Daring Daughters

MGM, 1948

Starring Jeanette MacDonald, Jose Iturbi, Jane Powell, and Edward Arnold

Directed by Fred M. Wilcox

Music and Lyrics by various

Let's celebrate a day devoted to mothers with a movie about a mother and her very devoted offspring. Jeanette MacDonald's last starring role had been in the spy comedy Cairo in 1942. She was last seen in a cameo in Universal's big wartime revue Follow the Boys in 1944. This was intended to be a bit of a comeback for her after she spent time focusing on opera. For Jane Powell, this was her third movie, and her second of five times she'd try to play matchmaker to a single parent. How does the story of a harried mother who marries a concert pianist on a trip, only to discover her daughters want to get her together with her ex-husband, look in a time when divorce and blended families are far more common? Let's begin at the graduation ceremony of older teen Tess Morgan (Powell), who is disappointed when she sees an empty chair in the audience that should be filled by her mother Louise (MacDonald), and find out...

The Story: Louise is late because she fainted at her job as an editor for Modern Design Magazine. Dr. Cannon (Harry Davenport) insists that she takes a vacation alone to help her nerves. She takes a month-long cruise to Cuba. On board, she meets concert pianist Jose Iturbi (Himself), who is playing with the ship's orchestra. They end up falling in love and marrying. Trouble is, Louise told the girls their father was a wonderful man, when he was really a bad father who abandoned his wife and daughters. She didn't want them to feel bad about their father, but her trying to protect them backfires when they go to their father's boss Robert Nelson (Arnold) and ask him to bring their father back so he can re-marry her. They're shocked when she finally admits she married Iturbi and try to drive him away, until they realize just how much in love Louise and her new husband are.

The Song and Dance: This is charmingly low-key for a big MGM musical in the late 40's. It's mostly just MacDonald, the three young ladies, and Iturbi, with Arnold occasionally tossing in blustery reactions as the girls beg him to get their father home or keep him from coming and interrupt his meals. MacDonald is warm and affectionate with the girls, and you can understand why they adore her so much, they try to interfere with her love life. I especially love the sweet scene when the girls call their mother shipboard to serenade her on her birthday. There's some lovely costumes too, with lavish gowns for MacDonald in Cuba and attractive teen and kids' clothing for the girls. 

The Numbers: We open with the young ladies of Miss Drake's School for Girls singing their "Alma Mater" as Tess tries to ask her youngest sister Alix (Elinor Donahue) where their mother is. She finally arrives in time to see Tess perform "Passipied." "The Dickey Bird" is heard three times. The first time has the three girls playing it for their mother, who joins in. The second is in the finale; Iturbi joins in here as well. Tess sings "Flurette" to get Morgan's attention from his meal when the girls first descend on his mansion. 

Iturbi's first solo is "Lieberstraum," which he plays on the ship with an orchestra. He plays "Where There's Love" for Louise the next night. She also briefly performs "You Made Me Love You." His real-life wife Amparo joins him for the "Rumanian Rhapsody In A, Opus 11 No.1" at the big Cuban concert. The girls adorably sing "Happy Birthday" and part of "Dickey Bird" over the phone for their touched and impressed mother. The only chorus number is the brief "Ritual Fire Dance" at the show in Cuba. The dancers sing "Happy Birthday" in Spanish for Louise here, too. 

After Louise and Iturbi return from the cruise, they think he's there to audition Tess. She sings "Juliet's Waltz" from Romeo et Juliet for him. Iturbi conducts the "Allegro Appasinato, Opus 10" with a huge classical orchestra at a concert hall. Louise's second song with Iturbi as she rehearses with him at the concert hall is "Sweethearts."  The girls play "Route 66" at home, claiming Iturbi knows nothing about modern music. Iturbi repeats it and plays it quite well, swing and all. Tess sings "Springtide" with her mother to apologize for driving Iturbi away and calling their father without permission. 

What I Don't Like: The story occasionally edges into something more annoying than cute, especially in the second half. On one hand, what the girls did stepped out of bounds, and the older ones in particular were modern levels of bratty about it. On the other hand, Louise should not have lied about their father, whether she was trying to protect them or not. The complicated story is basically sitcom fluff that would turn up in every other family comedy of the 80's and 90's. Iturbi is no more interesting wooing a woman closer to his own age than he was as the object of Jane Powell's affection in Holiday In Mexico two years before. 

The Big Finale: Just sweet enough to be charming Mother's Day viewing with your own Mom this Sunday.

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Happy Mother's Day! - Young People

20th Century Fox, 1940

Starring Shirley Temple, Charlotte Greenwood, Jack Oakie, and George Montgomery

Directed by Allan Dwan

Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Mack Gordon

We celebrate Mother's Day and unconventional families with Shirley Temple's last movie as a child star. By this point, she was 12, and just starting to outgrow melodramatic stories like this one. When her previous fantasy movie The Blue Bird was a flop, Fox tossed her back into something closer to the movies she'd been making since 1935. Were they right to do this, or should this be shunned? Let's begin onstage with Joe (Oakie) and Kit (Greenwood) Ballantine as they receive a certain basket from a mysterious older woman (Mary Gordon) and find out...

The Story: The basket contains not birds, but the infant daughter of their dear friend Barney O'Hara. He was about to pass on and wanted his daughter to be well cared-for. Kit and Joe not only take little Wendy (Temple) in, they keep the New England farm O'Hara left them, too. 

When Wendy turns 12, they move to the farm in the hope of starting a new life away from the stage. Though they try to be friendly, most of the townspeople consider them to be too brash and loud and shun them. It doesn't help when they align with the town's newspaper editor Mike Shea (Montgomery) against snooty Hester Appleby (Kathleen Howard) and her pretty niece Judith (Arleen Whelan) on the idea of progress. After Wendy's simple class dance offends the parents, they're ready to leave town but are prevented by a hurricane. It takes an act of selflessness from the trio to prove to the town that there's nothing wrong with being different, and maybe progress isn't such a bad thing.

The Song and Dance: Though the focus is on Temple, Oakie and Greenwood are the ones who really steal the show as the seasoned troopers who want to give a better life to a child that has come to mean so much to them. Oakie in particular has some very funny moments when he's clashing with the townspeople in the second half. Temple also does her best onstage in numbers with her onscreen parents and the hilarious song and dance at the school that got the parents so upset. 

The Numbers: We open onstage at a vaudeville house, as faux southerners Kit and Joe sing about "The Mason-Dixon Line." We see Wendy grow up in sequences from two previous Temple films with Joe singing and Kit clowning, "On the Beach at Waikiki" from Curly Top and the title song of "Baby Take a Bow" with her in the infamous polka-dot dress. (The latter lets Greenwood parody Temple in her own short dress and babyish voice!) "Fifth Avenue" is the top hat-and-cane routine that introduces the 12-year-old Wendy. They sing it again later when getting ready to leave after being shunned.  

"I Wouldn't Take a Million," says Joe when he and his two favorite ladies are driving home from the town meeting. The children sing the gentle hymn "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton" at school, but it's too quiet for Joe and the young men. Wendy and the children, dressed as adults, insist that they're "Young People" and deserve to be treated more like grown-ups. Their assertiveness is shocking enough, but then they start tap dancing! Wendy reprises "I Wouldn't Take a Million" to explain how much she loves her parents, even if they aren't her birth parents. The film ends with the trio singing "Tra La La" to celebrate their staying at Stonefield.

What I Don't Like: On one hand, Oakie and Greenwood's genial presence (and the fact that no one tries to take Temple away from them) keeps this a bit lighter than some of her other melodramas. It still hits a lot of the cliches, though, from the well-meaning old grouches who don't know how to have fun to the superfluous young lovers who are there for Temple to play matchmaker. Neither Montgomery nor Whelan are terribly memorable in underwritten roles. The songs are also far from the best to appear in her movies. "I Wouldn't Take a Million" is sweet, but "Fifth Avenue" sounds like a parody of "Lullaby of Broadway," and "Tra La La" is a generic cheer-up ditty.

The Big Finale: Temple's final movie from her child star days isn't her best, but it's worth checking out with your kids this Mother's Day weekend if they or you are a fan of her films.

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Happy Mother's Day! - Gypsy (1993)

CBS, 1993

Starring Bette Midler, Cynthia Gibb, Peter Riegert, and Jennifer Rae Beck

Directed by Emilie Ardolino 

Music by Jules Styne; Lyrics by Stephan Sondheim

We celebrate Mother's Day this year with the second filmed version of this beloved show. Midler had wanted to play Mama Rose, the ultimate pushy stage mother, for years. The original theatrical film had been a hit with audiences in 1962, but it hadn't gone over well with many critics, who lamented the loss of the song "Together Wherever We Go" and believed Rosalind Russell to be miscast as Rose. Ardolino had mainly directed PBS documentaries on dance and performance before he had major hits with Dirty Dancing in 1987 and Sister Act in 1992. How does Midler's turn as Mama Rose look now? Let's begin at a theater in Seattle, where little Louise (Elisabeth Moss) and June Hovick (Lacey Chabert) are performing for Uncle Jocko's (Tony Shalhoub) kids show and find out...

The Story: Rose Hovick (Midler) is determined that pretty blonde June (Beck) will be a vaudeville star no matter what it takes, including neglecting the less-talented Louise (Gibb). She rounds up a group of boys to back June for a newsboys act and convinces candy salesman Herbie Sommers (Riegert) to become her agent. The act goes over well enough for a time, but June rebels when she grows out of it and gets tired of her mother's smothering. After she runs off with one of the chorus boys, Rose turns her attention to making Louise a star.

Not only does Louise lack her sister's talent and charisma, but the one-two punch of sound movies and the Great Depression is killing vaudeville. Herbie can only manage to get them booked in a third-rate burlesque house in Wichita, Kansas. The low-down strippers and slapstick comics horrify Rose at first, until one of the strippers is arrested for soliciting. If Rose can't get Louise into vaudeville, she'll turn her into the greatest stripper who ever lived, the elegant Gypsy Rose Lee! 

The Song and Dance: No wonder Midler wanted to play this so badly. She's a force of nature, barreling through everything and everyone in her path. This is a woman you can believe would use her kids, Herbie, and everyone else to be noticed. The supporting cast is equally good, with Riegert more than matching her as the salesman who only wants to marry her and Gibb a strong and lovely budding Louise. The strippers are a riot too, especially long-time Broadway favorite Christine Ebersole as Tessie Tura. Though the sets are as stagey as the 1962 version, Ardolino manages to avoid the cramped feeling that marred the original film. The costumes by Bob Mackie are especially gorgeous - check out the stripper's outfits and Louise's gowns in the end as Gypsy Rose Lee. 

Favorite Number: We open with June and Louise singing "Let Me Entertain You" in their adorable Dutch children's costumes at Uncle Jocko's kid show. It shows up again later in a very different context as the number Louise sings at the burlesque theater in Wichita. She's hesitant at first, but with her mother's prompting and the encouragement of the crowd, eventually gets into it. It continues as we progress through different cities and burlesque houses, until it turns into a huge Adam and Eve chorus routine at Minsky's in New York.

Rose complains at home in Seattle with her father (Ed Asner) about how "Some People" are expected to live little lives, and she doesn't want that for her daughters. "Small World" is Rose's first number with Herbie as she convinces him to become their agent. "Baby June and Her Newsboys" and "Dainty June and her Farmboys" are Rose's idea of a big vaudeville number for June, with the boys and Louise literally singing her praises in the first and Louise as the back half of a cow in the second. Rose, June, and the boys convince "Mr. Goldstone" (Michael Jeter) to take their act. Louise sings "Little Lamb" with a real lamb as she wonders what her actual age is. Louise wonders what would happen "If Momma Was Married," while June just hopes it would get her mother off her back. Rose reminds Herbie that "You'll Never Get Away From Me" in a Chinese restaurant after almost leaving him to care for the girls and he threatens to walk out. 

Tulsa, one of the boys (Jeffery Broadhurst), shows Louise what he hopes will be his own classy dance act, "All I Need Is the Girl." Louise and Herbie watch in shock as Rose insists "Everything's Coming Up Roses," even though June and the boys have abandoned them at Omaha. Louise and Herbie are feeling a lot better when Rose upgrades the new act in "Together Wherever We Go," which makes its filmed debut here. Former ballerina Tessie Tura and fellow strippers Miss Mazeppa (Linda Hart) and Miss Electra (Anna McNeely) insist to Louise that "You Gotta Get a Gimmick" to make it in burlesque, showing how different from and similar to each other they are. Tired of supporting everyone and being thrown away afterwards, Rose finally steps out on the runway for the dynamic finale "Rose's  Turn."

Trivia: Sadly, Ardolino didn't live to see this film's success. He died of AIDS three weeks before it debuted. It's dedicated to him. 

What I Don't Like: This isn't the place for people who don't like Midler or the big, brassy musicals of the 1950's and 60's. One thing it does have in common with the original film is the length. It's over 2 1/2 hours without commercials. It's still too long, and it still shows its stage origins too plainly. I don't think there's a way to make this more cinematic. It was just made to be a stage show. 

The Big Finale: While I do like the 1962 film, this one has many charms, including an excellent performance by Midler, a decent supporting cast, and gorgeous costumes. Check out both with your mom this Mother's Day and see which one you prefer.

Home Media: The DVD is in print but pricey. Streaming is your best bet here. You can find it for free just about anywhere right now, including Pluto TV and Amazon Prime.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Pluto TV

Happy Mother's Day! - The Little Colonel

20th Century Fox, 1935

Starring Shirley Temple, Lionel Barrymore, Evelyn Venable, and Hattie McDaniel

Directed by David Butler

Music and Lyrics by various

This year, we celebrate a day for mothers with the story of a little girl who brings together her beloved mother and the grandfather she never knew. This was originally a popular children's book that debuted in 1895. It became the first of two southern-set vehicles for Shirley during the height of her own fame as the number one star - of any age - in the world. Nowadays, it's one of her best-known vehicles for the famous sequence with her and tap king Bill Robinson dancing on the stairs together, but in other ways, it hasn't dated well. Let's begin before Shirley's birth, at the home of Colonel Lloyd Sherman (Barrymore) and his daughter Elizabeth (Venable), and find out what caused that rift between father and daughter...

The Story: Elizabeth defies her father by marrying northerner Jack Sherman (John Lodge). Her father detests the north after the south lost the Civil War. The stubborn duo refuses to speak to each other or acknowledge each other again. Despite that, Elizabeth eventually names her only daughter, the pride of her husband's Calvary regiment, after her father (Temple). The officers dub Lloyd their "little colonel," a title she takes seriously.

Elizabeth and Lloyd are forced to move into a run-down cottage on her father's property after Jack goes west in search of gold. Her father doesn't even know about Lloyd until he catches her playing with two black children near his home and taking his flowers. He's not happy with her temper and dirty clothes at first, but the two gradually become friends. Lloyd's delighted when her father finally returns, but not that he's sick and was cheated out of his rightful share of fake gold by two swindlers. Lloyd knows it's up to her to get help when those two swindlers come after her father...and to bring her parents and grandfather together when he's the only one who can save them.

The Song and Dance: If nothing else, I do appreciate that this may be the only Shirley Temple vehicle where she has both parents and isn't adopted or an orphan. Her father is gone for a good chunk of the movie, but he does survive his ordeals. The real drama here is between father, daughter, and granddaughter. Barrymore is hilarious and adorable with Temple and perfectly stern with Venable. Hattie MacDaniel is hilarious as Elizabeth's housekeeper Rebecca, who knows how to keep an eye on mother and daughter, and Bill Robinson almost as much fun as the elder Lloyd's long-suffering valet Walker. Watch out for the last five minutes or so - it's filmed in absolutely gorgeous Technicolor. 

Favorite Number: We open at the party with a dubbed Venable singing the old favorite "Love's Young Dream." Temple reprises this later, wearing the same frilly dress and huge feathered bonnet her mother did as a child. Young Lloyd gets a view of African-American ritual in the south when Rebecca and Walker take her to see workers perform "Wade In the Water" as they baptize those who have sinned. 

Of course, the most famous routines from this one are Robinson and Temple dancing together. Everyone remembers them on the stairs, but they actually dance together twice. Robinson starts off on the stairs, showing Temple how to dance. She's so impressed, she wants to learn, and they tap up and down the stairs until Barrymore shows up and ends the number. Later, after her father's home, she comes to the stable to show Walker her fancy new clothes, and he teaches her more steps. They're so funny together and such scene-stealers, no wonder they'd dance together in at least two more films. (Not to mention, are pioneers in other ways - this was the first interracial dance couple in films.)

Trivia: Temple's habit of memorizing everyone's lines did not endear her to Barrymore at first, until she asked for his autograph and said he was one of her favorite actors. They really did become good friends after that and remained so until Barrymore's death in 1954. She also remained good friends with Robinson for years.

What I Don't Like: Though this movie is set after the Civil War, among free African-Americans, it portrays the black characters as perfectly happy to be servants and to take the abuse given by the whites (especially the elder male Lloyd). Temple gives orders to the two black kids who play with her and can be condescending to them as well. Venable and Lodge do well enough, and while it is refreshing to see both parents survive to the end of one of Temple's films, they're no match for Temple's cuteness, Barrymore's fire, or Robinson and MacDaniel getting some of the best lines.

The Big Finale: If you and your mother can handle the dated attitudes towards minorities and treatment of the post-Civil War south, this is one of Temple's best movies and is highly recommended. 

Home Media: As one of Temple's most popular vehicles, this is easily found on DVD and streaming.

DVD

DVD - The Shirley Temple Collection Volume Three

Amazon Prime

Happy Mother's Day! - My Blue Heaven (1950)

20th Century Fox, 1950

Starring Betty Grable, Dan Dailey, David Wayne, and Jane Wyatt

Directed by Henry Koster

Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by Ralph Blane

Mother Wore Tights wasn't the last time Betty Grable and Dan Dailey played singing and dancing parents. This modern story of a dancing team who want to adopt a baby was Grable and Dailey's third of four films together. In addition to being a rare musical family drama, it's also one of the earliest film musicals to be set around television. TV was already starting to make headway as the latest up-and-coming medium, and far bigger threat to movies' pop culture dominance than radio. How does one couple handle all these changes? Let's start as radio star Kitty Moran (Grable) learns she's going to have a baby and find out...

The Story: Kitty and her partner and husband Jack (Dailey) are thrilled, and so are all of their friends. Sadly, their dreams of parenthood are shattered when Jack gets drunk at the baby shower and his wife is hurt in a car accident and miscarries. They try to adopt a child on the suggestion of their producer and sponsor Walter Pringle (Wayne) and his wife Janet (Wyatt), but can't due to their status as performers. 

Even as their show moves to television, things seem to be turning around, and they find an orphanage willing to let them adopt a boy...until the priggish head of the home Mrs. Bates (Minerva Urecal) sees their friends having a wild party at their apartment to welcome the baby and decides they aren't fit parents after all. Kitty's devastated, until Walter finds a woman who wants to give away her child. Kitty insists on taking care of the baby herself...but first she has to fend off her understudy Gloria (Mitzi Gaynor) when she takes her place on the show, then the child's father turns up and wants it back...

The Song and Dance: I give this one credit for originality. Musicals don't often go into domestic drama, and there's even fewer that involve adoption and how difficult the process is. There's also its discussion of early live television. Movies were mostly trying to ignore this upstart rival at this point; this may have been one of the first film musicals to use it as part of the plot. Daily and Grable make just as believable a couple in modern dress as they did in the early 20th century, and Wayne and Wyatt more than match them as the goofier couple who already have six kids, three adopted. 

Favorite Number: We begin with Grable and Dailey clowning on their radio show, singing about tax season and how "It's Deductible," even every member of the family. Wayne and all the men from the show joke about "What a Man!" Dailey is for conceiving a child, as they all get drunk and raucous at the baby shower. They sing about "Halloween" dressed as scarecrows for the Pringle kids after losing the baby. Grable and Dailey are servants dreaming of a night on the town in their masters' clothes and how "I Love a New Yorker" during their TV show. 

"Live Hard, Work Hard, Play Hard" starts off with Dailey as a gambler singing about his personal motto and Gaynor as the moll who wants him to pay more attention to her...until we cut to Grable's apartment and see her watching the show. The number finishes with her as she dances her part, claiming she could do better than Gloria ever did. "The Friendly Islands" is an obvious spoof of then then-major Broadway hit "South Pacific," with Dailey attempting to sing bass like Enzio Pinza, Grable in bad dark makeup as the native girl he falls for, and "islanders" and sailors swaying all around them. 

Trivia: Film debut of Mitzi Gaynor.

What I Don't Like: I appreciate them tackling difficult subjects like adultery and adoption in a movie musical....but I wish they'd actually figured out if they wanted to be a domestic drama or a slightly dark comedy. There's enough mood whiplash in this film to give you neck cramps. It goes right from the car crash - which we don't see much of - and her recovery into the "Halloween" sequence. Jack looks like he's dallying with Gloria...and then Kitty shows up quickly to lay down the law. On one hand, I am glad they didn't linger over a messy subplot...but it also makes me wish the film hadn't passed over this so quickly. The ending is fairly abrupt and a bit too obvious and happy-ending for the somewhat darker story before it.

Frankly, none of the musical numbers are all that memorable, either. The music is dull, and other than the novel integration of "Live Hard, Work Hard, Play Hard" as Grable wishes she was one performing, mostly don't have anything to do with the film and slow it down. 

The Big Picture: While I give 20th Century Fox credit for trying something different with Grable's vehicles, it's still best for fans of her, Dailey, or the big musicals of the 1950's. 

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Happy Mother's Day! - Gypsy (1962)

Warner Bros, 1962
Starring Rosalind Russell, Karl Malden, Natalie Wood, and Ann Jillian
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Music by Jules Styne; Lyrics by Stephan Sondheim

Not all mothers are as sweet as Myrtle Burt from last year's Mother's Day review Mother Wore Tights. Rose Hovick is the ultimate stage mother, pushing and shoving her young into show business, no matter what else they might want. The show remains wildly popular on Broadway to this day, but how does the first film version look now? Let's head to a small-time children's talent show, where two girls are about to audition, and find out...

The Story: Rose (Russell) is determined that her pretty blonde daughter June (Jillian) will be a vaudeville star, at the expense of her shy and less-talented older child Louise (Wood). Snitching money from her reluctant father, she hooks up with Herbie (Malden), a candy salesman with show business connections. Herbie helps her round up boys to perform in a vaudeville act centering around girlish and personable June, with Louise among the boys.

The act goes over well for a while...until the kids grow into teens, and Herbie begins to demand Rose marries him. June and the boys are tired of Rose regurgitating the same old act in different costumes and ultimately quit. Louise and Herbie are fed up as well, but Rose has another brainstorm. Now, the girls are boys, Louise is at the center, and Rose figures they're back on top.

Trouble is, it's now the 1930's. Not only is it in the midst of the Great Depression, but the one-two punch of radio and sound films is killing vaudeville. The new act ends up in burlesque, which with its strippers and slapstick comics, was the lowest possible rung for performers. Rose is ready to give up and marry Herbie...but she still wants to make Louise a star. If not vaudeville, Louise will become a star in burlesque, as the most famous stripper in history, Gypsy Rose Lee!

The Song and Dance: There's a reason this is considered to be one of the greatest musicals of all time. For once, the script of a musical is its strongest asset, making us understand why Rose can be such a force of nature and still attract Herbie and Louise. Russell does well enough with the book scenes, especially arguing with Wood towards the end, when she's finally realizing that her daughters are grown and don't need her constant fussing anymore. Wood more than matches her as the tomboy who's spent her life being told she has no talent, only to discover that her innocent womanhood may be her greatest "talent." Malden does equally well as Rose's soft-hearted lover, who loves her, but just wishes she'd stop shoving at her girls and be a wife.

Favorite Number: "Let Me Entertain You" is sung several times throughout the film, starting with June and Lousie performing it as a cutesy kid number at the children's talent show. It ends with Louise turning it into her big stripper number when she gets onstage at the burlesque show and realizes where her talent really lays.

Wood and Jillian also get the lament "If Mama Were Married" at the Orpheum theater, when they wish their mother would just give up the act and marry Herbie. Rose lures Herbie with the ballad "Small World" after he helps her when her car breaks down on the way to Seattle, and again when she thinks they're going to hit the big time, "You'll Never Get Away From Me." One of the boys (Paul Wallace) shows his dreamed-about solo act "All I Need Is the Girl" to a hopeful Louise. Three low-down but good-hearted strippers give Louise the advice that "You've Gotta Get a Gimmick," as they show hilariously just how different and similar to one another their "gimmicks" are.

Trivia: "Together Wherever We Go" and Herbie's part of "You'll Never Get Away From Me" were filmed, but cut. They exist and are included as extras on the DVD and Blu-Ray (though not in the best shape).

Ironically, given Rosalind Russell was dubbed, Natalie Wood did her own singing on "If Mamma Was Married," "Let Me Entertain You," and "Little Lamb."

What I Don't Like: Russell doesn't do as well when she's actually called on to sing. She was dubbed by Lisa Kirk, which leaves the big first and second-act closers "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and "Rose's Turn" without the necessary oomph to really portray Rose's determination. And it's obvious this is a Broadway adaptation of the 1960's. The movie is too long and very stagy; it's basically a filmed Broadway play.

The Big Finale: Come for Russell as the ultimate domineering stage mama; stay for the strong supporting cast, delightful score, and one of the best scripts in any musical.

Home Media: Easily found on all formats, including streaming; the Blu-Ray is from the Warner Archives.

DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime

Happy Mother's Day! - Mother Wore Tights

20th Century Fox, 1947
Starring Betty Grable, Dan Dailey, Mona Freeman, and Connie Marshall
Directed by Walter Lang
Music by Josef Myrow; Lyrics by Mack Gordon

Happy Mother's Day! I'm reviewing this one in honor of my mother, Cheryl Jackman. It's one of her favorite movies, and I'm glad I was able to find it for both of us. Betty Grable had one of her biggest hits with this film, and it introduced her to her friend and frequent partner Dan Dailey. Let's head to the porch of a quiet little house to meet a kindly old couple, and hear the story of Miriam "Mikie" Burt's (narration by Anne Baxter) unusual family...

The Story:  Myrtle McKinley (Grable) meets Frank Burt (Dailey) shortly after her high school graduation in 1900, when she goes into San Francisco with two friends and tries to get into a burlesque house for free. Her friend lies and says they're there for jobs, but only Myrtle sticks it out. Frank sees her talent and takes a liking to her, offering to do a duo act. She takes him up on the offer, but almost leaves for another show before he finally breaks down and proposes.

Their new vaudeville act is a success. Myrtle takes time off to have two daughters, Iris (Freeman), and Miriam (Marshall), whom they call "Mikie." She raises them for a while, but her grandmother (Sara Allgood) eventually suggests that she returns to the act to keep an eye on her husband. She does, successfully.

They do well enough to have regular holidays, including the girls visiting them on the road one Christmas, and another one to a quiet little resort hotel in the Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts. While her parents perk up the staid regulars, Iris falls in love with Bob (Robert Arthur), a young man whose family regularly goes there. She convinces her parents to let her and Mikie go to boarding school in Boston, but learns to her horror that her new friends don't think the stage is a dignified profession. Frank and Myrtle put on a show for the school to prove that vaudeville can indeed be sophisticated and elegant.

The Song and Dance: No wonder Mom loves this movie, and it was said to have been Betty Grable's favorite of her vehicles. It's adorable. Dailey and Grable make a nice couple and are quite believable as married parents of teenagers, two buddy-next-door blondes. Freeman is lovely as their confused teen daughter (although her beautiful voice was dubbed). The beginning in San Francisco when they meet and their trip to the quietest, most dull hotel in New England are also a lot of fun. The vaudeville angle gives this one an edge that many coming-of-age musical tales lack.

The color in this movie is gorgeous, especially when they're at the resort. The residents may be dull, but their surroundings are brilliant. The costumes are also nicely done, especially during the vaudeville numbers.

Favorite Number: The British music hall standard "Burlington Bertie from Bow" turns up in another 20th Century Fox musical, first performed by Dailey, then by Grable in a dead-on imitation. "You Do" was nominated for an Oscar, and it gets two nice run-throughs, a glamorous vaudeville version after Myrtle has returned to the act, and Iris singing it at her graduation in the finale. Grable and Dailey get two more good vaudeville numbers, the funny "This Is My Hometown" as they switch towns and theaters, and the sweet "Kokomo, Indiana."

Trivia: This is based on the memoir Mother Wore Tights, by the real Miriam (Burt) Young (who apparently went on to become a children's book author).

Mother Wore Tights was the first of four films that Grable and Dailey appeared in together in the late 40's and early 50's.

Betty Grable was pregnant during the making of this film, which explains why her stomach is frequently covered by banjos or feathers.

What I Don't Like: The movie feels too short, especially for a coming-of-age story. I would have liked to have seen more of the girls at the resort and in boarding school. We don't really see much of Mikie at all other than her falling down at the resort. Despite Myrtle's constant worry about her grandmother figuring out that she shucked college in the beginning, she accepts her new career awfully fast. Grable doesn't look much like a teenager, either (especially compared to the real young people later in the movie). As nice as the costumes are, once we get past the early 1900's, it doesn't really look that historical other than some of Mikie's girls' dresses.

The Big Finale: If you or your mother are fans of Grable, Dailey, or coming-of-age stories, you'll want to see if you can find this charming tale.

Home Media: At press time, this is only avaible on DVD via the made-to-order 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives.

DVD