1h 1min | Comedy, Music, Romance | 7 November 1941
Director: William Nigh
Stars: Grace Hayes, Peter Lind Hayes, Mary Healy, Huntz Hall.
George King ... dance stager
watched on AmazonPrime; also found online elsewhere. Mediocre print, very bad audio; missed a lot of dialog.
Note that Grace Hayes and Mary Healy play characters with their own names, that GH is actually PLH's mother in real life, and MH is his real wife (since '40). PLH's character name is Peter Kendrick but GH refers to him as PLH within the story, because he doesn't know who his mother really is, and doesn't know her when she's in front of him.
In the Tap! Appendix for Roland Dupree (b. 1925, and looks even younger). This is his 3rd of 26 credits (last film acting in '49), 6 of which list him as a member of Jivin' Jacks and Jills. In addition to his, we get some decent ensemble dancing in the maltshop, in an audition scene, and at the show/finale.
Huntz Hall does 2 numbers in the show: dressed in an evening gown dancing with PLH, and in an Army uniform, singing a song that flirts with being This is the Army Mr. Jones, but that wasn't out yet (supposedly '42). Plus he's his usual character throughout.
I can't be sure how much was incoherent because of the writing, and how much because the audio was horrible, and/or footage was missing. How did the maltshop turn into a nightclub? Did they serve liquor? Why did the parents stop supporting the college? (Something about football?) How is putting on a show going to compensate for lost endowments? I can understand hiding your profession from your son, but he doesn't know you by name/sight?
The + is for dancing. But it's not good enough to make my "worthwhile dancing" list.
Monogram, dir. Nigh; 5+
