1h 20min | Comedy, Musical | 19 March 1943
Director: Erle C. Kenton
Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Grace McDonald, Cecil Kellaway, Eugene Pallette, Samuel S. Hinds.
Daniel Dare ... choreographer
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036047/
Although we have 5 musical numbers, and 2 of them have dancing, this was not classified as a Musical. Change submitted and accepted. I watched it because it's in the Tap! Appendix for Lou Costello, Four Step Brothers, Grace McDonald, Patsy O'Connor.
The Step Brothers appear in scenes 6 and 17 (finale; once they leave the stage they don't come back). Good stuff; hope to see them again, and for longer stretches of time. LC, GM & PO don't dance much, but enough you can see they could have done more.
Confusions: LC makes the dray horse sick by feeding him peppermint, then does something that makes the horse get up. Everyone gets excited, and we have a big celebratory production number in the street with everyone in the neighborhood. Next morning: the horse is dead. What?
A&C decide to replace the horse (CK makes his living as a horse-drawn cabbie). I'll skip to the confusing part: they end up at a stable, and take a horse. At least I don't remember their buying it. Why did they think they were entitled, and why weren't they prosecuted once they were discovered? (I know, because they're A&C.) Maybe it was explained and I just got distracted.
I'm really conflicted whether to put this on the worthwhile dancing list
Universal, dir. Kenton; 6
