Saturday, March 10, 2018

Carolina Blues (1944), 6-

Band Leader Kay Kyser wants to take a holiday, but his publicist Charlotte has promised that he'll give a concert for defense plant workers. Due to the fact that his vocalist has quit to ... 
1h 21min | Musical | 20 December 1944
Director: Leigh Jason
Stars: Kay Kyser, Ann Miller, Victor Moore.
Sammy Lee ... choreographer


In the Tap! Appendix for Marie Bryant, Four Step Brothers, Ann Miller, Harold Nicholas. The one Harlem number begins at about 32 min, and is the only reason to watch this. (Ann Miller dances elsewhere, but we cut away for a lot of it, and she does her usual moves.)
https://www.discogs.com/artist/84962-Marie-Bryant

Found this photo of Marie Bryant, and did recognize her in the Mr. Beebe number with HN & the Step Brothers. She danced with HN for a while, matching his style while retaining her own. The Step Bros did things similar but different from what they did in Greenwich Village. Very enjoyable 8 min.

I've only posted about one other Kay Kyser movie, but it seems like I've watched more. There he was solving a murder mystery in a haunted house with his band. Not my cup of tea. He's less obnoxious here, even has a local citizen doing his signature shtick so he doesn't need to. He and his band are not so extremely comedic as Spike Jones and his City Slickers, but they're not a straight big band either. So far, neither (Spike nor Kay) is a reason to watch a musical, but also not a reason to avoid one either.

Columbia, dir. Jason; 6-
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