Dorothy Babb Movies

In this musical, the three Andrews Sisters play elevator operators who work in an office building containing a music publishing business. The girls, all aspiring singers, hope to get a break while working there. Another resident in the building, a songwriter must cope with a plagiarism suit served against him by another aspiring songwriter. In order to get her to drop her suit, the first composer hires the second and begins to woo her into submission. Meanwhile the three elevator girls are discovered and happiness ensues all around. Songs include: "Don't Mind the Rain," "Take It and Git," "East of the Rockies," "Going Up," and "Here Comes the Navy." ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A bit higher-budgeted than most of Universal's "pocket" musicals, Get Hep to Love runs a full 79 mintues rather than the standard hard-and-fast hour. Gloria Jean plays child musical prodigy Doris Stanley, who is overworked and exploited by her avaricious Aunt Addie (Nana Bryant). Escaping her aunt's clutches for a well-deserved vacation, Doris manages to elude the private detective (Tim Ryan) hired to bring her back. Landing in a small town, she assumes a phony name and allows herself to be adopted by young marrieds Stephen and Ann Winters (Robert Paige, Jane Frazee). She also attends a "normal" high school for the first time in her life, where she vies with brattish Elaine Sterling (Cora Sue Collins) over the affections of Jimmy Arnold (Donald O'Connor). In standard movie-musical fashion, everyone's problems are straightened out with a climactic production number, spotlighting Gloria Jean's operatic soprano and Donald O'Connor's fancy footwork. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The much-maligned Playmates callously offers the appalling spectacle of a thoroughly dissolute John Barrymore in his final screen performance, but the film isn't quite as bad as it's supposed to be. Barrymore plays himself, a washed-up ham actor up to his ears in debts. When the IRS demands payment for back taxes, Barrymore's press agent Pete Lindsey (Peter Lynd Hayes) and manager Lulu Monohan (Patsy Kelly) suggest a sure-fire moneymaking scheme: the venerable thespian will transform bucolic bandleader Kay Kyser (also playing himself) into a Shakespearean actor, in exchange for a fat radio contract. Neither Kyser nor Barrymore are keen on this set-up, but while Kyser is willing to go through with the plan, Barrymore seeks various devious methods of wriggling out of the committment. Barrymore goes so far as to sic his peppery girlfriend Carmen del Toro (Lupe Velez) on poor Kyser, hoping to dissuade the bandleader from showing up at the climactic Long Island Shakespeare Festival peformance. When this fails, Barrymore spikes Kyser's throat spray with alum, only to be rendered speechless himself when the spray bottles are switched. Suffice to say that all ends happily, with Kay Kyser and his aggregation (Ginny Simms, Harry Babbitt, Ish Kabibble et. al.) performing a rather pleasant "swing" version of Romeo and Juliet. Admittedly, it's rather hard to watch Playmates knowing that John Barrymore had once been regarded as the greatest actor of his generation. Even so, a few bright moments shrine through, notably a poignant scene in which Barrymore briefly recaptures the old magic by reciting a few passages from Hamlet's soliloquy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi