Irving Bacon Movies

This second film version of the George and Ira Gershwin's Broadway hit Girl Crazy stars reigning MGM musical prince and princess Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. The 1932 version of Girl Crazy de-emphasized the main plot, building up the comic subplot involving a timorous temporary sheriff and a city slicker con man -- the better to accommodate that film's stars, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey. The 1943 remake does without the comic relief, concentrating on Rooney, a teenaged playboy who is sent to a Western mining school by his father (Henry O'Neill), in the hopes that the Rooney will forsake his wastrel ways. Judy Garland is cast in the role originated on stage by Ginger Rogers: the feisty, lovelorn frontier postmistress Ginger Gray, who falls in love with the hero -- the difference being that Garland has been promoted from postmistress to the daughter of mining-school dean Phineas Armour (Guy Kibbee). The new plot involves a contest for rodeo queen, pitting Ginger against Marjorie Tait (Frances Rafferty), who is also her rival for Rooney's affections. The contest serves a double purpose: Rooney is hoping that the publicity engendered by the rivalry will attract students to the failing school, proof positive that for all of his bravado, he's a swell, altruistic guy underneath. These plot complications are merely prologue for a gargantuan musical finale built upon the Gershwin standard "I Got Rhythm," staged by the film's original director, Busby Berkeley. Other musical carryovers from the stage play include "Embraceable You," "Bidin' My Time," and "But Not for Me." Featured in the cast are June Allyson, Rags Ragland, and the Tommy Dorsey Band. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

The Bashful Bachelor was the second of six 1940s B films inspired by the popular radio series Lum 'N' Abner. The two principal characters are the proprietors of the Jot 'Em Down Store in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Lum (Chester Lauck) endeavors to impress a marriageable middle-aged lady (ZaSu Pitts) by becoming a hero. Lum's partner Abner (Norris Goff) reluctantly agrees to pretend to be the victim of several staged accidents, so that Lum can come to the rescue and prove his courage. Somehow this ends with a slapstick horse race. Director Mal St. Clair reaps better results from Lum 'N' Abner than he would in his subsequent Laurel & Hardy comedies at 20th Century-Fox. The Bashful Bachelor was put together by independent Voco Productions, and released by RKO Radio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The bucolic, down-home novels and short stories of Gene Stratton-Porter had been fodder for Monogram's screenwriting staff ever since the early 1930s. This cinemazation of Stratton-Porter's Freckles Comes Home stars Johnny Downs as the title character, who returns from college to his sedentary home town. Freckles' efforts to bring the community kicking and screaming into the 20th century somehow require him to tackle a group of gangsters who've taken up residence for the purpose of knocking off the town's bank. Every so often, the story stops dead in its tracks to permit black comedian Mantan Moreland to indulge in one of his famous "interrupted conversation" routines; they're the highlight of the picture. Seen as Johnny Downs' hometown sweetheart is Gale Storm, who does some of her best acting to date as the bank president's daughter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The fourth of five movie versions of the rugged Rex Beach novel of the same name, 1942's The Spoilers stars Marlene Dietrich, John Wayne, and Randolph Scott. The plot, involving the cheating of Alaskan gold rush prospectors by a crooked gold commissioner, requires that Scott play a villain, Alexander McNamara. Prospector Roy Glennister (Wayne) is continually persecuted by McNamara, who has the law on his side, until the two decide to settle their dispute man-to-man in a spectacular reel-long fistfight. La Dietrich plays saloon-hall gal Cherry Mallote, who becomes the romantic bone of contention between Glennister and McNamara. William Farnum, who played John Wayne's role in the original 1914 filmization of The Spoilers, plays a key supporting role in this remake; also on hand in a cameo is poet Robert W. Service, of The Shooting of Dan McGrew fame. Listen for a cute inside joke at the beginning of the picture, invoking the name of co-producer Lee Marcus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Young America is not so much a Jane Withers vehicle as a 73-minute advertisement for the 4-H clubs of America. Cast against type, Withers plays a spoiled-brat urban girl who is shipped off by her exasperated parents to work on a 4-H farm. At first, she manages to alienate every one of her youthful coworkers, but she has a change of heart as she becomes more deeply involved in the organization's good works. Our heroine finally proves that she's a good kid withal by pitching in enthusiastically during crop-harvesting time, and by winning a county-fair prize for raising the best Hereford bull. And as a bonus, she finds a sweetheart in the form of handsome farm boy Robert Wilde. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Irene Dunne plays a flibbetygibbet socialite who inherits a farm in Arizona. She can't seem to manage either her money or her private life, thus seeks advice from outside sources. Irene falls in love with fledgling Manhattan psychiatrist Patric Knowles, and marries him in the hope that he'll solve all her problems. Lady in a Jam was advertised as one of the most expensive comedies ever made; the studio was banking on the reputations of star Irene Dunne and director Gregory LaCava to draw crowds. But when the film failed (it shifted emotional gears a bit too often for 1942 film fans), both the lady and the gentleman found their careers in "a jam"--from which Dunne recovered but LaCava didn't. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Anxious to do her bit for the war effort, Blondie (Penny Singleton) joins the Housewives of America, a home defense league. Husband Dagwood (Arthur Lake) soon finds that Blondie is neglecting her responsibilities at home in favor of her war work; also disgruntled are Dagwood's chauvinistic boss Mr. Dithers (Jonathan Hale) and a newlywed husband (Stu Erwin) whose wife is never home thanks to the defense league. Following a slapstick denouement at a power plant, in which the husbands are shown the error of their macho attitude, Blondie promises to devote more time to Dagwood--but at the same time delivers a patriotic speech to the women in the audience, exhorting them to align with the "Home Front". Blondie for Victory was twelfth in Columbia's series of comedy films based on Chic Young's popular comic strip Blondie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this lighthearted musical comedy, Marjory Stuart (Mary Martin) is a girl who works in the hatcheck room at a Manhattan nightclub and dreams of being a rich socialite herself. Toward that end, Marjory wants to land a rich husband, so she saves up her money and takes a cruise to the Caribbean, where she poses as wealthy debutante. Marjory quickly makes friends with Bubbles Hennessy (Betty Hutton), a brassy but good-natured singer who's on board to rendezvous with her boyfriend Wally Case (Eddie Bracken). Tagging along with Wally is his pal Pete Hamilton (Dick Powell), a beach bum with charm and personality but no bankroll. Bubbles, Wally, and Pete soon realize that Marjory is hardly a member of the upper crust, but they like her enough to help her snag the man she has her eye on, stiff-as-a-board millionaire Alfred Monroe (Rudy Vallee). However, just as Marjory begins making progress with Alfred, she and Pete begin to realize that they've fallen in love. Both Betty Hutton and Mary Martin sing several songs along the way (Hutton's standout number, "Murder, He Says," later found it's way into Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors), and legendary calypso performer Sir Lancelot performs "Ugly Woman" (later a hit for Jimmy Soul under the title "If You Want To Be Happy"). Hutton and Bracken were reunited a year later in the Preston Sturges classic The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this musical comedy, an agent for an advertising agency begins trying to push a new "Blind Date" service and so engages two popular USO singers to perform for the Navy. He hides the young women and keeps their looks a secret because the two singers are terribly unattractive. To keep the sailors from booing them off the stage, the adman decides to have two prettier models lip-sync the songs. Unfortunately, the ad agent's plans go awry when the homely singers decide to elope with two nice sailors. Songs include: "I Surrender Dear" (Harry Barris, Gordon Clifford), "We Did It Before and We Can Do It Again," "All Over the Place" (Charles Tobias, Cliff Friend), and "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Thru Different Eyes is a remake of the 1929 film of the same name. The original was hailed for its creative use of sound and subjective photography; the remake is a standard crime melodrama, elevated slightly by an engaging narrative gimick. In trying to explain how the American judicial system works, district attorney Steve Pettijohn (Frank Craven) harks back to a murder conviction predicated upon circumstantial evidence. Going over the testimony of the witnesses, it was discovered that each account was incorrect in one respect or another. By piecing together all the accounts, it was possible to exonerate the suspect and reveal the guilty party. The story's "prismatic" approach was similar to that adopted by Citizen Kane, which would continue to influence American filmmaking for the rest of the 1940s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy drama, a medicine show con-man pretends to be a wealthy man to impress his long-lost daughter who is slated to inherit a vast fortune. Unfortunately, she turns out to be someone else's daughter. Later he finds his own and discovers that she has less money than he does. They decide to continue the con together and head for New York. There, they stay in a boarding house for theatrical performers. When their ruse is discovered, mayhem ensues. Fortunately, by the end of the film, the two fakers encounter better luck. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide