George Murphy Movies
A Yankee Doodle dandy born on the fourth of July, actor George Murphy was the son of an Olympic track coach. He tried the Navy at age 15, but soon returned home to complete his high school and college education. He never finished college, choosing instead to pursue a dancing career. In 1927, Murphy and his partner-wife Julie Johnson made it to Broadway; by the early 1930s Mrs. Murphy had retired and George had become a star solo dancer. He made his screen bow in support of Eddie Cantor, Ethel Merman, and Ann Sothern in Kid Millions (1934). Never a major star, Murphy was an agreeable presence in several big-budget musicals of the 1930s and 1940s, and later essayed straight dramatic parts in such films as Border Incident (1949) and Battleground (1949). He also crossed paths with two of his future fellow Republican politicos, dancing with Shirley Temple in Little Miss Broadway (1938) and playing the father of Ronald Reagan (nine years Murphy's junior!) in This Is the Army (1943). Like Reagan, Murphy was a Democrat until becoming involved in intra-Hollywood politics. Changing to Republicanism in 1939, Murphy worked to cement relationships between local government and the movie industry, and in 1945 he served the first of two terms as President of the Screen Actors Guild (Reagan was, of course, one of his successors). After his last film, an odd MGM second feature about mob mentality titled Talk About a Stranger (1952), Murphy retired from show business to devote his full time to political and business activities. He was instrumental in getting Desilu Studios, the TV factory created by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, off the ground in the late 1950s, serving for several years on its board of directors. Murphy became one of the first actors to throw his hat into the political arena in 1964 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate. Despite throat surgery which prevented him from speaking above a hoarse whisper, Murphy remained active in Republican circles into the 1970s, helping smooth the path to several elections of increasing importance for his old pal Ronald Reagan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Brooklyn tugboat worker Eddie (Eddie Cantor), bullied and cowed by his tough-guy stepfather and stepbrothers (a la Harold Lloyd's The Kid Brother), inherits $77 million from his uncle, an Egyptologist. Con artist Dot (Ethel Merman) wants to get her lunchhooks on the money, and to this end offers herself as Eddie's adopted mother (never mind that she's nearly 20 years younger), intending to have her thuggish brother Louie (Warren Hymer) bump off our hero at the first opportunity. The nonsensical plotline ends up with Eddie, Dot, Louie, pompous Southern colonel Larrabee (Berton Churchill), and nominal romantic leads Jerry (George Murphy in his film debut) and Jane (Ann Sothern) trapped in the palace of Arab potentate Mulhulla (Paul Harvey). The better-than-average comic banter includes some funny bits between Cantor and Eve Sully, of the comedy team of "Block and Sully" (her husband-partner Jesse Block is also in the picture, but just barely). Spotted among the featured players in Kid Millions are such "Our Gang" members as Stymie Beard, Scotty Beckett and Tommy Bond, and there's a specialty by the Nicholas Brothers during Cantor's obligatory "blackface" number; and yes, that's Lucille Ball as a blonde Goldwyn Girl in the harem sequence. PS: According to Ethel Merman, the film's elaborate Technicolor ice-cream factory finale, in which Eddie allows dozens of tenement kids to gorge themselves on his tasty confections, posed censorship problems: while producer Sam Goldwyn was allowed to show the little boys with comically extended stomachs, he was not permitted to do so with the little girls, for fear that the audience might think the female moppets were pregnant! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Fields, Eddie Cantor, (more)
- 1934
In this drama, a fighter's fiancee refuses to marry him until he can overcome his insane jealousy. He does and they marry. The jealousy resurfaces when he finds his wife and her boss in a hotel room. He goes mad with rage and kills her boss. His wife is blamed for the killing. Just before the verdict is announced, the guilt-ridden man confesses and himself receives the death-penalty. Time passes and his finally hour arrives. He asks the attending priest to offer him a 10-count. Just as the priest hits nine, his voice becomes that of a referee and the boxer is seen slowly awakening from being knocked on conscious during a fight. The whole story was but a dream. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nancy Carroll, George Murphy, (more)
- 1935
In this lively comedy, a cocky reporter follows a gangster aboard an ocean liner. While on board, the overconfident fellow mentions his purpose to a ship's manicurist with whom he's fallen in love. Later they get married and the reporter loses his job causing a fight between the newlyweds. He then decides to divorce her. Unwillingly to let the marriage die so easily, the manicurist gives a manicure to a gangster who is supposed to be dead. Her husband then reports the news, but more mix-ups occur and he is fired again. Blaming it all on his wife, he continues with his divorce proceedings until she is able to prove once and for all the illusive gangster is very much alive. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Arthur, George Murphy, (more)
- 1935
In this tuneful crime drama, a falsely convicted man escapes from prison and hides out with a comely chorine. She discovers that he has talent and the two become a popular dancing team. Their fast ascent to stardom is stopped in its tracks when the dancer's jealous ex-partner turns the fugitive in. The cops don't seem to care that the fellow is innocent and insist that he complete his sentence. If he serves his sentence quietly, they promise to release him in two years. The dancer vows to wait for him and remains true to her word. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nancy Carroll, George Murphy, (more)
- 1935
The marital strife of a newlywed couple is chronicled in this drama. The couple, and engineer and a former actress, have just barely ended their honeymoon when the troubles begin. When she finds herself pregnant, the troubled wife keeps it to herself. At the same time, her husband has become a thief who quickly squanders his loot. He is then arrested and imprisoned. He lies to his wife telling her that he is on a long-term business trip to Russia. Eventually the two come back together when he is paroled. He then meets his baby son. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nancy Carroll, George Murphy, (more)
- 1936
A gangland murder is the motivating factor of this fast-moving crime drama. George Murphy stars as reporter Kent Shevlin, whose investigation of the murder leads to a tenure as a temporary FBI agent. His subsequent adventures lead him to Mexico, where he makes the acquaintance of Ramirez (Akim Tamiroff), a bold bandido who isn't all that he seems to be. The story ends up with a kidnapping masterminded by smooth mob boss Riley Ferguson (Sidney Blackmer). The woman of the title is Barbara Andrews (Gertrude Michaels), the daughter of a U.S. senator (Samuel S. Hinds) who figures prominently in the various intrigues. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gertrude Michael, George Murphy, (more)
- 1937
London by Night was filmed entirely on the MGM back lot, which admittedly looked more like England than England. Adapted from Will Scott's play The Umbrella Man, this atmospheric thriller concerns the a series of murders committed in foggy Sundial Square by an elusive gentleman known variously as The Umbrella and Mr. Rabbit. Irish reporter Michael Dennis (George Murphy) joins forces with Scotland Yard inspector Jefferson (George Zucco) to trap the killer and determine his (or her) motives. Adding to the confusion is the fact that two of the "victims" are still alive -- and that those "two" are actually one! Among those bumped off by the villain are Eddie Quillan and Virginia Field, both cast against type as cockney pub-crawlers. If there was any doubt as to the identity of The Umbrella, the closing credits wipe them away by billing the actor in question under all his screen aliases. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Murphy, Rita Johnson, (more)
- 1937
In this musical, the only one singer/dancer Alice Faye, made for Universal, a Broadway producer is in a quandary when he discovers that the opening of his newest big production coincides with that of a major charity event. He despairs that the show will close after opening night until an ingenious writer suggests that he simply give the production snob-appeal by making the tickets nearly impossible to get by fabricating a story that they were all purchased by a flamboyant Texas oil baron who is totally besotted by the show's star, Faye. Unfortunately things go haywire when a young fellow suggests that the writer (who impersonates the oilman) sign to a lucrative advertising contract. Songs include: "You're a Sweetheart," "My Fine Feathered Friend," "Who Killed Maggie?" "Scraping the Toast" and "So It's Love." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Faye, George Murphy, (more)
- 1937
In this comedy drama, a newspaper report discovers that a popular religious cult is really a scam. Unbeknownst to him, his wife is messing around with his managing editor. When he finds out, he leaves them and begins his own affair with the female reporter he has secretly loved all along. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Murphy, Josephine Hutchinson, (more)
- 1937
This third entry in MGM's "Broadway Melody" series may not have been the biggest or best, but thanks to a masterpiece of casting it is one of the most memorable of the batch. Signed by MGM in 1935, 15-year-old Judy Garland made her first feature-film appearance under the aegis of Leo the Lion, immediately capturing the hearts of moviegoers everywhere by singing "You Made Me Love You" to a photograph of Clark Gable (a sequence that has since been excerpted countless times in TV and movie documentaries). She later shares a song-and-dance number with gangly Buddy Ebsen, making an impressive entrance in a white midget car (Ebsen would later be cast as the Tin Man in Judy's The Wizard of Oz, only to be replaced by Jack Haley when he fell ill during shooting). The presence of Garland, coupled with several superlative dance solos by Eleanor Powell and a spectacular musical finale, tends to make one forget about the plot, which has something to do with a racehorse owned by heroine Sally Lee (Powell). The horse wins the Grand Steeplechase, the prize money is poured into the stage production previously bankrolled by Steve Raleigh (Robert Taylor), and the Show Goes On. Movies fans of the 1930s with long memories were gratified to see such old vaudeville favorites as Sophie Tucker and Willie Howard in the cast, even if their material wasn't quite up to standard. Interestingly, one of the best comic turns is performed by "professional sneezer" Robert Wildhack -- leaving another famed movie sneezer, Billy Gilbert, with virtually nothing to do! On the other hand, Robert Benchley is his usual droll self, managing to score a comic bullseye despite all the lavish and noisy competition around him. Broadway Melody of 1938 was followed by a 1940 sequel, distinguished by the "challenge dance" between returnee Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Eleanor Powell, (more)
- 1937
In this musical set in swingin' Manhattan, an heiress plans a ballet in the famous Moonbeam ballroom located atop a 100-story skyscraper. Unfortunately, the attending audience is quite bored until someone starts the place swinging. Musical numbers include: "Blame It on the Rhumba," "Where Are You?" "Jamboree," "Top of the Town," "I Feel That Foolish Feeling Coming On," "There's No Two Ways About It," "Fireman Save My Child" (Harold Adamson, Jimmy McHugh). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Murphy, Hugh Herbert, (more)
A master blend of high comedy and tense emotional drama, A Letter of Introduction reteams Adolphe Menjou, Andrea Leeds, and Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy, who'd previously costarred in the negligible Goldwyn Follies. Menjou plays John Mannering, a Barrymoresque actor who years earlier had divorced his wife and severed his relationship with his daughter Kay (Andrea Leeds). Now a grown woman, Kay aspires to an acting career, fully determined to make it on her own without her father's help. She goes so far as to change her last name to Martin, and to keep her actual relationship to Mannering a secret from the public. This set-up leads to a dizzying series of complications, including the breakup of Mannering's romance with a tootsie named Lydia Hoyt (Anne Sheridan), who falsely assumes that Kay is Mannering's mistress, and Kay's own romantic travails with vaudeville hoofer Barry Paige (George Murphy). Meanwhile, Kay's ventriloquist friend Bergen and his dummy McCarthy rise to superstardom on radio. It is, in fact, Bergen and Charlie who are instrumental in reuniting the estranged Mannering and Kay, paving the way for the film's tear-stained conclusion. Unavailable for many years, A Letter of Introduction re-emerged on the Public Domain circuit in 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Andrea Leeds, (more)
Child star Shirley Temple was getting a bit long in the tooth (at age 10!) by the time she made Little Miss Broadway. Facing the possibility that Temple's appeal was beginning to slip, the producers overstocked the film with top musical-comedy performers and character actors. The curly-topped actress is cast as orphan girl Betsy Brown, discharged in the care of her uncle Pop Shea (Edward Ellis), the manager of a theatrical boarding house. Before long, Betsy is the darling of the clientele, including bandleader Jimmy Clayton (Jimmy Durante), animal trainer Ole (El Brendel), and a pair of wisecracking midget entertainers (George and Olive Brasno). Snooty Sarah Wendling (Edna Mae Oliver), owner of the hotel building, is fed up with "show people" and demands that they pay their back rent or move out post-haste. But Sarah's nephew Roger (George Murphy), in love with Pop Shea's daughter Barbara (Phyllis Brooks), comes to the aid of the hotel's occupants. With the help of Betsy and her friends, Roger pleads his case in the courtroom of judge Claude Gillingwater by staging a lavish musical revue. The specacle of George Murphy dancing with Shirley Temple will prove particularly amusing to those aware of both stars' future political careers. Songs include "Be Optimistic", "If All the World Were Paper", "Hop Skip and Jump" and the title tune. Incidentally, outtakes of Little Miss Broadway exist showing Shirley Temple doing a frighteningly accurate impersonation of her costar Jimmy Durante (ha-cha-cha-cha-cha!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley Temple, George Murphy, (more)
- 1938
This tuneful campus comedy features aging star John Barrymore as a sly, blustery Southern governor with his eye on the Senate (aka Louisiana's Huey Long). He sees opportunity knocking when he learns how desperate his constituents have become to build their miserable state college football team into winners. He figures that if the team wins, so will he. To this end, he surreptitiously recruits a number of burly professional wrestlers to pose as football players. Unfortunately his chief opponent is running a similar racket with a rival university. When the governor's trickery is revealed on the eve of the big game, things look bleak until a quick-thinking coed shows up to save the day. The story is also titled Hold That Girl. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Barrymore, George Murphy, (more)
- 1939
This remake of 1932's Okay America is in many ways superior to the original. George Murphy scores in a rare unsympathetic role as Winchellesque radio columnist Dan Clifford, who doesn't care how many lives he has to destroy in pursuit of a good story. When a young debutante is kidnapped by gangsters, Clifford decides to act as the go-between between the criminals and the victim's parents himself. At first he cares only about outscooping the competition, but the deeper he becomes involved in the case, the more his essential decency seeps through. Still, he must pay for all his past sins, and pay he does in a spectacularly tragic but quite dramatically logical denoument. The stellar supporting cast includes Eduardo Cianelli as a snarling gangster, Dorothea Kent as Clifford's dumb-like-a-fox assistant, and El Brendel as a comedy-relief janitor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Murphy, Dorothea Kent, (more)
- 1940
Judy Garland performs her only on-screen death scene early in the proceedings of Little Nellie Kelly. But despair not! Garland soon reappears as the daughter of the character she was playing in the film's first reels. Now a girl of 20, Garland has fallen in love with Douglas McPhail, much to the dismay of her father George Murphy and grandfather Charles Winninger. However, Murphy and Winninger are too much at odds with each other to give proper attention to Garland. Going into her Miss Fixit act, Garland patches up the differences between pop and grandpop, and gets to keep her beau in the bargain. Based on the play by George M. Cohan, Little Nellie Kelly affords Judy Garland ample opportunity to sing a swing version of "Singin' in the Rain", as well as several newer songs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judy Garland, George Murphy, (more)
- 1940
Two Girls on Broadway is an updated reworking of MGM's Oscar-winning 1929 musical Broadway Melody. Joan Blondell and Lana Turner play a vaudeville "sister" act, slightly more talented than the similar duo in Broadway Melody. The twosome have sworn never to break up, but that was before hoofer George Murphy entered the scene. Blondell realizes that it's Turner whom Murphy loves, so she nobly steps aside to make room for her baby sister. Two Girls on Broadway was another step in the right direction for the blossoming career of Lana Turner, here permitted to show off her terpsichorean skills. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Joan Blondell, (more)
- 1940
Communism-the American variety-is given a hilarious going-over in 20th Century-Fox's Public Deb No. 1. Spoiled society girl Penny Cooper (Brenda Joyce) impulsively lends her voice to a Communist rally, which earns her a public spanking by 100% All-American waiter Alan Blake (George Murphy). Impressed by Blake's boldness, Penny's ulcerated father, soup tycoon Millburn Cooper (Charlie Ruggles), hires the young man as a vice-president, hoping in this way to keep his daughter in line. Murphy manages to win Joyce from her socialite boyfriend Bruce Fairchild (who else but Ralph Bellamy?), but she refuses to abandon her Communist ideology until she is disillusioned by Russia's invasion of Finland. The heroine's rejection of the Red cause is symbolized by an (implicit) act of defecation performed by a passing dog on a crumpled Communist pamphlet. When originally released, the film was titled Elsa Maxwell's Public Deb No. 1, in recognition of the presence in the cast of famed New York social arbiter and partygiver Elsa Maxwell, who in the film's silliest scene shows up at a costume party dressed as Benjamin Franklin! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Murphy, Brenda Joyce, (more)
MGM's third follow-up to its landmark Broadway Melody is short on story, but that's okay, since the plot is merely a clothesline upon which to hang sleek and opulent musical production numbers by Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell -- particularly a breathless and eye-popping gloriously black-and-white six-minute tap dance finale between Astaire and Powell to Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine." The tale itself is a typical backstage contrivance: Johnny Brett (Fred Astaire) and King Shaw (George Murphy) are a couple of hoofers working in a dance hall for peanuts. Due to mistaken identity, King gets tapped for the lead in a Broadway show opposite big star Clare Bennett (Eleanor Powell) rather than Johnny. But when King drowns his trouble in booze on opening night, Johnny covers for him, taking his place in the show. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, (more)
- 1941
- NR
Working girl Ginger Rogers (who dresses like movie star Ginger Rogers, despite her meager salary!) cannot decide which of her three suitors will march her down the aisle. Will it be fast-talking automobile salesman George Murphy, wealthy Alan Marshall, or free-spirited, eternally unemployed Burgess Meredith? She mulls over her choices in a series of hilarious dream sequences (the best involving Meredith, along with three baby Merediths crawling on the floor). If her final decision takes you by surprise, you're in good company: according to one of the cast members, director Garson Kanin and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Paul Jarrico kept the denouement a secret until the last day of shooting. Featured in the cast is Phil Silvers as a delightfully obnoxious ice cream vendor, and, in a microscopic role, Jack Briggs, who would eventually marry Ms. Rogers. A favorite with both audiences and critics, Tom, Dick & Harry was ineffectively remade in 1957 as the Jane Powell musical The Girl Most Likely. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ginger Rogers, George Murphy, (more)
- 1941
Jack Oakie is near the top of his form as Boley Bolenciecwcz, the best college football player to come down the pike in a generation. But Boley has two problems -- he likes to sleep a lot when he's not training, and he isn't terribly bright, and might just fail his examinations and become inelligible to play. So the president of his college, under the gun to produce a winning team, comes up with a solution -- he sends Boley to live with Professor Murray (onald Meek), an eccentric member of the faculty (who practices magic tricks when he isn't teaching economics), whose daughter Louise (Linda Darnell) is head of the pep-squad and will tutor Boley. Enter Jimmy M'Gonnigle (George Murphy), a dancer and ex-college player himself, who's sent to the college by the hood (Sheldon Leonard) who owns the club where he was working, to keep an eye on Boley and make sure his playing is what it's written up to be. Jimmy falls in love with Louise, and manages to romance her in between her playing nursemaid to Boley -- meanwhile, a pair of grifters (Raymond Walburn, Ruth Donnelly) sent to back Jimmy up get mixed up with Louise's grandfather (Walter Brennan), a Civil War veteran who isn't always sure what year it is. And then secondary hood "Sea Biscuit" (Milton Berle) arrives to put the boss's plan into operation, kidnapping Boley so he can't play. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Oakie, George Murphy, (more)
- 1941
The girl is stenographer Dot Duncan (Lucille Ball); the guy is her boss, stuffy young shipping magnate Stephen Herrick (Edmond O'Brien); and the gob is a brash sailor known as Coffee Cup (George Murphy). Not surprisingly, the plot involves the efforts by the self-effacing Stephen and the self-confident Coffee Cup to woo and win the lovely Dot. And that's about all the "story" there is; the rest of the picture is jam-packed with round-robin comic misunderstandings and wild slapstick setpieces. A Girl, a Guy and a Gob was one of two RKO Radio films produced by silent-screen great Harold Lloyd, who reportedly dropped in on the set from time to time to offer a bit of sage comedy advice (note the "handkerchief" bit utlized by Edmond O'Brien; it had previously done service in Lloyd's own Welcome Danger). Not as big a moneymaker as Harold's starring features of the 1920s, the RKO film nonetheless turned a tidy profit for the studio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Murphy, Edmond O'Brien, (more)
- 1941
Broke and stranded once more, golden-hearted showgirl Maisie Revere (Ann Sothern) finds herself in upstate New York in general proximity with a prizefighting camp. She meets and ultimately falls in love with up-and-coming boxer Terry Dolan (played by Ann Sothern's future husband Robert Sterling). Upon realizing that her heart belongs to Terry's manager Skeets Maguire (George Murphy), our heroine finds herself on the horns of an emotional dilemma-especially after Dolan is blinded in a fight, possibly permanently. The film's best moments belong to "Slapsie" Maxie Rosenbloom, typecast in his usual role of a pugilist who's suffered one too many blows to the cranium. Also worth the price of admission is Maisie's opening dance-hall scene, highlighted by the terpischorean skills of the star. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Sothern, George Murphy, (more)
- 1942
A combat picture was virtually a license to print money in 1942, and RKO Radio's The Navy Comes Through was no exception (net profit: $542,000). Most of the film takes place on the ramshackle old merchant-marine freighter, skippered by Captain McCall (Ray Collins). The captain and his stalwart crew-the most stalwart of which are Mallory (Pat O'Brien), Sands (George Murphy), Babe (Jackie Cooper), Tarriba (Desi Arnaz) and Berringer (Max Baer Sr.)-keep busy by blowing Nazi bombers and U-boats to smithereens. The crewmen cap their accomplishments by capturing a Nazi supply ship and using it against its own navy. The easily forgettable romantic subplot concerns Sands' on-and-off relationship with Myra (Jane Wyatt). The Navy Comes Through was inspired by Borden Chase's serialized Saturday Evening Post story "Pay to Learn". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat O'Brien, George Murphy, (more)
For Me and My Gal, a leisurely period musical, represents the first on-screen dancing of MGM's new star Gene Kelly. Judy Garland plays a member of a vaudeville troupe consisting of herself, George Murphy, Ben Blue and Lucille Norman. She leaves the act to join up with Kelly, who promises to propel her to the big time. Two unsuccessful years later, Garland and Kelly are still struggling in the small time, while Murphy and his bunch are headliners. Kelly nearly throws Garland over for singer Marta Eggerth, but Judy remains loyal--at least until Kelly deliberately breaks his hand to avoid serving in World War I. Having lost her brother Richard Quine to the war, Garland denounces Kelly as a coward and walks out. Kelly redeems himself by joining an overseas entertainment troupe, saving several lives when he finds himself under attack on the front. Judy and Gene are at last reunited in Paris. A major break for both Gene Kelly and Judy Garland (who proved once and for all in this film that she was no longer just a "juvenile"), For Me and My Gal was based on a story by Howard Emmett Rogers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judy Garland, George Murphy, (more)
