June Preisser Movies
The offspring of a socially and politically prominent family -- the Landrieus of New Orleans, who have given their constituents mayors and United States senators -- June Preisser was born in 1920. Show business probably would not have been in her future had it not been for the death of her father just a short time later. In desperation to give her family something beyond the kindness of relatives to rely on, Preisser's mother pushed her two daughters into entertainment at an early age; child performers were all the rage at the time, and there was a lot of live entertainment in the 1920s through which children and families who were any good could earn a living. June and her sister, under the constant pressure and guidance of their mother, were later to enter vaudeville as a dancing act, and the Preisser Sisters eventually made it to New York even attracted the attention of the New York Times in the mid-'30s. They were in the 1934 Ziegfeld Follies and worked in other top productions, including Cole Porter's You Never Know. They only broke up (following the closing of the Porter show) when Preisser's older sister left the act so that she could get married -- to the son of top presidential advisor Harry Hopkins, no less. June Preisser continued as a solo act and later went to Hollywood, where she was signed to MGM. There she played a string of small roles as teenagers and college coeds in the company of stars such as Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. Preisser was never able to achieve more than supporting role status, however, in pictures such as the Andy Hardy movies, and by 1946 she was working for Sam Katzman at Monogram Pictures. In the manner typical of Hollywood, she was cast as a slightly long-of-tooth teenager, as part of a quintet known as the "Teen Agers," alongside Frankie Darro and Noel Neill. As part of that group, she was in a string of eight movies through 1948. Preisser later returned to the stage very briefly, before retiring from performing at the end of the 1940s. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1948
It was perhaps inevitable that Monogram's "Teen Agers" series would get around to a murder mystery: after all, wasn't Monogram the home of Charlie Chan, Mr. Wong and The Shadow? Campus Sleuth finds perennial co-stars Freddy Stewart and June Preisser cast as coeds Freddie Trimball and Dodie Rogers. When a magazine photographer is murdered, Freddy and June set about to solve the murder, with the dubious assistance of their college chums Lee Watson (Warren Mills) and Dodie's sister Betty (played by Noel Neill, who later gained TV fame as Lois Lane on Superman). While Inspector Watson (Donald MacBride) fumes, fusses, and jumps to all the wrong conclusions, our young heroes and heroines track down the killer -- who happens to be one of the film's musical guest stars! The film's biggest "mystery" is how the producers managed to pack a murder story, a plethora of comedy relief and four musical numbers into 57 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Freddie Stewart, June Preisser, (more)
- 1948
In this musical comedy, a group of clean-cut teens desire to turn an abandoned warehouse into a youth center. Unfortunately they and their two leaders are opposed by the mayor who wants to use the building for his own gain. The kids then put on a show and soon the mayor is convinced to give them the building. Musical numbers include: "Young Man with a Beat" (performed by the Gene Krupa Orchestra), "Sincerely Yours" (sung by Stewart), "Isn't This a Night for Love?" (sung by Stewart), "Household Blues" (sung by Davis), and "Young Man" (sung by Davis, Stewart). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Freddie Stewart, June Preisser, (more)
- 1947
In this musical, a young socialite reluctantly attends an exclusive school; she would rather be working on becoming a Broadway star. She is so determined to be one that she begins ditching her classes to work as a chorus girl in a musical. Following the show's closing, she invites two fellow dancers to visit her home. Musical mayhem and romance ensue. Songs include: "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "It's So Easy," "All I Know Is Si Si" (Doris Fisher, Allan Roberts), "Boogie Woogie from Nowhere" (Saul Chaplin). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Porter, Jimmy Lloyd, (more)
- 1947
Years before his tenure as "The Skipper" on Gilligan's Island, Alan Hale Jr. delivered a delightful comic performance in Monogram's Sarge Goes to College. Hale is cast as a none-too-bright marine sergeant who is ordered to take a long rest before undergoing a serious operation. For reasons best known to himself, "Sarge" decides that a college campus is the ideal locale for peace & quiet. Before long, he's helping the kids put on one of those oversized college musical shows for which Monogram was famous (or, in some circles, infamous). Freddy Stewart and June Preisser once more handle the songs-and-romance angle, while Noel Neill, TV's future "Lois Lane", is as cute as a button as the campus vamp. The musical guest stars this time out include orchestra leaders Russ Morgan and Jack McVea. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Earl Bennett, Margaret Brayton, (more)
- 1947
Band singer Freddie Stewart stars in the pure-'40s frivolity Vacation Days. It's a high-school musical romance, with some of the oldest "teenagers" on record. During summer vacation, Freddie and student June Preisser fall for each other. Their relationship is complicated by romantic rivalries carried over from the regular school year. Vacation Days features a spirited musical number by country-western star Spade Cooley, whose ultimate real-life destiny -- he would die in prison after murdering his wife -- retrospectively casts a slight pall on the proceedings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1946
Freddy Stewart and June Preisser, Monogram's answer to Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan, star in Junior Prom. The plot concerns a high-school election, with a snotty rich kid literally buying his way to the class presidency. The backers of hero Freddy Stewart garner votes by using music, specifically big-band numbers and dancing specialties. Guest stars include bandleaders Abe Lyman and Eddie Heywood, Harry "The Hipster" Gibson and the Airliners. Junior Prom represented one of producer Sam Katzman's final Monogram efforts before moving his base of operations to Columbia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Freddie Stewart, June Preisser, (more)
- 1946
High School Hero is all about a high school hero (what else?), played by Monogram musical star Freddy Stewart. A student at Whitney High, Freddy agonizes when the Big Football Game approaches with the school's principal rival, who have emerged victorious in all previous gridiron clashes. Director Arthur Dreifuss makes things easy for the audience by dressing the "good" football players in white and the "bad" ones in black, which is perhaps the film's comic highlight. To amplify the budget, the film is rife with "product placement" advertising plugs, a practice that would reach its nirvana in 1949's Love Happy (and would be revived, with a vengeance, in the 1980s). In addition to Freddy Stewart's perennial leading lady June Preisser, High School Hero costars Noel Neill, later to achieve TV fame as Lois Lane on Superman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frankie Darro, Curly Joe DeRita, (more)
- 1946
The fun in this musical comedy begins when a popular swing singer mysteriously vanishes and a group of prank-loving college students try to pass off a schoolmate, the crooner's exact double, as the missing singer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1945
Let's Go Steady was Columbia's annual "audition" musical, spotlighting the studio's latest crop of young contractees. Cheated out of their bankroll by a phony music publisher, a group of talented youngsters come to New York, hoping to promote their songs with their own, self-stage musical revue. Trouble is, none of the big-time bandleaders want to risk utilizing unknowns. Thus, the kids persuade a GI band to showcase their tunes, thereby attracting big-time support from various Broadway bigwigs. Standing out among the youthful cast members are June Preisser, Arnold Stang, and a personable singer-drummer named Mel Torme. Screenwriter Erna Lazarus manages to work in a plug for Columbia's Cover Girl, while director Del Lord, a graduate of the studio's Three Stooges comedies, finds a spot for perennial Stooge supporting player Vernon Dent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat Parrish, Jackie Moran, (more)
- 1945
In this comedy, a PR man saves a struggling radio station from ruin. Songs include: "Slap Polka", "Walk A Little Faster", "Moonlight Fiesta", and "Where The Prairie Meets The Sky". ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1944
At MGM, the studio's youth musicals were more rural than urban -- find a barn, get some friends together, and hey kids, let's put on a show. At Universal, for this musical for its young contract players, the atmosphere is more urban -- the kids at a settlement house, led by Trudy Costello (Peggy Ryan), have to raise $200 a month to support scholarships so that 10 of them can go to music school; they're helped by Carol Curtis (Ann Blyth), a wealthy young heiress who's in love with Billy Harper (Billy Dunn), who's too poor to afford the scholarship but also too proud to take her help. The kids decide to organize a night club for teenagers, and try to get help from Carol's eccentric uncle Malcolm (Leon Errol, who's never been comfortable with his upper-crust family's staid outlook on life. But standing in their way is Carol's aunt Martha Alma Kruger, who doesn't like music and sees no reason for her niece or any member of her family to be involved with this group of under-privileged kids. And running interference for the teenagers is her attorney, Dick Lorimer (Kirby Grant), who sympathizes with Carol and Malcolm and happens to like the director of the settlement house (nne Gwynne) a great deal. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Blyth, Peggy Ryan, (more)
- 1944
Set in a brooding old home, this musical mystery chronicles the endeavors of a young couple attempt to solve a mysterious murder that occurred there. The victim was the first husband of the new bride. The groom was the victim's best friend. After the murder, the house was abandoned and rumors abounded that the place was haunted. The couple are determined to quell the rumors and solve the mystery themselves while holding a housewarming party. Unfortunately, soon after the guests arrive, the murders begin. Murder in the Blue Room was filmed twice before as The Missing Guest and Secret of the Blue Room. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Gwynne, Donald Cook, (more)
- 1942
Sweater Girl is an okay remake of 1935's College Scandal, and like its predecessor is that rare bird, a "musical mystery". Someone is stalking a midwestern college campus, murdering students left and right. Among the victims is campus radio personality Miles Tucker (Kenneth Howell) and aspiring composer Johnny Arnold (Johnnie Johnston). If this keeps up, there won't be anyone left to stage the annual college musical-and that would be disastrous! Without giving the game away, it can be noted that solution of the mystery is not unlike that of the first Friday the 13th film of the 1980s (minus the blood and gore, of course). Amidst all this merry mayhem, two choice Frank Loesser song hits are spotlighted: the amusingly provocative "I Said No" and the enduring standard "I Don't Want to Walk Without You." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Bracken, June Preisser, (more)
- 1941
Henry Aldrich for President was the second of Paramount's "Henry Aldrich" series to star Jimmy Lydon in the teenaged title role. This time Henry is pitted against an arrogant jock for the presidency of the Centerville High School student council. Henry's chances don't seem bright, especially since a pompous teacher (Lucien Littlefield) is writing the opponent's speeches for him. As often happens in these films, a misunderstanding threatens not only to lose Henry the election but to get him expelled from school as well. Somehow the plot is resolved by a wild climactic airplane ride, with hapless Henry at the controls. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Smith, June Preisser, (more)
- 1940
Though its title suggests a war picture of some sort, MGM's Gallant Sons actually concerns the efforts of a group of kids to solve a murder. Young Johnny Davis (Gene Reynolds) is beside himself when his gambler father (Ian Hunter) is arrested for murder. In truth, Davis' pop is shielding several other people, whose reputations might have been ruined during his trial. Sensing that something is amiss, Johnny's pal Byron Newbold (Jackie Cooper) and his ragtag collection of tenement cronies play detective themselves to clear the elder Davis' name and trap the actual killer. Bonita Granville, at the time Jackie Cooper's girl friend, plays the only female member of the crime-solving gang. Coincidentally, Cooper, Granville and costar Gene Reynolds would later go into the production end of the business; in fact, in the early 1970s Reynolds would hire Cooper to direct an Emmy-winning episode of MASH. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Cooper, Leo Gorcey, (more)
- 1940
Hey, gang! Let's put on a swell show and call it Strike Up the Band! Yes, it's the irrepressible Mickey Rooney, teamed up again with Judy Garland to show the grownups how to do things right. This time, Rooney wants to organize a high-school band. He hopes to enter a competition being held in Chicago by the great orchestra leader Paul Whiteman; all he needs is two hundred dollars for train fare. To raise the money, Rooney, Garland and company stage a student "mellerdrammer" that in real life would have cost the equivalent of a third-world-nation annual budget. They get the dough, but soft-hearted Rooney turns over the money to the mother of student musician Larry Nunn, who is in desperate need of emergency surgery. It looks hopeless until, luck of luck, Paul Whiteman arrives in Rooney's town. The original George and Ira Gershwin Broadway musical Strike Up the Band was a satire of warfare, with America declaring war on Switzerland in order to corner the chocolate industry. You'll see none of that subversive stuff in this MGM musical; instead, we are treated to such highlights as a George Pal animated sequence involving dancing fruit. It ain't profound, but Strike Up the Band is sure entertaining. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, (more)
- 1939
Lana Turner (a mere 19 years old at the time) stars in this lighthearted musical comedy as Patty Marlow, a dancer fighting her way up the show business ladder. Famous hoofer Freddie Tobin (Lee Bowman) is about to start work on a new movie when his dance partner becomes pregnant and drops out of the project. Press agent Joe Drews (Roscoe Karns) dreams up a publicity stunt to find Freddie's new co-star: he'll stage a contest on college campuses to find a dancer among the student body. However, the contest is merely a ruse, and, when Joe and his cronies spot Patty, they realize she is the perfect girl for the job. Now, they have to pass Patty off as a studious co-ed for the sake of the "contest," which has begun to attract the suspicious attention of student journalist Pug Braddock (Richard Carlson). Artie Shaw and his band perform several numbers (Shaw and Turner would marry two years later), and keep an eye peeled for Veronica Lake in a bit part (she was still known as Constance Keane at the time). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Richard Carlson, (more)
- 1939
This fun-filled spin-off of the Rodgers & Hart Broadway musical by the same name, features Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney as two young children of vaudevillian parents who aren't included in their parents travels, so they set out to produce a show of their own. Rooney's the driver here and he's up against the administrators of a fogy state-run trade school, who think the whole show idea is nonsense. A listening judge gives them 30 days to put on the show and prove they don't belong in the jail-like school. The rest of the action involves the highly talented kids successful efforts to not only stage the show, but to bring the whole troupe to Broadway. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, (more)
- 1939
If Judge Hardy and Son had been filmed in the 1990s, it would have been titled Andy Hardy VII. In this latest edition of MGM's "Hardy Family" series, the kindly Judge (Lewis Stone) wrestles with two problems. He must rescue an elderly couple from eviction, and he must cope with his wife's (Fay Holden) life threatening illness. This time around, the romantic entanglements of son Andy Hardy (Mickey Rooney) take second place to Andy's anguish over his mother's condition. It needs hardly be said that Mom recovers and the family is happy again at fade-out time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, (more)
