Bob Crosby & Orchestra Movies
A Booth Tarkington novel was the source for the so-so Judy Garland musical Presenting Lily Mars. Garland plays the title character, a small-town girl with big-city ambitions. She heads to Broadway hoping for stardom, but after a series of disappointments the best she can manage is an understudy job. That's right, folks: the star walks out on opening night, Lily goes on in her place, and the audience boos and throws rotten tomatoes (just kidding: Lily's a sensation, of course). Van Heflin costars as a young producer who falls in love with Lily, but who avoids bestowing upon her instant stardom for fear of being accused of favoritism. Naturally, Judy Garland gets to sing a lot, and whenever she does the picture soars; other musical acts include the orchestras of Bob Crosby and Tommy Dorsey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judy Garland, Van Heflin, (more)
- 1941
Previously filmed with Mabel Normand in 1920, the old Rose Melville stage property Sis Hopkins was trotted out in 1941 for Republic's newest star, raucous cornpone comedienne Judy Canova. Sporting pigtails and dressed like a potato sack, Sis Hopkins (Canova) shows up at the doorstep of her snooty rich relations in the Big City after her family farm burns down. Though she immediately ingratiates herself to her uncle, bathroom-appliance mogul Horace Hopkins (Charles Butterworth), Sis runs afoul of her bitchy, beautiful cousin Carol (played by a pre-stardom Susan Hayward). Determined to humiliate our heroine and send her packing, Carol arranges for Sis to partipate in a sorority-initiation striptease. Fortunately, Sis wins out in the finale, while Carol must endure such indignities as a well-aimed pan of water and a misplaced bathroom plunger. As a bonus, Sis wins the heart of college bandleader Jeff Farnsworth (Bob Crosby). Adding to the general merriment of Sis Hopkins is Jerry Colonna as a zany college professor. Judy Canova sings several of her patented country-western ditties, then surprises her fans with a "straight"operatic rendition from La Traviata. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judy Canova, Charles Butterworth, (more)
- 1940
Though he lacked the casual charisma of his brother Bing, bandleader Bob Crosby starred in a series of reasonably successful films of his own. In Let's Make Music, Crosby and his "Bobcats" turn a dreadful football-victory song penned by elderly schoolmistress Malvina Adams (Elisabeth Risdon) into a hit by treating it as a novelty tune. When Malvina is brought to New York to capitalize on her unexpected success, she is accompanied by her pretty niece Abby (Jean Rogers), who is determined that her aunt won't be exploited or humilated. Sure enough, Abby and Crosby fall in love during Malvina's fifteen minutes of fame. Comedy relief is supplied by Yiddish Art Theater veteran Joseph Buloff, soon to gain Broadway immortality as Ali Hakim in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma. The songs in Let's Make Music include the enduring Crosby classic "Big Noise From Winnetka". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Rogers, Bob Crosby & Orchestra, (more)
