Mel Tormé Movies
"The velvet fog" was a professional singer at three, a radio personality at four, a published composer at 15, and a film actor at 18. Coming to Hollywood as a drummer in the Chico Marx Band, Mel Tormé made his film debut as a singing/dancing house servant in Higher and Higher (1943). While his celebrity status was assured with his oft-recorded ballad "The Christmas Song," Tormé remained a supporting actor throughout the 1940s in films like Junior Miss (1947) and Good News (1950). His dramatic ability was first tapped in the 1957 Playhouse 90 television drama, The Comedian, in which he played the jellyfish younger brother of dictatorial TV comic Mickey Rooney. Tormé then went on to play a villain in the inexpensive crime flick Girls Town (1957), before reverting to good guy and best friend assignments. Motion pictures have never really been Tormé's priority: he's been too busy writing songs, recording albums, and penning biographies of such contemporaries as Judy Garland and Buddy Rich. In the 1980s, Mel Tormé was a frequent guest star on the TV sitcom Night Court, an offshoot of the well-publicized fact that Tormé was the idol of that series star, Harry Anderson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
- PG
A popular television animal trainer finds himself forced to rely on his furred and feathered friends after his private plane crash lands in a snow-covered Utah mountain wilderness. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mel Tormé, William Shatner, (more)
- 1971
This program features a performance by jazz great Lionel Hampton, along with some of his famous musical colleagues. Lionel Hampton was the first musician to use the vibraphone -- the vibes -- as a jazz instrument. A member of Benny Goodman's jazz quartet in the 1030's, Hampton formed his own big band in the 40's. He has been changing with the musical times ever since, still performing, in solo or small groups. Hampton appears here with swinging drummer Gene Krupa, Teddy Wilson, songbird Johnny Mercer, blues giant B.B. King, as well as pop artists Dusty Springfield and Ocean. Hosted by the late Mel Torme, the video includes renditions of jazz classics, like "How High the Moon", and "Sing, Sing, Sing"; contemporary jazz and blues; and pop favorites including the Ocean hit,"Put Your Hand in the Hand". Hampton, the luminous king of the vibes, proves that his title is well deserved. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide
- 1969
This episode of the weekly TV series Name of the Game was first telecast December 20, 1968. As in every 90-minute episode of Game, the story concentrates on the exploits of an employee of Crime magazine. This time the focus is on researcher Peggy Maxwell (Susan St. James), who is kidnapped while digging up information on a famous rock star. The series' regular male stars (Gene Barry, James Farentino and Robert Stack) sit this one out, permitting correspondent Andy Hill (Cliff Potter) to investigate Peggy's disappearance. With the help of FBI agent Susan Strasberg, Hill unearths a hotbed of mob-motivated intrigue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
In the conclusion of a two-part story, a reluctant Mooney (Gale Gordon) has joined Lucy (Lucille Ball) and her songwriter friend Mel Tinker (Mel Torme) in their efforts to save the small town of Bancroft from being demolished to make room for a new freeway. In hopes of bringing Bancroft's plight to the attention of a major network TV reporter (Dan Rowan), Lucy stages a phony shootout at Mooney's bank. Three guesses as to what happens next! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mel Tormé, John Bubbles, (more)
- 1967
In the first episode of a two-part story, Lucy (Lucille Ball) turns activist to save the small town of Bancroft, which is slated to be demolished to make room for a new freeway. With sign in hand and slogans in her mouth, Lucy leads the citizens in a protest, blissfully unaware (at first) that her own boss Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon) is funding the freeway project. Another of the protesters is Lucy's songwriter friend Mel Tinker (Mel Torme), who pens the stirring ballad "My Home Town" and joins Lucy and legendary song-and-dance man John Bubbles in a performance of the title tune "Main Street USA." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mel Tormé, John Bubbles, (more)
- 1966
The most interesting aspect of The Swinger is the name of the character played by Ann-Margret: the former Ann Margaret Olsson essays the role of Kelly Olsson. A naive small-town girl, Kelly aspires to become a writer in the Big City. When her stories are rejected because they aren't exciting and provocative enough, she decides to do some hands-on research by posing as the titular "swinger." She is so successful at this subterfuge that Hefner-like publisher Anthony Franciosa makes it his mission in life to reform the "fallen" Kelly. Didn't they do this one in the 1930s as Theodora Goes Wild, with Irene Dunne and Melvyn Douglas? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann-Margret, Anthony Franciosa, (more)
A star-studded cast invigorates this film of a jazz trumpeter (Sammy Davis Jr.) who experiences both the prejudices of the music industry and terrible guilt following the traffic accident that killed his family, a tragedy he feels personally responsible for. Co-stars include several giants of jazz and popular music: Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Ossie Davis, and Mel Tormé, as well as Peter Lawford and Cicely Tyson. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sammy Davis, Jr., Louis Armstrong, (more)
- 1965
Mel Torme guests in this episode as an out-of-work songwriter named Mel Tinker. When Lucy takes a job as secretary to record-company executive Barney Miller (Lou Krugman), she tries to arrange a recording session for Mel. Alas, the songwriter is woefully behind the times and doesn't know how to pen a rock-and-roll tune--or at least, he didn't know how until Lucy gives him a few pointers. Mel Torme performs his own compositions "Whatever Happened to the Moon?", "My Trousseau" and "Wingding". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mel Tormé, Lou Krugman, (more)
Toward the end of Jerry Lewis's Paramount studio period, Lewis slapped together this bitter comedy about Hollywood phoniness and fame that has to be the most rancid portrait of the Hollywood star system in the Rat Pack era this side of Clifford Odets. When a famous entertainer suddenly is killed in an airplane crash, his team of flunkies -- producer Caryl Fergusson (Everett Sloane), writer Chic Wymore (Phil Harris), press agent Harry Silver (Keenan Wynn), director Morgan Heywood (Peter Lorre in his final film role), valet Bruce Alden (John Carradine), and secretary Ellen Betz (Ina Balin) -- decide to continue their life style by finding a complete unknown and manufacturing him into a Hollywood star. That unknown turns out to be the nervous and inept bellboy Stanley Belt (Jerry Lewis). They train Stanley to become an over-night singing sensation, and despite a disastrous recording session and a failed nightclub performance, the public relations blitz makes Stanley's recording of "I Lost My Heart in a Drive-In Movie" a smash single. So much so that Stanley is given a shot at appearing on "The Ed Sullivan Show." Expecting the worst, Stanley's management team abandons him right before his performance. But Stanley musters up enough confidence to go on the live program alone and manages to surprise his pessimistic ex-staff. A collection of Hollywood celebrities circa 1964 --George Raft, Ed Wynn, Ed Sullivan, Mel Torme, Rhonda Fleming and Hedda Hopper -- make cameo appearances. High spots include an apocalyptic music lesson with voice teacher Dr. Mule-rrr (Hans Conried), Ed Sullivan performing a bizarre impersonation of himself, and an ending that would make even Jean-Luc Godard blush. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry Lewis, Ina Balin, (more)
- 1964
Nicknamed "the Velvet Fog," Mel Tormé sings a six-song set in this 1964 black-and-white episode of Jazz Casual, music critic Ralph J. Gleason's renowned series for National Educational Television (1960-1968). Known today primarily as a vocalist, Tormé was also an accomplished musician, arranger, and lyricist. Although Tormé was accustomed to being backed by a large orchestra when he appeared on television, in the intimate setting of Jazz Casual he's accompanied solely by the Benny Barth Trio, with (Gary Lang on the piano). The songs include "Comin' Home Baby," "Route 66," "Sidney's Soliloquy," and the Bobby Timmons tune "Dat Dere." The Rhino Video release also includes an original Rhino-produced short on Gleason's life and times. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- 1963
- Add The Judy Garland Show, Episode 15: The Christmas Show to QueueAdd The Judy Garland Show, Episode 15: The Christmas Show to top of Queue
In this 1963 holiday episode of The Judy Garland Show, a large crop of guest stars, including Judy Garland's three children, joins the singer for a bevy of classic and contemporary songs, most of them Christmas-themed. Opening with one of her signature tunes, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" from Meet Me in St. Louis, Garland makes her way through "Consider Yourself" (from Oliver), "Little Drops of Rain" (from Gay Purr-ee), and, of course, "Over the Rainbow" (from The Wizard of Oz). Jazz singers Jack Jones and Mel Torme also turn up; Jones solos on "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" and "Lollipops and Roses", while Torme duets with Garland on one of his own classics, "The Christmas Song" (also known as "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire"). Joey Luft and Lorna Luft, Garland's two school-age children by third husband Sidney Luft, get their chance to shine, as does eldest daughter and future superstar Liza Minnelli. The entire program is staged as a mock Christmas party, complete with dancing Santas, visiting carolers, and a couple of medleys featuring the entire ensemble. Garland begins the show by inviting viewers into her "home" -- actually a split-level set dressed to resemble a palatial living room. Episode 15 of Garland's short-lived CBS television show, The Judy Garland Christmas Show was taped on December 6, 1963, and broadcast a few weeks later on December 22. Astute viewers will note that Garland flubs a line from Torme's The Christmas Song, earning a chuckle from its composer, and then deliberately substitutes the word "rainbow" for "reindeer" in the next line -- an allusion to her own signature tune. Torme served as a consultant for almost the entire run of Garland's show and their sometimes contentious relationship has been documented in numerous books, including Torme's own The Other Side of the Rainbow. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- 1961
This parody of Genesis caused an uproar before and during its release (the final version was reworked and cut) though its routine or worse cinematic level would not encourage large audiences. The story begins with a busload of men and women with hang-ups in the romance department, all heading for Reno. A sudden rainstorm brings on flooding, and the passengers have to hole up in a church. That setting, apparently, suggests the skewed "dream" of Genesis that follows. The Catholic Legion of Decency gave this film a Condemned rating. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Mamie van Doren, (more)
- 1960
Cowboy Line Bartlett (Jack Lord) comes to San Francisco and meets Kim Sung (Nobu McCarthy), a Chinese slave girl coveted by the manager of a whorehouse. To save her from this fate, Bartlett buys the girl himself and takes her home to serve as a housekeeper. His mother, Ma Bartlett (Josephine Hutchinson), is not happy that a Chinese girl is living in her home, and even less happy when Kim Sung and her son fall in love. Their affair also arouses the jealousy of Cheng Lu (James Shigeta), a Chinese immigrant living in town. The proud Cheng learns to become a western-style warrior by taking sharpshooting lessons from the mysterious Deacon (Mel Torme). ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lord, Nobu McCarthy, (more)
- 1959
Mickey Rooney plays labor racketeer Little Joe Braun in this fast-paced and surprisingly violent drama about one man's determination to clean up his union. Bill Gibson (Steve Cochran) is Little Joe's nemesis and is one of the men who can testify that he saw the labor boss in an incriminating conversation with a known criminal -- something that Little Joe denied under oath. Knowing that Cochran and one other witness can bring him down, the crooked labor boss starts on a campaign of terror. One of Bill's friends is set on fire, someone else is thrown into a cement mixer (in the opening scenes), and finally, Little Joe kidnaps Bill's son Timmy (Jay North). The odds at this point, seem very much in the labor boss' favor. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Steve Cochran, (more)
- 1959
This sexually explicit, low-budget film makes no pretensions about being anything other than offensive. There is no plot since none is especially necessary. Director Charles Haas (his last film was the following year), opens with a scene of sexually active men and women at a party. Then one of these women, Silver Morgan (Mamie Van Doren), is mistakenly accused of a crime and sent to an institution, run by Catholic nuns, for wayward young women. As it turns out, the inmates in the institution actually run it through sadistic means. One of them is even more seriously mentally disturbed than the others, and so the nuns welcome her as a novitiate, making even a non-Catholic viewer grimace. The content of this story, such as it is, is made all the worse by an accompanying disregard of the craft of filmmaking. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mamie van Doren, Mel Tormé, (more)
- 1958
In this drama, a Korean war veteran, a victim of brainwashing while he was a POW, finally goes back to his home in Washington, DC, where he resumes his job at a public relations-opinion research firm. He soon discovers that his company is being run by communists after his partner mysteriously died. Now pro-communist propaganda seems to be their primary business. To stop them, the vet begins cooperating in a full-scale Senate investigation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dana Andrews, Dick Foran, (more)
- 1957
Rod Serling wasn't telling whom he based the leading character of his TV play The Comedian upon, but sharp-eyed viewers could detect traces of everyone from Milton Berle to Red Buttons. Mickey Rooney stars as a top-rated television comedian who is all love-and-kisses when before the cameras but a flaming mass of vitriol towards his coworkers. Rooney's beleaguered head writer Edmond O'Brien worries that he's on the verge of being fired, so he steals an old piece of material from a long-dead comic for Rooney's opening monologue. Meanwhile, Rooney's brother Mel Torme, fed up with being the public butt of the comedian's jokes, is goaded into an on-camera revenge. Throwing out his original intention of having the vicious Rooney get his comeuppance, Serling ends The Comedian with Rooney still dispensing nastiness to one and all, and with Torme sobbingly accepting his lot in life; O'Brien, at least, is afforded a happier denouement. Originally telecast live on Playhouse 90 on February 14, 1957, The Comedian won an Emmy as "best single program"; a kinescope of the telecast is currently available on videocassette. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1950
This formula Esther Williams musical casts the star as Midwestern carnival swimmer Christine Duncan, in love with bandleader Dick Layn (Van Johnson). Attempting to smooth the course of romance for her friend Ellen Hallet (Paula Raymond), Christine makes a play for Ellen's wealthy boss Douglas J. Morrissen, Jr. (John Lund). Ellen wants to protect Douglas from fortune hunters, so Christine pretends to be a fortune hunter, so that he'll appreciate anew how much Ellen cares for him. Confused? So is Dick, who can't fathom Christine's bizarre behavior. If for nothing else, Duchess of Idaho is memorable as the "comeback" picture for dancing star Eleanor Powell, who has just as little to do as her fellow guest stars Lena Horne and (unbilled) Red Skelton. Watch for Amanda Gunsmoke Blake and Dick Sergeant Preston Simmons in supporting roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Esther Williams, Van Johnson, (more)
The life stories of Broadway tunesmiths Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart are prettified for the screen in MGM's Words and Music. Billed fourth, the colorless Tom Drake plays Rodgers, but never mind that: the film belongs to Mickey Rooney, as the dynamic, self-destructive Lorenz Hart. Understandably, Hart's bisexuality is downplayed. According to MGM, his biggest problem in life is that he was never satisfied with his work. We are, however, especially when those great Rodgers & Hart tunes are performed by the likes of Judy Garland, Janet Leigh, Perry Como, Lena Horne, June Allyson, Cyd Charisse, Betty Garrett, Ann Sothern, Mel Torme, Allyn McLerie, Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen. The musical highlights include Garland's powerhouse rendition of Johnny One-Note, Kelly's Slaughter on 10th Avenue dance solo, Horne's interpretation of Where or When, Allyson's take on Thou Swell, and, best of all, Rooney's premiere performance of I'll Take Manhattan, which he allegedly had just written on the back of an automobile advertisement! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Perry Como, (more)
This second film version of the DeSylva/Brown/Henderson Broadway musical Good News may not be the best of the Arthur Freed-produced MGM musicals, but it's certainly one of the peppiest. The film is set at Tait college during the Roaring 20s. The wisp of a plot involves Tait football-star Peter Lawford, who will be ineligible to play in the Big Game if his grades don't improve. June Allyson is the demure Tait coed who takes on the task of tutoring Lawford, while campus vamp Patricia Marshall takes action when she believes (rightly so) that she is losing Lawford to Allyson. The film is deftly stolen by comic relief Joan McCracken, who stops the show with her energetic rendition of "Pass That Peace Pipe"--which, like the famous Lawford/Allyson duet "The French Lesson," was specially written for this 1948 version of Good News. Retained from the original score is the rousing "Varsity Drag." Mel Torme, Tom Dugan and Donald McBride are among the familiar supporting-cast faces in this bubbly Technicolor musical, which was adapted for the screen by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- June Allyson, Morris Ankrum, (more)
- 1946
In this sequel to the 1944 teenage comedy Janie, Joan Leslie replaces Joyce Reynolds in the title role, playing the virtuous but amorous daughter of Edward Arnold and Ann Harding. Janie marries the soldier (Robert Hutton) she'd met in the earlier film, hoping to help him set the course of a successful civilian life. Robert Benchley (who'd died the year before this film was released) is a delight as the husband's dry-witted stepfather, doing his best to help the young couple in spite of themselves. Complications ensue when hubby's former girl friend (Dorothy Malone) shows up. Janie Gets Married ends with the old flame extinguished and Janie and her husband in each other's arms. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Leslie, Robert Hutton, (more)
- 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)
