Star Spangled Rhythm

Infobox Film
name = Star Spangled Rhythm


image_size = 225px
caption = Original poster
director = Credited director:
George Marshall
Co-director:
Ralph Murphy
"Old Black Magic":
A. Edward Sutherland
Contributing:
William Watson
Frank Tuttle
Lewis Allen
Paul Weatherwax
"(all uncredited)"
producer = Joseph Sistrom
writer = Sketches:
Melvin Frank
George S. Kaufman
Norman Panama
Arthur A. Ross
Fred Saidy "(uncredited)"
Arthur Phillips "(uncredited)"
Writer:
Harry Tugend
starring = The Stars of Paramount Pictures
music = Score:
Robert Emmett Dolan
Songs:
Harold Arlen "(music)"
Johnny Mercer "(lyrics)"
cinematography = Theodor Sparkuhl
Leo Tover
editing = Paul Weatherwax
distributor = Paramount Pictures
released = 30 December fy|1942 "(NYC)"
January fy|1943 "(gen)"
runtime = 99 minutes
country = FilmUS
language = English
budget = $1,127,989
gross =
imdb_id = 0035379

"Star Spangled Rhythm" is a 1943 all-star cast musical film made by Paramount Pictures during World War II as a morale booster. Many of the Hollywood studios produced such films during the war, generally musicals, frequently with flimsy storylines, and with the specific intent of entertaining the troops overseas and civilians back home and to encourage fundraising – as well as to show the studios' patriotism.

"Star Spangled Rhythm" was directed by George Marshall and others, [TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=91295&category=Full%20Credits Full credits] ] and written by Harry Tugend with sketches by Melvin Frank, George S. Kaufman and others. The film has music by Robert Emmett Dolan and songs by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, and the cast consisted of most of the stars on the Paramount roster.

Plot

Pop Webster (Victor Moore) is a former silent movie star once known as "Bronco Billy" who now works as the guard on the main gate at Paramount Pictures. However, he's told his son Johnny (Eddie Bracken), who's in the Navy, that he's the studio's Executive Vice President in Charge of Production. When Johnny shows up in Hollywood on shore leave, Pop and the studio's switchboard operator Polly Judson (Betty Hutton) go all-out to maintain the illusion for Johnny and his sailor friends that Pop's a studio big-wig. Things get a bit complicated when Pop offers to put on a variety show for the Navy, featuring all of Paramount's stars, but Polly convinces Bob Hope and Bing Crosby to do the show, and they convince the rest of the stars on the lot. [Bubbeo, Daniel [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035379/plotsummary Plot summary (IMDB)] ] [Erickson, Hal [http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:111627~T0 Plot synopsis (Allmovie)] ] [TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=91295&category=Full%20Synopsis Full synopsis] ]

Cast

*Victor Moore as "William "Pop" Webster"
*Betty Hutton as "Polly Judson"
*Eddie Bracken as "Johnny Webster"
*Walter Abel as "B.G. DeSoto"
*Cass Daley as "Mimi"
*Cecil B. DeMille as himself
*Preston Sturges as himself
*Edward Fielding as "Y. Frank Freemont"
*Boyd Davis as "Captain Kingsley"
Performers:
*Bob Hope - Master of Ceremonies
*Bing Crosby - "Old Glory" number
*Fred MacMurray - Frank in "If Men Played Cards as Women Do"
*Franchot Tone - John in "If Men Played Cards as Women Do"
*Ray Milland - Joe in "If Men Played Cards as Women Do"
*Lynn Overman - in "If Men Played Cards as Women Do"
*Dorothy Lamour - "Sweater, Sarong & Peekaboo Bang" number
*Paulette Goddard - "Sweater, Sarong & Peekaboo Bang" number
*Veronica Lake - "Sweater, Sarong & Peekaboo Bang" number
*Arthur Treacher - "Sweater, Sarong & Peekaboo Bang" number
*Sterling Holloway - "Sweater, Sarong & Peekaboo Bang" number
*Walter Catlett - "Sweater, Sarong & Peekaboo Bang" number
*Vera Zorina - "That Old Black Magic" number
*Mary Martin - "Hit the Road to Dreamland" number
*Dick Powell - "Hit the Road to Dreamland" number
*Alan Ladd - Scarface skit
*Marjorie Reynolds - Swing Shift skit
*Susan Hayward - Genevieve in Priorities skit
*Eddie "Rochester" Anderson - "Sharp as a Tack" number
*Katherine Dunham - dancer in "Sharp as a Tack" number
*William Bendix - Herman the Husband in Bob Hope skit
*Jerry Colonna - Bob Hope skit
*Macdonald Carey - Louie the Lug in skit

Cast notes:
*The character "B.G. Desoto" is modeled after Paramount executive producer B.G. DeSylva, and "Y. Frank Freemont" after vice-president Y. Frank Freeman. When pretending to be "Mr Freemont"'s secretary, Betty Hutton speaks in an affected Southern accent; the real Y. Frank Freeman was a Southerner who was intensely loyal to Dixie.
*Others who appear in the film include Rod Cameron, Eva Gabor, Cecil Kellaway, Matt McHugh, Robert Preston and Woody Strode. Strode has no dialogue; he is seen only very briefly as Eddie Anderson's chauffeur in the "Sharp As a Tack" number.
*"Star Spangled Rhythm" marked the feature film debut of Bing Crosby's son, Gary Crosby, who was 9 years old at the time. [imdb name|0188986|Gary Crosby]
* Although "Benito Mussolini", "Hirohito" and "Adolf Hitler" are listed as characters in this film, the actors cast in those roles are not actually portraying the dictators themselves; they are merely impersonators showing up for a brief sight gag at the end of the novelty number "A Sweater, a Sarong and a Peekaboo Bang". Tom Dugan, a veteran character actor who appeared as "Adolf Hitler", also played "Bronski", an actor who plays the part of "Adolf Hitler", in Ernst Lubitsch's classic comedy "To Be or Not To Be".TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=91295&category=Notes Notes] ]

ongs

The songs in "Star Spangled Rhythm" were written by Harold Arlen (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics): [TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=91295&category=Music Music] ] [IMDB [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035379/soundtrack Soundtracks] ]

*"Hit the Road to Dreamland" - sung by Mary Martin, Dick Powell and the Golden Gate Quartette
*"I'm Doing It for Defense" - sung by Betty Hutton
*"Old Glory" - sung by Bing Crosby and chorus
*"He Loved Me Till the All-Clear Came"
*"On the Swing Shift" - sung and danced by Marjorie Reynolds, Betty Jane Rhodes and Dona Drake
*"Sharp as a Tack" - sung by Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Katherine Dunham, Slim Gaillard and Slam Stewart, and Woody Strode
*"A Sweater, Sarong and a Peek-A-Boo Bang" - sung by Paulette Goddard, Dorothy Lamour, and Veronica Lake (dubbed by Martha Mears), and by Arthur Treacher, Walter Catlett and Sterling Holloway, in drag
*"That Old Black Magic" - sung by Johnny Johnston and danced by Vera Zorina

Production

The working title of "Star Spangled Rhythm" was "Thumbs Up". Paramount paid Arthur Ross and Fred Saidy for the rights to two sketches from their musical revue "Rally Round the Girls", which were used in the film. The "That Old Black Magic" sequence, which was directed by A. Edward Sutherland, was intended to be directed by René Clair, who was unavailable at the time of shooting.

The film was in production from 11 June to 23 July fy|1942 [TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=91295&category=Overview Overview] ] at Paramount's studios on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Location shooting took place at the Naval Training Center in San Diego, California. [IMDB [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035379/locations Filming locations] ] The final cost of the film film was $1,127,989. It premiered in New York City on 30 December 1942, and went into general release in January fy|1943. [IMDB [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035379/releaseinfo Release dates] ]

Max H. Aronson, an actor-director-writer-producer who was father of the movie cowboy and the first Western star, made almost 400 films between fy|1907 and fy|1923 under the name Broncho Billy Anderson. [imdb name|0001908|Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson] In 1943, he sued Paramount for using the "Broncho Billy" name without permission. Aronson objected to the "Bronco Billy" character in "Star Spangled Rhythm" being a "washed-up and broken-down actor," which he felt reflected badly on himself. Aronson asked for $900,000, but the outcome of the lawsuit is unknown.

Awards

"Star Spangled Rhythm" received two fy|1944 Academy Award nominations: Harold Arlen (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics) were nominated for "Best Original Song" for "That Old Black Magic", and Robert Emmett Dolan was nominated for "Best Score". [IMDB [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035379/awards Awards] ]

Notes

External links

*imdb title|0035379
*tcmdb title|91295
*amg movie|1:111627