I'm Back!

And I have a movie you need to see!

Welcome back. I’d apologize for the lengthy delay between posts, but that’s why I gave my Substack the name.

Instead, I’ll say thanks to my readers for your patience in waiting for me to drop my latest – oh who the hell am I kidding? There’s nothing any of us like better than receiving one less piece of email which we feel obligated to read. I should be saying “You’re welcome.” So. You’re welcome. This is why I don’t charge for it.

I’m currently sitting in a Starbucks in the heart of NYC, and despite the efficacy of my procrastinating rituals, I’ve reached the point where I have to write something – anything! – before I’m allowed to leave and visit an elderly relative. I’ve never been more suspicious of anyone than someone who tells you how much they’re dying to get a writing job in Los Angeles, because they love to write and they have so much to share and they have a voice which needs to be heard and so on and so forth.

First of all, if you think everybody has a voice which needs to be heard, try sitting in a coffee shop with someone on a loud Facetime call. Okay, I’m currently sitting in a coffee shop with someone on a very loud FaceTime call nearby and I would pull a Twilight Zone and disappear their mouth if I could.

I love to have written – I’m very proud of some things I’ve written – obviously not this Substack post, but some things. But like every real scribbler of words in history worth their salt, boy do I hate to write. In fact, as hard as the current WGA strike is on my writer friends, I suspect there are more than a few who are secretly relieved they don’t have to sit down and crank out CSI scripts or Trump jokes.

FILM RECOMMENDATION:

THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS

During the second World War, a staple of Hollywood studio productions were all-star movies featuring the actors who hadn’t gone off to war either playing themselves singing and dancing or ordinary people bravely gritting their teeth and getting through the best they could.

Most are worth a look (I quite like Hollywood Canteen), the very best of these was Warner Brothers’ Thank Your Lucky Stars. Set up as a fundraiser for the real-life Hollywood Canteen, a cafeteria on Cahuenga where stars of the day served food to visiting servicemen, Lucky Stars featured as many Warners studio stars as Hollywood Canteen cofounder Bette Davis could convince to appear.  Their $50,000 salaries were donated to the Canteen, and Davis convinced J.R. Warner to donate the proceeds from the film as well

.While the movie’s nominal star was Eddie Cantor in a dual role, the real draw is watching song-and-dance numbers from the supernaturally gifted (Dinah Shore in her screen debut) to the good sports (Errol Flynn, Bette Davis, and Hollywood Canteen cofounder John Garfield in their only song-and-dance appearances).

This movie is well worth a watch if you can find it. It’s currently not streaming, and I had to buy a copy of a Blu-Ray printed on demand by the Warner Archives through Amazon, although it’s available for more elsewhere and I think it airs on Turner Classic Movies from time to time.

THREE HIGHLIGHTS:

Errol Flynn – “That’s What You Jolly Well Get”

While Errol Flynn is best remembered as a swashbuckling romantic lead, this clip reveals that he was also a gifted musician who could have held his own in any musical comedy. There’s probably an alternate timeline where the studios didn’t keep a death grip on their stars’ careers in the ‘40s and ‘50s, where Flynn could have had the kind of comedy career he kind of wanted. In any case, enjoy this:

Bette Davis – “They’re Either Too Young or Too Old”

Since this movie was Davis’ baby, there was no way she could get out of appearing. And if you think she enjoyed herself as much as Errol Flynn, try watching the clip below. Her eyes remind me of my sister’s cat the time I gave her a bath.

While this number is best viewed as a novelty never to be repeated, it was still nominated for an Oscar that year. It was written by composer Arthur Schwartz (probably best remembered for “That’s Entertainment” from Band Wagon) and was also the first big song for lyricist Frank Loesser, who would go on to do Broadway musicals like Guys and Dolls:

Hattie McDaniel & Willie Best & Chorus: “Ice Cold Katie… Won’t You Marry the Soldier?”

Hattie McDaniel is best remembered today as an actress, having won the Oscar for playing Mammy in Gone with the Wind But she started her career as a songwriter and musical comedian in a family minstrel show called The McDaniel Sisters.

Willie Best was regarded by Hal Roach as one of the best comedians in movies, and Roach would know. He appeared in hundreds of movies in the ‘30s and ‘40s when he was billed he was almost always billed under the name “Sleep n Eat.” You can imagine what kinds of roles he was getting. You can read a little more about him at this blog, although that entry only scratches the surface.

This was one of a handful of Hollywood big budget movies that used Best’s real name, let alone let him show his range of talents to any degree. In the number – filmed on the set used in the big number in 42^nd Street no less – he plays a soldier whose mother is begging his girlfriend to marry him before he ships off to war.