Friday, December 07, 2007

A Sweater, a Sarong, and a Peek-a-Boo Bang

Still trying to get some more posts up here... but meanwhile, here's a number from Star Spangled Rhythm, Paramount's entry in the "all-star revue movies for the troops with lame linking storyline" sub-genre. Paramount's lineup of stars at this point wasn't as impressive overall as WB or MGM, the other studios that did this kind of movie, but they had more singing/dancing stars than WB (which used mostly non-singing stars to sing in its entry, Thank Your Lucky Stars).

In this number, we get Paramount contractee Paulette Goddard, Dorothy Lamour and Veronica Lake -- three very attractive women who were mostly used as decoration in Paramount movies, though Goddard did eventually get a good role in 1945's Kitty -- singing a funny Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer song lamenting their sex-symbol status. Well, Goddard and Lamour sing; most of Lake's singing is dubbed.

The number also includes a bizarre interlude with three character actors in drag: Sterling Holloway, Walter Catlett, and Arthur Treacher. (Catlett and Holloway had done voices for Disney features, and Treacher would later appear in Disney's Mary Poppins.)



2 comments:

Thad said...

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing.

C.L.J. said...

I'm glad they had the three men in there; only Goddard showed signs of coming to life, but Lamour wasn't far behind. Someone should have given Veronica a line of coke.
The three 'dragsters' really brought the number to life.