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Gay Purr-ee (1962) starring Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, Red Buttons, Paul Frees

Gay Purr-ee

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Gay Purr-ee (1962) starring Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, Red Buttons, Paul Frees

 Gay Purr-ee is often remembered as the animated cartoon with the voice of Judy Garland …. But it’s quite frankly a lot more than that.  It takes a simple story: The farm girl who runs away to the big city in search of happiness, only to find that she was truly happy back home after all. And tells it in the setting of a musical, with the main characters all being cats.

Room Service

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Room Service (1938) starring the Marx Brothers (Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx), Lucille Ball, Ann Miller

I’ve long heard negative things about  Room Service starring the Marx Brothers  – Groucho, Chico, and Harpo.   However, after viewing the movie for myself, I don’t think that they’re deserved.   Granted, it’s not of the same quality as  Duck Soup, but it’s still very funny in its’ own right.   That’s not to say that there aren’t negative things to say.  The pace seems slow compared to typical Marx Brothers fare.  The movie starts slowly.   On the other hand, the ending of the movie is the normal zaniness that we’ve  come to expect, and it plays well.

Sorrowful Jones

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Sorrowful Jones (1949), starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball

Synopsis

New York bookie Sorrowful Jones takes a bet on Dreamy Joe from rotten gambler Orville Smith who leaves his young daughter, Martha, behind as collateral. When Orville overhears the horserace is fixed, he is killed by one of gangster Big Steve goons …

Miss Grant Takes Richmond [Lucille Ball]

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Miss Grant Takes Richmond  (1949) starring  Lucille Ball, William Holden, James Gleason

Miss Grant Takes Richmond  begins at a secretarial school. The grave-looking Charles Lane is overseeing his class, including Ellen Grant, played by the lovely  Lucille Ball.   Most of the class is performing well, but not Lucille Ball’s character. She demonstrates this to the audience in a battle with an old-style typewriter — and losing.   It’s a quiet  slapstick routine, and sets her character for the audience. Effectively, she’s playing her Lucy Ricardo character from  I Love Lucy  (before she met Ricky).   Hard working, diligent, intelligent, but accident prone — and cooking up a scheme to “help” other people.  

At home that evening, she’s practicing her typing, in hopes of graduating from secretarial school the next day.   She’s living with her aunt and uncle — the uncle is a Judge, and someone highly respected in the community.   Likewise, her boyfriend is assistant District Attorney.

Yours, Mine and Ours

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Yours, Mine and Ours (1968), starring Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, Van Johnson, Tom Bosley

 I can honestly say that  Yours, Mine and Ours  is one of my family’s favorite movies.   It’s a wonderful story, about the merging of two large families. The Beardsley family of ten children, with the widowed father played by  Henry Fonda. And the North family of eight children, with the widowed mother played by  Lucille Ball).   First comes the courtship of the father and mother… Awkwardly, clumsily, with the very understandable resentment of the children who don’t want their deceased parents ‘replaced’. This leads to “An alcoholic Pearl Harbor” that gives Lucille Ball an opportunity to play the drunk. It’s reminiscent of the classic  Vitameatavegamin episode of her classic  I Love Lucy  series. Ending with the dramatic revelation that she’s fallen in love again.

Bachelor in Paradise

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Bachelor in Paradise (1961), starring Bob Hope, Lana Turner

I have to admit, I recently enjoyed  Bachelor in Paradise on TCM, and found myself enjoying it very much. Bob Hope plays  Adam J. Niles, author of a series of books detailing the romantic life of the bachelor in a variety of foreign locales.  As the movie begins, he’s working on his latest volume in Italy. When he’s unexpectedly brought home, to deal with the issue of back taxes to the IRS.

The Cat and the Canary [1939]

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The Cat and the Canary, starring Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard

Synopsis of  The Cat and the Canary

The classic “old dark house” motif is given sterling treatment in The Cat and the Canary.  Bob Hope’s status as a star was assured with his role as Wallie Campbell. He becomes the cowardly protector of Joyce Norman (Paulette Goddard). She, in turn, who must spend one night in the eerie mansion of her late, eccentric, millionaire uncle. If she can make it through the night without losing her mind, Joyce stands to inherit her uncle’s entire fortune. Of course, all the other potential heirs now have a motive to drive her insane.

Rhythm Romance

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Rhythm Romance, starring Bob Hope, Shirley Ross, Gene Krupa, Una Merkel

Editorial review of  Rhythm Romance courtesy of Amazon.com

Bob Hope puts his best talents forward as Nicky Nelson, a fast-talking promoter with more angles than a funhouse. Originally titled Some Like It Hot (and since renamed for obvious reasons), the film follows the desperate schemes of a would-be entrepreneur seemingly on the verge of success. He’s got Gene Krupa’s band under his management and he’s in love with aspiring singer Shirley Ross, but after gambling away all his chances he’s left in the cold while his discoveries rise to glory without him, and he has one last shot to prove his worth.

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