''Everybody Sing'' is a 1938 American
musical comedy film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...
starring
Allan Jones,
Judy Garland
Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...
, and
Fanny Brice
Fania Borach (October 29, 1891 – May 29, 1951), known professionally as Fanny Brice or Fannie Brice, was an American comedienne, illustrated song model, singer, and theater and film actress who made many stage, radio, and film appearances. S ...
, and featuring
Reginald Owen
John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was a British actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American films and television programs.
Career
The son of Joseph and Frances Owen, Reginald Owen studied at Sir Herbert ...
and
Billie Burke
Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke (August 7, 1884 – May 14, 1970) was an American actress who was famous on Broadway and radio, and in silent and sound films. She is best known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North ...
. The film was a significant step in Garland's career.
Plot
Young Judy Bellaire (
Judy Garland
Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...
) has trouble fitting in at school, causing trouble by introducing her jazzy style into music class and being expelled as a result. Returning home to her dysfunctional and financially challenged family, where her frustrated playwright-father (
Reginald Owen
John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was a British actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American films and television programs.
Career
The son of Joseph and Frances Owen, Reginald Owen studied at Sir Herbert ...
), ditzy actress-mother (
Billie Burke
Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke (August 7, 1884 – May 14, 1970) was an American actress who was famous on Broadway and radio, and in silent and sound films. She is best known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North ...
), and beautiful elder sister, Sylvia (
Lynne Carver
Lynne Carver (born Virginia Reid Sampson, September 13, 1916 – August 12, 1955) was an American film actress. She appeared in more than 40 films between 1934 and 1953.
Early years
Carver was born in Lexington, Kentucky. Her father, Reid John ...
) compete for attention along with the funny Russian maid, Olga (
Fanny Brice
Fania Borach (October 29, 1891 – May 29, 1951), known professionally as Fanny Brice or Fannie Brice, was an American comedienne, illustrated song model, singer, and theater and film actress who made many stage, radio, and film appearances. S ...
) and the hunky singing cook, Ricky (
Allan Jones), who is not-so-secretly in love with Sylvia. Judy foils her father's attempt to ship her off to Europe by escaping from the ship and then trying out for a musical show as a
blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person.
In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...
singer, taking advantage of her love of jazz to enchant the show's producer, who hires her and makes her a star of his new show. Meanwhile, Ricky cuts a record, musically expressing his love for Sylvia. Nevertheless, Sylvia is forced into engagement with another man.
When the distraught parents discover their younger daughter is appearing in a musical show, Sylvia rejoins her love, who is also appearing in the show. Finally, all the cast members are reunited, including Olga, who finds her lost love, Boris. The film's happy ending includes an extravagant stage piece with gorgeously attired chorus girls, happily reunited parents and child, and the happy kiss between Sylvia and Ricky, who is now the producer of a successful musical show.
Cast
*
Allan Jones as Richard "Ricky" Saboni
*
Judy Garland
Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...
as Judy Bellaire
*
Fanny Brice
Fania Borach (October 29, 1891 – May 29, 1951), known professionally as Fanny Brice or Fannie Brice, was an American comedienne, illustrated song model, singer, and theater and film actress who made many stage, radio, and film appearances. S ...
as Olga Chekaloff
*
Reginald Owen
John Reginald Owen (5 August 1887 – 5 November 1972) was a British actor. He was known for his many roles in British and American films and television programs.
Career
The son of Joseph and Frances Owen, Reginald Owen studied at Sir Herbert ...
as Hillary Bellaire
*
Billie Burke
Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke (August 7, 1884 – May 14, 1970) was an American actress who was famous on Broadway and radio, and in silent and sound films. She is best known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North ...
as Diana Bellaire
*
Reginald Gardiner
William Reginald Gardiner (27 February 1903 – 7 July 1980) was an English actor on the stage, in films and on television.
Early years
Gardiner was born in Wimbledon, England, and he was a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.Katz, ...
as Jerrold Hope
*
Lynne Carver
Lynne Carver (born Virginia Reid Sampson, September 13, 1916 – August 12, 1955) was an American film actress. She appeared in more than 40 films between 1934 and 1953.
Early years
Carver was born in Lexington, Kentucky. Her father, Reid John ...
as Sylvia Bellaire
*Helen Troy as Hillary's secretary
*
Monty Woolley
Edgar Montilion "Monty" Woolley (August 17, 1888May 6, 1963) was an American film and theater actor.Obituary ''Variety'', May 8, 1963, page 223. At the age of 50, he achieved a measure of stardom for his role in the 1939 stage play ''The Man Wh ...
as John "Jack" Fleming
*Adia Kuznetzoff as Boris, the bus driver
*
Henry Armetta
Henry Armetta (born Enrico Armetta; July 4, 1888 – October 21, 1945) was an American character actor who appeared in at least 150 American films, beginning in silent movies. His last film was released posthumously in 1946, the year after his d ...
as Signor Giovanni Vittorino, Cafe Nappo
*Michelette Burani as Madame Le Brouchette
*
Mary Forbes
Mary Forbes (born Ethel Louise Young; 1 January 1883 – 22 July 1974) was a British-American film actress, based in the United States in her latter years, where she died. She appeared in more than 130 films between 1919 and 1958. as Miss Colvin
Cast notes
* ''Everybody Sing'' is the final film Allan Jones appeared in for MGM, and the first MGM contract film for Monty Woolley.
Music
In ''Everybody Sing'', Allan Jones introduces the pop standard
"The One I Love", with lyrics by
Gus Kahn
Gustav Gerson Kahn (November 6, 1886October 8, 1941) was an American lyricist who contributed a number of songs to the Great American Songbook, including "Pretty Baby", "Ain't We Got Fun?", "Carolina in the Morning", "Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo' By ...
and music by
Bronisław Kaper
Bronisław Kaper (; February 5, 1902 – April 26, 1983) was a Polish film composer who scored films and musical theater in Germany, France, and the USA. The American immigration authorities misspelled his name as Bronislau Kaper. He was also var ...
and
Walter Jurmann
Walter Jurmann (October 12, 1903 - June 17, 1971) was an Austrian-born composer of popular music renowned for his versatility who, after emigrating to the United States, specialized in film scores and soundtracks.
Biography
Born in Vienna, Jurman ...
. The film also includes three other songs from the same composing team: "(Down On) Melody Farm," "Swing Mr. Mendelssohn," and "The Show Must Go On". Jones also sings part of Kaper and Jurmann's hit song "Cosi-Cosa", which he introduced in the MGM film ''
A Night at the Opera'' (1935). The music and lyrics for "Quainty, Dainty Me" and "Snooks (Why? Because!)" are by
Bert Kalmar
Bert Kalmar (February 10, 1884 – September 18, 1947) was an American songwriter, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. He was also a screenwriter.
Biography
Kalmar, a native of New York City, left school at an early age ...
and
Harry Ruby
Harry Rubenstein (January 27, 1895 – February 23, 1974), known professionally as Harry Ruby, was an American actor, pianist, composer, songwriter and screenwriter, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.[Baby Snooks
''The Baby Snooks Show'' was an American radio program starring comedian and ''Ziegfeld Follies'' alumna Fanny Brice as a mischievous young girl who was 40 years younger than the actress who played her when she first went on the air. The series b ...]
" played on Broadway and on the radio by Brice.
The St. Brendan's Boys Choir, directed by Robert Mitchell, provided the singing voices for the schoolgirl chorus that backs Judy on her numbers.
"Music"
TCM.com
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...
The musical numbers were staged by Dave Gould
Dave Gould (born Dezső Guttmann; March 11, 1899 - June 3, 1969) was a Hungarian-American choreographer and dance director. He is notable as one of the three people to win the short-lived Academy Award for Best Dance Direction
The Academy Awards ...
, except for "Quainty, Dainty Me", which was staged by Seymour Felix
Seymour Felix (October 23, 1892 – March 16, 1961) was an American director, performer, and choreographer best known for his work in early Broadway musicals.
Seymour was born on October 23, 1892 in New York City. He began his show business car ...
; the dance director was Val Raset. Fanny Brice's dancing was doubled by Iola Cochran.
Production
Working titles for the film were "The Ugly Ducking" – a reference to Garland's character[Fristoe, Roger]
"Article: Everybody Sing (1937)"
TCM.com
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...
– and "Swing Fever".["Notes"]
TCM.com
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...
Principal photography took place from September 2–3, and then late September to December 21, 1937. Retakes took place January 8–10, 1938.
After a stalled career, this was one of the films marking the picking up of momentum in Judy Garland's ascent to stardom. Following the sensational audience reaction to her singing " You Made Me Love You" to a picture of Clark Gable
William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...
in ''Broadway Melody of 1938
''Broadway Melody of 1938'' is a 1937 American musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Roy Del Ruth. The film is essentially a backstage musical revue, featuring high-budget sets and cinematography in the MGM musical traditio ...
'' (1937), she was rushed into shooting two films back to back, ''Thoroughbreds Don't Cry
''Thoroughbreds Don't Cry'' is a 1937 American musical comedy film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in their first film together.
Plot
Cricket West is a hopeful actress with a pair of vocal cords that bri ...
'' (1937) and this film, which was held for later release.
According to TCM.com:
As important as the film itself in the development of Garland's career was a seven-week, seven-city promotional tour that started in Miami Beach and included stops in New York and Chicago. With Garland mentor Roger Edens accompanying her on the piano, she stepped alone for the first time onto huge stages to sing in front of adoring crowds and began to establish the audience rapport that would, in time, make her one fthe world's greatest live entertainers.
Reception
The reviewer for ''Film Weekly
''Film Weekly'' was one of the leading popular film magazines published in the United Kingdom during the late 1920s and 1930s.
Background
Launched in 1928, the magazine became known for its gossipy interest in contemporary film stars. Columnist ...
'' wrote that Garland's singing put the film into the "excellent" class, and that "Anyone who stands up to Miss Brice at her own comedy game is very good indeed."
According to MGM's records the film earned $655,000 in the US and Canada and $348,000 elsewhere, resulting in an overall loss of $174,000.
References
External links
*
*
*
*
''Everybody Sing'' at the Judy Garland Database
{{Authority control
1938 films
1938 musical comedy films
1938 romantic comedy films
American musical comedy films
American romantic comedy films
American romantic musical films
Blackface minstrel shows and films
Films directed by Edwin L. Marin
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
American black-and-white films
Films with screenplays by Florence Ryerson
Films with screenplays by Edgar Allan Woolf
1930s English-language films
1930s American films