''Time Out for Rhythm'' is a 1941

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Sidney Salkow Sidney Salkow (June 16, 1911 – October 18, 2000) was an American film director (more than 50 motion pictures), screenwriter, and television director. Salkow was educated at the City College of New York, Columbia University and Harvard Law Schoo ...

and starring

Rudy Vallée Hubert Prior Vallée (July 28, 1901 – July 3, 1986), known professionally as Rudy Vallée, was an American singer, musician, actor, and radio host. He was one of the first modern pop stars of the teen idol type. Early life Hubert Prior Vall ...

Ann Miller Ann Miller (born Johnnie Lucille Collier; April 12, 1923 – January 22, 2004) was an American retired actress and former dancer. She is best remembered for her work in the Classical Hollywood cinema musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Her early ...

and the

Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeare ...

(

Moe Howard Moses Harry Horwitz (June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975), known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He is best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television ...

Larry Fine Louis Feinberg (October 5, 1902 – January 24, 1975), known professionally as Larry Fine, was an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is best known as a member of the comedy act the Three Stooges. Early life Fine was born to a Russian Je ...

, and

Curly Howard Jerome Lester Horwitz (; October 22, 1903 – January 18, 1952), known professionally as Curly Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He was best known as a member of the American comedy team the Three Stooges, which also featured his elder ...

Six Hits and a Miss Six Hits and a Miss was an American swing-era singing group. The group consisted of six male singers and one female (thus the word "miss" in their name has a double meaning – the converse of the word "hit", and denotation of a young woman). T ...

perform, as well as Glen Gray and His Casa Loma Orchestra, and

Eduardo Durant Eduardo is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the male given name Edward. Another version is Duarte. It may refer to: Association football * Eduardo Bonvallet, Chilean football player and sports commentator * Eduardo Carvalho, Portuguese footba ...

's Rhumba Band, and with eight original songs by

Saul Chaplin Saul Chaplin (February 19, 1912 – November 15, 1997) was an American composer and musical director. He was born Saul Kaplan in Brooklyn, New York. He had worked on stage, screen and television since the days of Tin Pan Alley. In film, he wo ...

and

Sammy Cahn Samuel Cohen (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993), known professionally as Sammy Cahn, was an American lyricist, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premi ...

Plot

Harvard educated Danny Collins (Rudy Vallée) and street-wise Mike Armstrong ( Richard Lane) team up after a chance meeting to form the most successful talent agency in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Mike is in love with nightclub and Broadway songstress Frances Lewis ( Rosemary Lane), determined to make her nationally famous with his and Danny's help. Danny sees her, correctly, as a self-centered opportunist willing to capitalize on Mike's affections to further her career. Eventually, she causes Danny and Mike to split. Around the same time Danny and his assistant 'Off-Beat' Davis meet Frances' maid Kitty Brown (

), a shy tap-dancing wonder, and try to find her work... but without Mike, their new agency cannot get going successfully. Mike is not having any luck on his own either, despite the fact he and Frances are now engaged to be married. When Danny has the opportunity to produce a New York-based variety show with Kitty and

Joan Merrill Joan Merrill portrait Joan Merrill (January 2, 1918 – May 10, 1992) was an American singer and actress. Career Merrill began her career in the 1930s on radio and later sang at nightclubs across the United States, including at the Copacabana ...

(as herself) as the headliners, he and Mike finally make amends when he needs Mike's help to seal the deal. But Frances blackmails Danny, threatening to break Mike's heart if she is not cast as the star of the show. Mike eventually learns about this and finally sees Frances for who she really is and leaves her. Mike moves forward, with Danny as his friend and business partner once again, to work on the show starring Kitty. The film's musical finale begins with the Stooges (with help from co-stars Brenda and Cobrina) performing a hilarious rhumba dance number, with Curly Howard dressed up as

Carmen Miranda Carmen Miranda, (; born Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha, 9 February 1909 – 5 August 1955) was a Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer, dancer, Broadway actress and film star who was active from the late 1920s onwards. Nicknamed "The Br ...

Cast

Production notes

The

made appearances as out-of-work actors trying to find jobs through Danny's and Mike's agency. The Stooges provided most of the laughs as they appear throughout the movie. They showcased their famous "Maharaja" routine here for the first time, which later reused in their 1946

short subject A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

Three Little Pirates ''Three Little Pirates'' is a 1946 short subject directed by Edward Bernds starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges ( Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 96th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures sta ...

'' as well as several other bits, including "Melodrama" routine from their era with

Ted Healy Ted Healy (born Charles Ernest Lee Nash; October 1, 1896 – December 21, 1937) was an American vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor. Though he is chiefly remembered as the creator of The Three Stooges and the style of slapstick comedy ...

which can also be seen at MGM-era short ''

Plane Nuts ''Plane Nuts'' is the fourth of five short subjects starring Ted Healy and His Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard) released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on October 14, 1933. A musical-comedy film, the short also featured Bonnie Bonnell as ...

'' (1933).

Alan Hale, Jr. Alan Hale Jr. (born Alan Hale MacKahan; (March 8, 1921 - January 2, 1990) was an American actor and restaurateur. He was the son of actor Alan Hale Sr. His television career spanned four decades, but he was best known for his secondary lead role ...

, best known for his role as The Skipper on ''

Gilligan's Island ''Gilligan's Island'' is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show's ensemble cast features Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells. It aired for th ...

'', also makes a brief appearance, marking one of his first film appearances.

Home media

For many years, ''Time Out for Rhythm'' remained the only Columbia feature-length film with bit parts from the Stooges unavailable in DVD format (it never saw a VHS release). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment finally gave the film a DVD release on August 7, 2012, as part of its manufactured-on-demand ''Columbia Choice Collection'' series. On February 4, 2014, Mill Creek Entertainment released the film on Blu-Ray as part of the six-movie set ''The Three Stooges Collection''.

External links

* * {{Sidney Salkow 1941 films 1941 musical comedy films American musical comedy films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films American films based on plays Films directed by Sidney Salkow Films scored by Morris Stoloff The Three Stooges films Columbia Pictures films 1940s American films