This time we have two musical romantic comedies, both from the Art Deco/Glamour period of the mid-to-late '30s. Last night's was called "Sitting on the Moon"(1936), and starred Roger Pryor as "Danny West", a songwriter who, as the movie opens, is awakened in the back of a taxi by a cabbie who wants his fare. Danny doesn't know where he is, when he got in the cab or how he came to be with the blonde sitting next to him. The driver explains, in Screwball slang, that Danny's been on a multi-day bender. "I've driven you and the dame all over the joint, from Mexico to Malibu. You'll remember it better it when your head unswells a few sizes."
Remembering he's got a gig to report for, Danny shakes off his hangover, ditches the blonde, and heads to a nearby recording studio. He's late for the rehearsal, he owes the producer a song and he's got nothing written so he plays something spontaneous, a ragtime sampling of Wagner's Tannhauser. The producer thinks its an original composition. "Needs polishing," he says, but at least Danny is off the hook until he can sober up. When he does, hes got another problem; he's late on his rent. His landlord is understanding, but ultimately it's pay or get out.
So he heads to Regency Movie Schtudios where he once worked on a picture, and there, at a cattle call for dancers, he meets "Polly Blair" (Grace Bradley), a blacklisted actress. No, she's not a HUAC victim (this is 15 years before that) but she's on the outs in Hollywood because she's been labeled temperamental (she once stormed off a picture). Danny knows of Polly from the old days. Though they've never met, she once sang one of his songs in a movie, before he, too, became washed up. Both of them get kicked off the lot this time, and they end up back at Danny's apartment, where he's got the landlord staved off for the time being. Inspired by their meeting, he starts writing a new song in her presence,which they end up calling "Sitting on the Moon". Polly takes it to a radio promoter she knows, and the next thing you know, it's a hit. Suddenly, she's on a radio tour with the tune, making a thousand bucks a week. She and Danny are in love by now and thinking of getting married. But then Danny gets a telegram informing him that Little Miss So-and-So is coming to town to visit him. "Who is she?", he wonders. Well, holy-moly, she's the blonde bimbo from the taxicab at the beginning of the movie. She tells him "not only did I ride around with you for two days, but we also got married in Mexico, don't you remember?" She shows him the ring and the papers to prove it. That was one hell of a drunken bender Danny was on, worse than even the cab driver told him. Sweet Polly Blair, who is now his his fiance, overhears his convo with the blonde and is heartbroken. "You two timer!" she yells, and leaves Danny. Polly's still making a grand a week for singing "Sitting on the Moon" in nightclubs, but Danny's too ashamed of his Mexican marriage to show his face. In the end, though, he has to get Polly back, and his chance comes in the form of another hit song. Just when it looks like her short radio career is over, Danny shows up and she's a star again. The twist is that he's out of his marriage to the bimbo. I absolutely loved this movie, it gets Two Big Thumbs Up, and you'll enjoy not only the music but the voice of Grace Bradley, who, according to Wiki, was a popular singer of the era. "Sitting on the Moon" is highly recommended and the picture is very good. ////
Our other rom/com, seen the night before, was "Rhythm in the Clouds"(1937), starring Patricia Ellis as songwriter/pianist "Judy Walker", who's been turned down by every publishing house in the city. When her money runs out and she can't pay her rent, she writes a letter to a well-known composer, offering to apprentice for him. He doesn't respond, so she goes to his apartment to ask him in person. That's when she finds out that he's on vacation, and she just moves in, like a squatter. She eats his food and composes on his piano - hey, what's a gal supposed to do, starve and whistle tunes in the street? Everything is good now for Judy, and she's wearing her evening dress so she looks glamorous. The only problem is that her piano playing is bothering her neighbor. He starts pounding on the wall. She answers by pounding back, and pretty soon both of them are at war and throwing everything but the kitchen sink at their walls, in order to get the other to shut up.
But what Judy doesn't know is that her neighbor is a singer/lyricist with radio show connections, and when she finally gets potential publishing for her songs, by forging the name of of the apartment owner, his manager wants to set her up with a singer/lyricist, and guess who it turns out to be? A nightclub show is all set up, sponsored by a wealthy perfume manufacturer named "The Duchess" (Zeffie Tilbury). She's ancient but wants to stay hip and the old fuddy duddy who runs the radio station isn't providing the new talent she wants. This gets Judy a shot at playing live, with her songs. But what she doesn't know yet is that she'll have to play them with her neighbor the noisy singer/lyricist who she's at war with. She doesn't even know he's her neighbor, and when he shows up at the audition, he wants his girlfriend to sing with him. This increases the romantic friction that's already been brewing from the Apartment Noise War, and then the capper is that the famous apartment owner/songwriter comes back from vacation to find out Judy has been squatting at his pad. He wants to have her arrested, but by now, The Duchess, who is loaded and is sponsoring the radio show, insists that Judy be the live act. The neighbor who detests her and the apartment owner who wants her arrested are going to have to go along with the wishes of The Duchess, while the middleman publishing agent needs a new tube of Rolaids for the ulcer he's developed. The two movies reviewed tonight have similar titles, themes and styles. The music in "Rhythm in the Clouds" is good as well, and it also gets Two Big Thumbs Up. Patricia Ellis is delightful as the Screwball pianist Judy, and Zeffie Tilbury, who plays The Duchess, is one of our very earliest actresses, born in 1863, when Abe Lincoln was still alive. My goodness! The picture is razor sharp. ////
That's all for tonight. We finished "Terry and the Pirates" (a must-watch) and have started two new serials, "Zorro's Fighting Legion"(1939) starring Reed Hadley and Sheila Darcy, and "The Phantom"(1943) starring Tom Tyler. Both are off to awesome starts, the episodes are about 17 minutes long. My blogging music tonight is "The Geese and the Ghost" by Anthony Phillips, late night music is Spanish Organ Music by E. Power Biggs. I hope your weekend is off to a good start and I send you Tons of Love as always.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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