Filmland Returns To Song And Dance

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 169, 19 July 1941, Page 15

Filmland Returns To Song And Dance

By Sheilah Graham

|S ING ' dance and' make pictures. The musical rush is on. Every song and dance teacher in town has a "full up" sign on the door. < Actors and actresses of the old dramatic school are dusting off , their vocal chords and practising : frantically for new warbling roles. Thespians who don't know one step from another will be seen swirl- i ing through intricate dance numbers m near-future films. And anyone

usual Jeanette Mac Donald semioperatic films: and "Chocolate Soldier" gives Nelson Eddy bigger and better vocal opportunities. More of Them Claudette Colbert is polishing her vocal chords for n song she will sing in Paramount's "Lacy in the Durk." - . . Little Carolyn Lee does her share of singing in "Birth of the Blues," with Bing Crosby and Mary Martin doing most of it. . . . June Preisser sings as well as dances in "Henry for President." . . . Veronica Lake, who sang for the first time on the screen in "I Wanted Wings." does an encore in her next —"China Pass." Paulette Goddard gives out again with a low C in "Hold Back the Door," in which she gets awav with a Latin-American dittv. . . \ "Paramount on Parade" has everyone on the lot with a voice—arid without—singing some sort of number. . . . And chere is singing in "Kiss the Boys Good-bye"—Mary Martin, Don Ameche, Rochester, Cdnnie Boswell. And in "Caught in the Draft"—Dorothy Lamour and Bob Hope. . . . And in "Louisiana Purchase." Columbia has seven musicals on its schedule—the two most important being "Pal Joey" and "He's My Uncle" with Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth. . . . R.K.O. has five coming up, including "Sunny" with Anna Neagle and John Carroll and "They Met in Argentina." There is also some singing in "Citizen Kane." No, not Orson; he merely promotes it.

Martin hitting the high notes and dancing the light fantastic. I hope Tony doesn't wear himself out, because he has a lot of singing to do in the current Marx Brothers' film. Shirley Temple, like Ginger Rogers, would like to put her dancing shoes away and concentrate on drama. But that must wait because her next film is "Babes on Broadway," and there will be songs and

There are four musicals and one straight song at Universal, the latter via Marlene Dietrich in "Flame of New Orleans." It's called "Sweet is the Blush of May." Marlene also has two songs in Warner's "Manpower." James Cagney sings and dances as George M. Cohan in "Yankee Doodle Dandy," the musical based on Cohan's life. Jimmy started acting life in the chorus, so this should be easy for him. Dennis Morgan, who has a beautiful voice, exercises it in "Bad Men of Missouri." and if and when Warners get to the remake of the

who actually can sing or dance is more in Hollywood demand now than at any time since the raucous film era climaxed by "Forty-Second otreet in 1932.

dances with Mickey Rooney and Miss Garland. Shirley also has the musical "Panama Hattie" on her Metro schedule. Also at Metro are the

"Desert Song" Dennis will have the Sheridan gives''out^ wHh ° a'' comes-the-navy sort of sontr Martha Raye sings in this one so does Jack Haley. Ind so on and on

Garbo Sings! Even Garbo has joined the singing procession and makes music in her forthcoming film for Metro, in which she plays a dual role. But she will sing in only one of them. Greta's deep voice should be reserved for speaking only. Gary Cooper breaks into song, also for the first time in his screen acting career, in "Sergeant York," where he demolishes 16 bars of a mountaineer song. I am told Gary has a deep baritone voice. Rita Hayworth goes the whole hog in "Blood and Sand," and before and after her "Dance of the Bull" (el Toro) with Anthony Quinn, she strums on a guitar and sings "Luna Verde." In "Sun Valley" the chorus of song should be deafening, with Sonja Henie singing a duet with John Payne—John gets a couple of solos for himself. Lynn Bari sings in this one with Glenn Miller and his orchestra. On the "Miami" sound stage next door Betty Grable, Don Ameche, Carole Landis, Jack Haley and Charlotte Greenwood sing and dance individually and collectively. Miss Grable continues her song fest in "Caribbean Cruise." Payne warbles some more in "A Straight Left," and "The Great American Broadcast." In this, Alice Faye supplies lowthroated croonings, with Jack Oakie making a noise that sounds like singing. Miss Faye, when she returns from her sea cruise, will play the singing lead in "My Gal Sal." A Rash of Song Metro has broken out with a rash of song and dance films. There's "Lady Be Good," in which Ann Sothern reverts to type as a singer of "The Last Time I Saw Paris" and one other song. John Carroll sings all the way through; he plays a radio crooner. Virginia O'Brien, the straight-faced singer from "Meet the People," has a couple of numbers. Eleanor Powell takes care of the dancing, aided by a dancing dog. Elderly Charles Winninger joins the singing and dancing of "Ziegfeld Girl," with Judy Garland and Tony ■3 4-