Author Archive: Retro

Irving Berlin songs highlight this story of a Broadway star who tries to produce a musical revue made up entirely of army recruits. Based on a play by Irving Berlin. Songs include: “My Sweetie”, “Poor Little Me, I’m on KP”, “Oh, How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning”, “What Does He Look Like” & more. Dir. Michael Curtiz

Backstage at a burlesque theatre as a star performer loses his wife when he begins hitging the bottle and carousing with women. Dir. John Cromwell, Edward Sutherland

While in a museum of modern art, Rodney Hatch, a barber, places the engagement ring he bought for his girlfriend, Molly, on the finger of a statue of Venus. Magically the statue comes to life. Learning of Rodney’s love for Molly, Venus banishes her to the North Pole and sets out to win the reluctant Rodney’s love.

After her Marine pilot husband is accused of treason and disappears, Venable goes to Shanghai and spots a man who is a dead ringer for him. Dir. Aubrey Scotto

The life of composer Jerome Kern, as he makes important friends like Victor Herbert & Oscar Hammerstein, which allows him to write musicals for a New York theatre. Features many popular singers of the era performing songs like: “Ol’ Man River”, “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man”, “The Last Time I Saw Paris”, “Long Ago and Far Away”, “Look for the Silver Lining” & more. Dir. Richard Whorf

In this comedy, a wealthy sheik kidnaps and falls for a snobby socialite.

Film director Bud Pollard appears on screen to tell us of Bing Crosby’s rise to fame, using scenes from four early Crosby shorts to illustrate his fictional biography.

Young stowaway sings for his travel fare while going after stolen secret government papers. Songs include: “Down Where the Trade Winds Blow”, “Hawaii Calls”, “That’s the Hawaiian In Me”. Dir. Edward F. Cline

In Horne’s film debut, she plays a woman who gets her big break but must choose between love and fame. A great look at the black entertainment industry in 1938. A young Lena Horne shines in her performance as Ethel, a singer who makes her way to the ‘big time’.