Two theater producers try to stage a wartime charity extravaganza called Cavalcade of Stars. The egotistical Eddie Cantor has Dinah Shore under contract and will only allow her to appear if he is made chairman of the benefit committee, so he is allowed to take command. Meanwhile, an aspiring singer and his songwriter girlfriend conspire to get into the charity program by replacing Cantor with their lookalike friend, tour bus driver Joe Simpson.
Many of Warner Bros.' stars performed in musical numbers, including several who were not known as singers. The show features the only onscreen musical performances by Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland and Ida Lupino.
"We're Staying Home Tonight...Doing the Patriotic Thing", sung by Eddie Cantor to a captive audience of his household staff and the hapless producers of the benefit.
"I'm Goin' North", sung by Jack Carson and Alan Hale Sr. as old-time vaudevillians meeting in a train station; both are bucking the trend toward all things Southern. After several costume changes, they end up in a blizzard, dripping with icicles.
"Love Isn't Born, It's Made", sung by Ann Sheridan with Joyce Reynolds and a chorus of girls in a sorority bedroom.
"No You, No Me", sung by Dennis Morgan and Joan Leslie (dubbed by Sally Sweetland) from a tableside jukebox in a café.
"The Dreamer", sung by Dinah Shore as a farm girl singing to her love; she wants to dream "until you're home once more."
"Ice Cold Katie... Won't You Marry the Soldier?", a big production number performed on a Harlem set by Hattie McDaniel, Willie Best, Jess Lee Brooks and—portraying the song's titular bride-to-be—dancer Rita Christian, plus a chorus of singers and dancers.[7][8]
"How Sweet You Are", sung by Dinah Shore with a large chorus of waltzing couples saying farewell as the men go off to war—in 1861.
"That's What You Jolly Well Get", sung and danced to by Errol Flynn as a mustachioed Cockney seaman boasting to a pub full of cronies about his battles with the Nazis over the past four years.
"They're Either Too Young or Too Old", sung by Bette Davis[9] in a nightclub set populated by men whose appearances fit the song. A brief and strenuous jitterbug performance by Davis and real-life dance contest winner Conrad Wiedell sends her out to her car. At the end of the number, she replaces the last phrase by blowing a kiss to the audience. The song was written by Frank Loesser and Arthur Schwartz.[3]
"Good Night, Good Neighbor", a romantic take on the Good Neighbor Policy, opens with Dennis Morgan escorting Miss Latin America (Lynne Baggett) home to the Pan American Club for Women, singing to her and a chorus of residents. The scene segues to the elegant Club Chiquita, where Alexis Smith dances with Igor Dega and Arnold Kent. Cast members included:[10]
The finale medley of "Cavalcade of Stars", on a celestial[12] set, with brief reprises or revisions of:
"We're Staying Home Tonight" (Cantor as Joe Simpson pretending to be Cantor)
"How Sweet You Are" (Chorus girls on clouds)
"We're Way Up North..." (Carson and Hale Sr., in a star)
"The Dreamer" (Shore, on stage, dreamily; de Havilland, Lupino and Tobias in a star)
"Ridin' for a Fall" (Morgan and Leslie)
"Love Isn't Born (It's Made)" (Sheridan, in a star)
"That's What You Jolly Well Get", as opera. Flynn, without his mustache, interrupts to comment "That voice is so divine, I wish that voice were mine!" and resumes singing in his star.
"Good Night, Good Neighbor" (Morgan), while Smith and her partners dance on a cloud in the background.
"They're Either Too Young or Too Old" (Davis, in a star)
"Ice Cold Katie" (McDaniel, enthroned on a crescent moon and Cantor, rowing by on a cloud)
"Thank Your Lucky Stars" (ensemble)
The penultimate shots in the film show Sakall, who is conducting the orchestra, driven to distraction by imagining Cantor playing every instrument in the orchestra.
Bette Davis recalled that Conrad Wiedell, who had really won a jitterbug contest, was frightened at the thought of hurting her. She told him "forget about who I am...let your instincts come to the fore, and just do it!"[15]
Olivia de Havilland said that she added the over-the-top gum chewing to the act in order to help with the lip-synching.[17]
The finale was filmed with many of the cast on stage together, but all are shown when the curtain comes down, thanks to special effects that place five acts—Flynn, Sheridan, Davis, the Carson-Hale duo and the trio of de Havilland, Lupino and Tobias—over their glitter-covered stars.[citation needed]
Reception
Thank Your Lucky Stars was popular with audiences, and the critic James Agee called it "the loudest and most vulgar of the current musicals. It is also the most fun."[18] Ticket sales, combined with the donated salaries of the performers, raised more than $2,000,000 for the Hollywood Canteen.[19]
The film earned $2,503,000 domestically and $1,118,000 in foreign markets.[1]
At the time, Variety described the film as a "triumph for Eddie Cantor".[20]Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that "the gag that the true Mr. Cantor would, if he could, gum up the show is so realistically repeated that fiction becomes painful fact...you have a conventional all-star show which has the suspicious flavor of an 'amateur night' at the studio. But at least it is lively and genial...For the sake of variety, the Warners might have worked in a little more dance and a little more femininity. Too many people sing. And too few beautiful girls display their talents. It is also too much (two hours) of a show. But, in straight omnibus entertainment that's what you have to expect."[21]
Leonard Maltin gives the picture three out of four stars, stating "Very lame plot...frames all-star Warner Bros. show, with Davis singing "They're Either Too Young or Too Old,'' Flynn delightfully performing "That's What You Jolly Well Get,'' other staid stars breaking loose."[22]
^In the film, the fictional “Gower Gulch” is a hilltop neighborhood in Los Angeles, where struggling actors and musicians live in caravans and cottages cobbled together from movie sets and gathered around an old house. It is located “only 4 minutes from Vine Street,” according to Tommy Randolph. The Hollywoodland sign blinks in the background on its distant hill. The “real” Gower Gulch was a name given to the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street in Hollywood near several studios, including the what is today the Sunset Gower Studios (then Columbia Pictures).
References
^ abcWarner Bros financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 25 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
^Film review: 'Thank Your Lucky Stars'." Variety, August 18, 1943, p. 10.
^Film review: 'Thank Your Lucky Stars'." Harrison's Reports, August 21, 1943, p. 136.
^Loesser, Frank; Kimball, Robert, ed.; Nelson, Stephen, ed. (2003). The Complete Lyrics of Frank Loesser. New York: Knopf. p. 101. ISBN9780679450597. "ICE COLD KATY Published . Copyrighted June 25 , 1943. Introduced by Hattie McDaniel, Willie Best, Jess Lee Brooks, Rita Christiani, and ensemble."
