Gale Storm, who later went on to fame as the star of My Little Margie, was 21 when she made this Monogram cheapie musical. 17-year-old Jane Stanton (Storm) comes to New York to find work as a singer. She's almost hired by one saloon, until the owner discovers she's still a minor. Then a handsome manager (who's really a bookie), Tony (Rick Vallin), sends her over to a talent school run by Jack Leonard (William Henry). Unfortunately, the school doesn't take anyone over the age of 14, so Jane is forced to masquerade as a child. There were certainly exploitable and amusing elements in this picture, but none of them are developed in such a fashion as to provide meaty laughs. Storm, however, is poised, very attractive, and already shows signs of the talent for comedy that she'd display years later in two successful sitcoms. The scenes when Jack comes close to nearly kissing a girl he thinks is only 14 are kind of creepy. The best thing about the picture are the snappy musical numbers, such as "The Little Bell Rang," which are more-than-competently delivered by Storm, who sold a few successful records later in her career.
Verdict: A passing storm on the way to better things. Nice songs, though, and Storm and her leading men are easy on the eyes. **.
Gale Storm never reached the stardom that Judy Garland and Deanna Durbin did in youth, and was overshadowed by Lucy on TV in the 50s, but was a very attractive talented lady. Thanks Bill, for keeping her memory alive! So many stars fade into oblivion despite the Internet...kids have never even heard of them...fun to revive and resurrect them and give them their due.
ReplyDeleteI have a fantasy that all our classic movie and TV blogs live in the ethers and provide a kind of time capsule for future generations...LOL. It's a nice conceit at least!!
Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!
-Chris
You, too, Chris!
ReplyDeleteThanks to the Internet, everything old is new again. Of course some people just follow the twitter feeds of popular current celebrities, but if they are inclined they can find info on past stars all over the web. And there are online and print publications -- not to mention blogs -- devoted to the past and forgotten personalities. I'm often amazed at how often I'll google something, expecting no results, but sure enough- -- there's something someone has written about an obscure movie, actor or so on.