ZIS BOOM BAH

Jan Wiley, Peter Lind Hayes, Mary Healy

ZIS BOOM BAH (1941). Director: William Nigh.

Vaudeville star Grace Hayes, playing herself, has apparently endowed a college where her son, Peter Kendricks (Peter Lind Hayes, the real son of Grace Hayes) is a student. For reasons never satisfactory explained Peter doesn't know who his mother is, only that she's an entertainer. Grace is very disappointed in her son as she finds him to be egotistical and irresponsible. Although Annabella (Jan Wiley of Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc.) has set her cap for Peter, the latter is attracted to Grace's assistant, Mary Healey (also playing herself -- she and Hayes had tied the knot the previous year). Grace buys a soda shoppe, converts it to a nightclub, and importunes the students to put on a show so that they can keep the college from going under. 

Grace Hayes with son and daughter-in-law

I didn't hold out high hopes for Zis Boom Bah, but the flick is entertaining and well-played. Both Hayes and wife Healey have very nice voices and deliver their songs with aplomb. The songs are tuneful: Put Your Trust in the Moon; Miss America; Annabella; I've Got to Smile Again. There's also a smooth trumpet player; a very talented kid dancer (Roland Dupree); and the inimitable Huntz Hall [Blonde Dynamite], who dances in drag with Hayes at one point and is a riot. Hayes does great impressions of Charles Boyer and Ronald Colman. Grace Hayes is pretty much forgotten today -- not to mention Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy -- but she is quite snappy and appealing in this picture. William Nigh also directed A Bride for Henry. 

Verdict: This family affair is more fun than you would imagine. ***.