Hitting a New High

What can one say about a picture where Lily Pons sits up a tree making bird noises while Edward Everett Horton tries to get her down by saying "Pretty Polly"? Well, it certainly didn't appeal to audiences back in 1937, because sources indicate that this picture proved a financial bust and put an end to RKO's attempts to turn Miss Pons into a movie star. I enjoyed it though, and maybe some of the bizarre humour in "Hitting a New High" might go down better today. Of course the plot machinations are contrived and weak, but is there anyone who really watches this kind of movie for the plot? Raoul Walsh keeps things moving along at a brisk clip, and Lily Pons, while not the most charismatic of film personalities, is reasonably appealing as Ooga Hunga the "bird girl". She also gives a pretty unforgettable rendition of Saint-Saens La Rossignol during the proceedings as well, but purists may not approve. However, the film is really stolen by Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore, a not uncommon occurrence at RKO around this time, and for me they give this film most of the entertainment value it has today.

Press agent Corny Davis (Jack Oakie) has an issue with a lion shoot. He's taking media mogul Lucius B. Blynn on an African big game hunt. Jazz singer Suzette (Lily Pons) is trying to be an opera singer. Corny has a crazy idea to make her Oogahunga, the legendary Bird-Lady from the African jungle.

The overall premise is bonkers. Lily Pons is an European opera singer with passable acting skills. This starts with the crazy lion scene. That's a real lion. The premise is a mess, but it's a fun mess for the most part. I really wanted her to go full out with all the birds in the world. The fun start and the crazy premise eventually runs out of steam. It needs more jokes and better comedy.

With the popularity of musical films during the golden era of Hollywood, the major studios dabbled some with bringing prominent opera stars of the stage to the general public. "Hitting a New High" is the third film by RKO to star French-born Lily Pons. She was a leading soprano with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, from 1931 to 1960. Besides opera, Pons was a successful concert singer. She was known especially for her exceptional ability to reach the super high notes - above high C which all good sopranos could sing. Pons regularly hit D above high C and was the only classical singer of her time who could sing F above high C.

Some of the musicals with opera singers did well, but many did not. The most popular opera singers with mostly successful films were Kathryn Grayson, Jeanette MacDonald, Jane Powell and Deanna Durbin. While just a few musicals by the opera stars were biographical, most were comedies and romance. One of the most successful overall was Jeanette MacDonald. She and Nelson Eddy were the most enduring couples in musicals, making eight films together. But she made 20 plus more films with various leading men of the day.

This film turned out to be a flop, and it was the last musical Pons made, with just one more small part in a later film. The problem with "Hitting a New High" is that it dwelled on Pons's coloratura talent - lots of vibrato and movement within long-held and repeated high notes that she just sang solo. She appeared to be warbling like birds that were in scenes with her. She only sings parts of two operatic songs in this film, and her frequent super high and chirping type of notes soon become tiring - even irritating. Still, the movie might have worked if it had a better screenplay to milk the great comedy talent assembled for the film.

With Jack Oakie, Eric Blore, E. E. Horton and Luis Alberni, this film should have caused lots of laughter. But the script hardly used any of their talents. It had a wacky plot of a singer being discovered in the jungle. That could have been developed with much humor, but it wasn't. Horton's frequent pompous and flummoxed high society character was overdone, with nary a humorous scene or funny line. He soon became irritating. Alberni wasn't used for comedy at all, and Jack Oakie's male lead was so weak in humor as to be dull. Eric Blore had one lively scene toward the end. Had the writers exploited the idea more that he was the father of the long-lost bird girl raised in the jungle, there could have been some great comedy. But RKO let that chance slip through its fingers.

As a result, this is a quite dull film that moves very slowly. It's wroth viewing for those who like music, to see and hear Pons reach those super high notes. Otherwise, it has just the small bit of humor added mostly by Blore. Most modern audiences would probably give up and quit watching this film before halfway through. I like musicals, and great comedies, so I stuck to the end.

In the old days, studios would bring opera stars into movies. Some were successful - Nelson Eddy, Jeanette McDonald, Grace Moore, Lawrence Tibbett, Lauritz Melchior, Tony Martin, Mario Lanza and others. A few made a stab at it but weren't quite right. Lily Pons is one of those.

When Pons was in her sixties, I was a young student studying voice and for some reason my mother was always throwing her in my face. I have no idea why - she would occasionally show up at a gala and there's no way she had any high notes at that age - your cords thicken - so I have no idea what she was doing.

Anyway, she was very famous. For some reason, again in the old days, opera houses didn't mind that these singers had voices the size of a mosquito. Unreal.

Pons stars here in "Hitting a New High" from 1937. She plays Suzette, who sings with her boyfriend's (John Howard) band, but her heart is in opera, and she wants an audition with the great opera impresario Mr. Mazzini (Eduardo Cianelli) desperately. When she meets a big patron's assistant Corny (Jack Oakie), she tells him that she will do anything to get in to see Mr. Mazzini.

Corny arranges for his boss Lucius Blynn (Edward Everett Horton) to "discover" Suzette in the jungle and bring her back to New York. When he first sees her, she is singing to the birds and can't speak English. They call her the "Bird Girl."

Blynn brings her back to New York, fixes her up with a vocal coach, and then tries to convince Mazzini to hear her. Suzette has gotten a lot of publicity as the Bird Girl but her boyfriend Jimmy insists that she sing with his band in the evening. One night, Mazzini hears her and thinks he's made a great discovery.

The movie was amusing, thanks to Eric Blore as a band member who tries to get money from Blynn by saying he's Bird Girl's long lost father, Edward Everett Horton, and Jack Oakie.

Pons sings Air du Rossignol, Je suis Titania, and the Mad Scene from Lucia. Pons was a smart woman and very fashionable; she was pretty and petite. Her signature role was Lakme, which is not done much today.

Pons was a true coloratura, the highest soprano voice, and stuck with those roles. She did not have much of a middle voice; real coloraturas don't. She did have an excellent, fast coloratura technique; some of her high notes were better than others. She could be a very exciting singer.

Like many female singers from that era, her voice was small. But at least she stuck to her repertoire - I mean, Jeanette MacDonald sang Tosca which is ridiculous. She retired in 1973 - I have no idea what she sang at that point.

This film was a major flop, and Pons' last that wasn't a "concert film." Well, my mother always liked her.

HITTING A NEW HIGH puts the spotlight on LILY PONS and her coloratura soprano vocal range, but unfortunately has a plot that is beyond silly. For publicity purposes, JACK OAKIE and EDWARD EVERETT HORTON decide to perpetuate the idea that she was discovered in the African jungle, a bird girl who happens to have a gorgeous singing voice. Horton puts her under the tutelage of a voice teacher so that he can put her on display as his own singing discovery. From that point on, the plot is saddled with even more improbabilities until finally everyone is happy that Miss Pons has been anyone's discovery, so impressive is her singing voice.

Indeed, RKO made sure that she gets to sing several arias (superbly), trilling her way through difficult arias with great ease and charm. But she was never the most photogenic of singers and no amount of close-ups are able to disguise the fact that she is not your typical Hollywood glamor girl. However, despite the banality of the plot, she seems a good sport to play the "bird girl" with such gusto.

For plot purposes, most of the spotlight is on JACK OAKIE, EDWARD EVERETT HORTON and ERIC BLORE--which turns out to be a good thing when it comes to comic relief. Horton and Blore are particularly effective in their zany roles, both capable of injecting some good laughs into the script.

Summing up: Pleasant trifle does indicate that Miss Pons had one of the best soprano voices at the Met (for some thirty years), even if she was not quite star quality on the screen.