Sing Your Worries Away

SING YOUR WORRIES AWAY (1942) is a fun little musical comedy bolstered by a great cast that includes vaudeville comedian Bert Lahr (best remembered as the Cowardly Lion in THE WIZARD OF OZ), eccentric dancer (and future Beverly Hillbilly) Buddy Ebsen, wisecracking sidekick extraordinaire Patsy Kelly, June Havoc (one-time "Baby June", sister of burlesque queen Gypsy Rose Lee), "Thin Man" veteran Sam Levene, tough guy Morgan Conway, and stately Marx Bros. foil Margaret Dumont. The musical numbers are performed with great energy by Alvino Rey and His Orchestra and The King Sisters.

Bert Lahr is pretty funny with his signature shtick, and he and Patsy Kelly make a great pair. Lahr plays a struggling songwriter, with Kelly as the hat-check girl at a swanky night club. Buddy Ebsen gives an enjoyable comedic performance (with only minimal dancing) as the penniless quasi-psychic who comes to the night club to solve a murder, but stays when he becomes enamored with the pretty cigarette girl (Dorothy Lovett). The four become good friends and Lahr and Ebsen team up to promote Lahr's songwriting career. Meanwhile, knife-throwing club owner Sam Levene and his partner Morgan Conway scheme to swipe the family fortune Lahr and Lovett (distant cousins) don't realize they've inherited.

It's fast-paced, lightweight fun but the best thing about this film is June Havoc, who lights up the screen in a delightful comedic performance as Conway's glamorous sticky-fingered girlfriend. She oozes charisma and livens up the proceedings. She's got a beautiful face, which she puts to great use in this film in the name of comedy. She shows she's really got a knack for this kind of material. I've seen Havoc in a handful of other films (like the 1942 version of MY SISTER EILEEN), but I don't recall ever seeing her so animated.

It's hard to miss when you have Patsy Kelly and Bert Lahr playing off each other. But only if you appreciate Lahr's style of humor which is much more about the delivery than about the bad puns and cornball jokes. Lahr's comedy style is a weird mix of Joe. E. Brown and Joe Besser. There is one especially funny sequence where he auditions a song for a producer who is preoccupied with an actress's costume fitting. As Lahr sings and Buddy Epson accompanies him on the piano, the producer is off to the left giving instructions to the actress. Lahr mistakes these for cues and responds accordingly.

The film also features some nice performances by the King Sisters and by Alvino Rey (and his orchestra)-although the drum solos are a little weak. The best number has Epson dancing with Yvonne King (if you were a fan of "My Three Sons" you will be amazed at how much Tina Cole resembles her mother Yvonne).

The story is just a way to package the comedy and the musical numbers. Luke Brown (a funny performance by Don Barclay) has been drugged by the gangster operators of the swank Boathouse Inn; most notably Roxie (June Havoc) a sexy pickpocket. Brown came to inform Chow Brewster (Lahr) and his cousin that they have inherited $3,000,000. The gang leader (Sam Levene) intends to keep Brown under wraps until they can drive Chow to suicide. He plans to marry Chow's cousin before she finds out about her inheritance.

There are some interesting details to look for in this film. It is really a parody and is rather advanced for its time. Particularly for some self-reflexive stuff like Lahr's reference to his courage question in "The Wizard of Oz". Interesting for another reason are the countless continuity problems and editing glitches that occur throughout the film. Watch for the sequence where Lahr and Barclay keep falling off the boat dock. There is a mix of wet and dry hair and suits in these that must have driven the editor nuts; ultimately nothing could be done but patch the various takes together in a logical story sequence-despite the continuity issues.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

When you have a cast that employs as many familiar faces, never question the direction, the script, or the acting. Just sit back and enjoy a lot of old friends because that's what RKO did for you in Sing Your Worries Away.

Starring is Bert Lahr and he and cousin Dorothy Lovett stand to inherit a fortune. Lahr is a zany songwriter and Lovett a cigarette girl in Sam Levene's nightclub. Levene gets a hold of the information and he hatches a plan to kill Lahr and marry Lovett. By shotgun if he has to for the latter. He does however have June Havoc on the side plans to keep her there.

But somehow Levene just can't close the deal. Lahr is helped by new found friend Buddy Ebsen and also by Patsy Kelly who gets her share of wisecracks in. It's almost a contest between Havoc and Kelly as to who got the most zingers in the script.

Havoc, Ebsen, Lahr, and Alvino Rey's Orchestra with the King Sisters get in a few serviceable musical numbers. Ebsen has a freewheeling dance number with one of the King Sisters.

All in all very pleasant entertainment from a lot of familiar professionals.

The NYPD get no answers after pulling up in front of the swank Boathouse Inn to investigate a possible homicide, but Tommy (Buddy Ebsen), a friend of the presumed victim, decides to stay and take a look around. He quickly falls for the cigarette girl, who along with her cousin Chow Brewster (Bert Lahr) is going to inherit millions, but only if the missing person can bring them the news before mobsters give them the business.

The jokes may be old and stale, but Buddy and Bert still manage to pull them off. Ebsen is wonderfully engaging as a good-natured not-quite country bumpkin; Lahr is the standard Bert Lahr persona. They may not seem like the logical choices to pair off in a buddy film, but they share enough good-natured energy to make it seem completely natural. The music swings, the song and dance is a pleasure, and the movie is just plain fun. Definitely worth watching if you get the chance.

I really wanted to enjoy this seldom seen little RKO musical, directed by Edward Sutherland, starring Bert Lahr, Buddy Ebsen, Patsy Kelly, Kings Sisters, Alvino Rey & His Orchestra. But it didn't dazzle me as much as I wanted to. In spite of the nice, freewheeling songs, "Sing Your Worries Away" feels oddly flustered or clumsy.

It mainly works as a so-so vehicle for Bert Lahr and his zany jokes which are painstakingly obvious and labored. If you can stand the jokes, then the movie may be eminently watchable. Lahr plays a happy-go-lucky composer, Chow Brewster, who inherits $3,000,000 at a Boathouse Inn, where a crook (Sam Levene) and his gang drive Lahr to commit suicide so they can grab the money. Patsy Kelly provides nice supporting role as the eccentric hotel worker; Buddy Ebsen is very entertaining in his part as the friend of the slain victim. We also see some interesting appearances by June Havoc & Margaret Dumont to display their inimitable character traits.

For me, the high point is the rendition of the title number by the King Sisters at the hotel, and then Ebsen exuberantly dances with one of the sisters. It's a joyous little moment, but mostly the movie is a tedious affair.