Sing Me a Love Song

This is one of those comedies that I usually go for, since it involves a deception that the audience is in on, but many in the film are not. James Melton (a popular singing radio star at the time) goes to work in the music department of the store he inherited to learn about the business and the people. Only his lawyers and a couple of executives (who are trying to bankrupt him so they can buy the store cheaply) know he's the big boss. The comedy is excellent, with Hugh Herbert, ZaSu Pitts, Allen Jenkins, Walter Catlett, and Nat Pendleton all contributing bits that are very funny. Jenkins has the best lines, and his tongue-twister about his name had me in stitches. There are five good songs, sung by Melton and his love interest, Patricia Ellis, and even ZaSu Pitts sings in this one. I've seen the movie 3 times and it seemed to get better with each viewing.

This is a strange movie, in a way. It's only 75 minutes long, yet the supporting cast - a lot of familiar Warner Brothers comedians, like Hugh Herbert and Walter Catlett - have more screen time than I have ever seen them allotted in other pictures.

I think what that means is that Warner Brothers, after James Melton's first, undistinguished movie from the year before, *Stars over Broadway*, realized that, to put it kindly, he needed some help bringing off a feature-length film.

He sang well, certainly, so he was given a LOT of songs in this picture. Unfortunately, while Harry Warren and Al Dubin wrote a lot of very popular and still remembered songs, none of their contributions here is at all memorable. As a result, Melton really doesn't make much of an impression. His co-star, Patricia Ellis, gets a few duets with him, but makes even less of an impression.

Compare Melton to Dick Powell, for example, who was also at Warner Brothers at that time. Powell projected personality that Melton does not convey. There was also chemistry between Powell and Ruby Keeler, for example, that is completely absent here between Melton and Ellis.

So we are left with the supporting cast, who are given more screen time than usual and, as a result, do really get to shine. I don't generally like Hugh Herbert, but he gets some good scenes here. Walter Catlett gets to develop a whole character here, and does it well. Zazu Pitts and Alan Jenkins do their usual professional jobs.

That doesn't make this a great picture, but it saves it from being the forgettable zero that it could have been with no memorable songs and two pleasant but uncaptivating leads.

"SING ME A LOVE SONG" (Warner Brothers, 1936), directed by Ray (billed Raymond) Enright, is a movie musical, which one can gather from the background of musical notes placed during the opening title credits. Not only is it a musical with comedy, but a musical that goes on a different level of entertainment as in previous past. Instead of the usual backstage story, this one's set in a department store headed by tenor James Melton, making his second of three musicals for Warners, doing most of the vocalizing during the interludes of the plot.

Melton plays Jerry Haines Jr., a young playboy whose grandfather was the founder of Haines Department Store (established 1878). The old man's recent death has left the store with no active head, so Jerry is advised by his attorneys, Barton (Hobart Cavanaugh) and Willard (Charles Halton), councils for the Barton estate, to return with them and assume the position as head of the store in hope that he can save it from financial ruin. Once at the department store, which is based in New York City, Jerry decides to go incognito, posing as Jerry Hanley, and employs himself as a clerk in order to learn the inside of the business and to find out why the store is having financial problems. Keeping his identity a secret, Jerry not only succeeds into making improvements and acquainting himself with the other employees, but becomes particularly interested in a pretty young blonde named Jean Martin (Patricia Ellis), working in the music department, thus making "sweet music" along the way.

Although the theme of millionaire playboy/or owner of a department store working amongst his employees incognito sounds like a original idea, a similar storyline, minus music, was put to better use with "THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES" (RKO Radio, 1941), where Charles Coburn plays the middle-aged owner of a department store who takes on a clerk's position in order to investigate the labor problems. Regardles of a misleading title of the aforementioned film which makes one think of it being a horror thriller, that witty film by Norman Krasna remains a comedy classic while "SING ME A LOVE SONG," a similar film of sorts, is forgotten and rarely shown.

Melton, who makes the best in his rare opportunity playing the central character, is overshadowed by his supporting character actors, especially that of Hugh Herbert. As Sigfried Hammerschlog, he plays a shoplifter and kleptomaniac, who on various occasions, arrives in the store using different disguises, regardless of being a man of wealth. Herbert's shoplifting antics alone makes this comedy worth watching, making other comedy scenes pale in comparison. ZaSu Pitts comes a close second in the humor department as a department store klutz accidentally damaging merchandise and buying them through deductions from her paycheck. And let's not overlook Walter Catlett as Mr. Sprague, the floorwalker who observes everybody's business; Allen Jenkins as Christopher Cross, the elevator operator; and Nat Pendleton as Melton's chauffeur named Rocky

The songs, compliments of the reliable composing team of Harry Warren and Al Dubin, are as follows: "That's the Least You Can Do for the Lady" (sung by James Melton); "That's the Least You Can Do for the Lady" (reprise by Patricia Ellis and James Melton); "Carry Me Back to the Lone Prairie" (written by Carson J. Robison, sung by Melton); "Your Eyes Told Me So," "The Little House Love Built," "Summer Night" and "The Little House That Love Built" (all sung by Melton). Of the songs listed, "Summer Night" comes off as both pleasing and haunting. It is possibly a song that was deleted from an earlier Warners musical, "COLLEEN" (1936) in which Dick Powell is heard humming a few bars of that same song while playing the piano in the opening scene.

One final note: Where is Ann Sheridan? When Turner Classic Movies, a cable channel that occasionally plays this movie, had Ann Sheridan as its star of the month back in August 1996, host Robert Osborne mentioned "SING ME A LOVE SONG" to be Sheridan's debut at Warners, playing Lola Parker, Melton's débutante fiancée. True, she did participate in this film, and it is evident, especially in the three minute theatrical trailer with a couple of scenes involving Sheridan, whose name is placed with the others in the casting credits but not in the existing opening credits. After watching this 75 minute product, Sheridan's character of Lola, who's mentioned about a couple of times, once by Pendleton, is nowhere in sight. On top of that, "SING ME A LOVE SONG" suffers in severe editing, especially one where Melton's Jerry is unable to locate Jean (Ellis). Next scene suddenly has him rushing out from his limousine, into the music store where he finds his beloved Jean sitting by the piano, sharing the piano bench alongside her where he sings to her. Talk about speeding things up a bit with tight editing. It's uncertain whether movie was released this way or not, or whether an edited reissue choppy print. Yet, since Ann Sheridan did become a major star attraction for Warners, especially in the 1940s, it would have made sense restoring her scenes, if they exist at all.

James Melton (1904-1961), whose debut film was STARS OVER Broadway (1935), would star in one more musical programmer, "MELODY FOR TWO" (1937), before striking out with the studio, resuming his career on radio and Metropolitan Opera Company. Of the three musicals, "SING ME A LOVE SONG" comes off best. See it not for the songs, not for the romantic leads, not for its almost original screenplay, but for Hugh Herbert who comically makes shoplifting a work of art. If one doesn't get enough of Herbert's antics, he can also be seen playing his own father, Rudy Hammerschlog, and brother, Herman Hammerschlog, vice president of the United Railways Railroad. (***)

Possibly if Harry Warren and Al Dubin had written a memorable hit song from this film, Sing Me a Love Song would be better remembered today. As it is the film is a pleasant enough typical Thirties story where department store clerk Patricia Ellis meets and wins the man of her dreams.

Who happens to be James Melton, possessor of a great tenor voice, and the rich young playboy's who's inherited dad's department store. He's decided to go see why the place is losing money and decided to go incognito to work there. What he doesn't realize is that the lawyers for his father's estate want to see the store keep losing money so they can pick it up for themselves at a bargain.

James Melton had a pleasing voice and a good personality. The wonder is why he didn't have a movie career. My guess is he was far more interested in the opera. He starred at the New York Metropolitan Opera for many years and hosted the Bell Telephone Hour on radio as well.

As for the songs, Melton included the old standard Your Eyes Have Told Me So which was a staple at his concerts and Carry Me Back to the Lone Prarie which he introduced in his debut film Stars Over Broadway. Better than the subpar stuff he got from Warren and Dubin.

Warner Brothers gave Melton good support with Allen Jenkins, Zasu Pitts, Nat Pendleton, and especially Walter Catlett as the officious floorwalker. But the best is Hugh Herbert as the kleptomaniac who keeps robbing the store. Herbert also gets to do an Alec Guinness, Kind Hearts and Coronets number also playing several of his family members. Herbert and his family turn out to be the saviors of the store.

Sing Me a Love Song is a pleasant enough film. So typical of the Thirties where working class women always seem to be getting some rich, handsome Prince Charming. And if Charming can clear a high C with no trouble even better.

"Sing Me a Love Song" is a lightweight musical comedy that features the tenor voice of James Melton and the high jinks of some good character actors. Melton plays the role of a department store owner who goes undercover to better manage his store. The staff of the store includes Zasu Pitts and Allen Jenkins. Hugh Herbert is a kleptomaniac who manages to steal from under the nose of a vigilant store manager.

The musical numbers are, perhaps, forgettable. But Melton's voice is formidable enough to play on the operatic stage. It would be perfect for the song "I'll String Along With You." And he is not a bad leading man, either.