Calendar Girl

Jane Frazee, huh? Well, who'd have thought the Prelinger site would ever get around to some of the neatest little fillers available? Johnny Downes, Jane, Donald O'Connor ( I live in hope)a few of the names that took the sting from the expression B Movies. Okay so the memory plays tricks, all that used to glisten wasn't, etc, me I just sat back and enjoyed the unexpected treat. If there was ever a fault it was the fact that few, if any, of this kind of 'musical' ever featured material likely to have a life outside of the actual movie. Reams of songs which rarely appeared on a disc so that after watching 'Calendar Girl' you probably left the cinema whistling something from 'Show Boat'. Still a treat to see it, though.

For me the main reason to see this film is Allan Dwan's wonderful direction. He has the good sense to park it and point it when the action dictates, e.g. in the musical sequences, but he also takes the opportunity to explore every inch of a very complicated set with the camera: up and down the stairs, out the back from low and high, in and out the front door, all around the top studio apartment, and towards the end an enormous crane shot of the house fronts.

And he gets good performances out of the cast. I don't agree with the other comments about the acting. The women are all excellent (Jane Frazee in the lead, Irene Rich as the landlady) and Gail Patrick is downright sensational as the cousin from Boston. Victor McLaglen and James Ellison as the Boston sleaze-bag are both excellent; Kenny Baker works hard at it; Franklin Pangborn always a delight: only William Marshall as the composer is a bit wooden, but then he is the designated sap in the script.

All in all a very nice ensemble piece with good music too. The firemen's ball number is hilarious.

"Calendar Girl" is a silly piece of fluff—there's no denying that. However, it's also a FUN piece of fluff—simple viewing and enjoyable. While it has none of the big-name Hollywood stars, it works quite well. The film is a musical romantic-comedy starring Jane Frazee, William Marshall, Kenny Baker and Victor Maglaglen. The story begins at a boarding house where lots of unemployed actors, artists, composers and other bohemians live. Two VERY oddly matched friends, Johnny (who is poor) and Steve (who is rich as obnoxious) get a room with ambitions of making it big in the music industry and in art respectively. However, these goals soon become secondary when they meet the fire chief's daughter (Frazee) and both try to woo her—even though Steve ALREADY has a girl (Gale Patrick)—though why Patrick's character wanted Steve never really made sense to me.

As for the singing, Frazee struck me as no great singer but she was pleasant and the lyrics were very nice. And, for the story, though a big predictable (you KNOW who will win Frazee in the end!), it's all very pleasant—with lots of atmosphere and likable characters (aside from Steve). Not a brilliant film but a very enjoyable time-passer that I almost awarded a 7…almost.

This is not a well known musical but includes several excellent songs written by Jimmy McHugh. The principal vocalists include Bill Marshall, Jane Frazee, Janet Martin and specially Kenny Baker. The latter's tenor is shown off to good effect and he is capably joined in duets with Janet Martin, one of the several young players under contract to Republic who disappeared with the decline in the studio system. It is a multi-star cast including Victor McLaglen as a Fire Chief, Irene Rich as a Boarding House owner, Gail Patrick as a wealthy Bostononian and James Ellison. The story involves the trials of young hopefuls in the music/dance world, Martin, Frazee, Marshall, etc. and Ellison, a wealthy young artist from Boston. Martin plays a predatory female after Baker a young song plugger while there is a triangular mixup between Frazee and two potential suitors, Marshall and Ellison and Patrick. Highly recommended as a much better than average small musical from Hollywood just before television started to cut into the profits of the movie studios.

I enjoyed this movie. It captured the aura of the era better than most 40s productions with many authentic-seeming details. The fire horses were particularly effective. I wonder if they doubled as chariot horses in other movies. One of the most effective devices was having the musicians and singers at their windows, instead of having the music come out of nowhere. The movie made me want to live there! It looked like everyone was having a good time.

The characters were engaging and did clever bits of business--I especially liked the artist on the telephone to his fiancée, the songs were buoyant, the patter was funny--such as the cow painter who couldn't get a word out, the dancing and singing very good. My favorite musical number was The Fireman's Ball which was clever and original but also in keeping with the 1900 setting. (I went back and watched that again because it was so entertaining.) Good line in it about "belle of the brawl." The women were strong-minded as was typical in movies of the war years, and the dresses were beautiful. I'm not a big fan of romantic ballads but I know from listening to 1940s radio shows online that they were hugely popular in that decade so I'm sure the audience liked that part better than I did.