11th. Naval District 'United States Coast Guard Band'

This patriotic musical newsreel from WWII brought back memories of my days singing with the Coast Guard Academy Glee Club, accompanied by the one & only Coast Guard Band. The music was uplifting & patriotic, and the singing was especially good. Try to overlook the 1940s-vintage special effects during the combat scenes, & you'll enjoy this short feature immensely.

This short film is a band concert by the 11th Naval District US Coast Guard Band which had a celebrity leader in the person of the famous Vagabond Lover himself Rudy Vallee. This was Rudy's contribution to the war effort as he left his famous Connecticut Yankees Orchestra for the Coast Guard for the duration of World War II. Knowing his legendary cheapness you can bet he lived on his officer's salary for that period.

Some familiar melodies like Anchor's Aweigh and The Marine's Hymn are in the concert and some ones I never heard of like I didn't know the submarines service had a theme song. The Coast Guard marching song tops the program and I do know that one.

Vallee even got to sing an original number and I would have been completely disappointed if he didn't. What's There To Like About a Sailor sung with an unidentified girl trio.

The short is directed by Bobby Connolly who choreographed all the Warner Brothers musicals that Busby Berkeley wasn't available for. The short is a nice wartime memory.

11th. Naval District 'United States Coast Guard Band' (1944)

*** (out of 4)

When WW2 broke out every studio in the country started producing various features and subjects built around the war, the men fighting it and various other aspects. We got various documentaries from the likes of Frank Capra, John Ford and John Huston and we got major stars like James Stewart and Clark Gable to appear in them. This short here takes a look at the then famous Coast Guard Band who were popular enough to put on concerts at the Hollywood Bowl and various other places. This short runs ten-minutes and is pretty entertaining as the songs are patriotic and rather nice. I'd be lying if I said I was familiar with any of the tunes being played but that didn't take away any of the entertainment.

The Coast Guard didn't get to take the fight to the enemy, but they offered a heck of a musical tribute to their brethren in the Navy in this program conducted in the Hollywood Bowl. Battleships, submarines, flyers and Marines get their songs, as conducted by Rudy Vallee. He also also sings "All the Nice Girls Like A Sailor" with a close-harmony girl trio.

The Coast Guard also gets its own song at the end, although I think they could have done a bit better for the first line in the century and a half between their founding and this short. Bobby split his time in this period between being a dance director and directing short subjects like this one. Alas, it was his last. He died on Leap Day in 1944, only 46 years old.