Sinfonia do Passado

I am 25 years old and I first saw this film when I was about 8. I have a wonderful memory for songs and lyrics and I can still remember (even though I haven't seen it for 15 years) all of them.

Goodbye my lady love, Honeymoon, Hello my baby, Be sweet to me kid, and of course I wonder who's kissing her now. I am desperate to see this again, my Nan is gone from us now and I used to watch it with her and perform the songs for her in fancy dress. Well it was lovely.

June Havers was so lovely and the film was light and easy to watch. A very cute little love story with wonderful music, I have seen a lot of musicals and no others have stuck in my head as much.

Please if anyone hears anything please post here.

My favorite musical next to the Jolson Story. The songs send tingles to the spine- a yearning for the carefree life at the turn of the century. Mark Stevens and June Haver are outstanding as the leads. Reg Gardiner and Martha Stewart are also great in their supporting roles. The songs- I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now, Hello My Baby, Honeymoon, etc. are true classics.

Based on a true story, the movie traces the career of song-writer Joe Howard and his difficulties, especially in the romance department.

The first half almost sizzles with screen chemistry as Kate (Haver), Lulu (Stewart) and Joe (Stevens) bounce off one another backstage. And what a conniving little ingénue is Kate, always using her innocent wiles to get her way. Then there's toughie Lulu who would like to win Joe if only Kate would let her. Poor Joe's in the middle, but would rather write songs than anything else. Their simmering well-scripted set-to's amidst the stage show music had me thinking a real sleeper.

But then Joe joins another troupe and Lulu is replaced by Fritzie (Aubert) who unfortunately doesn't generate the same chemistry, causing the movie to settle into a more routine mode. Nonetheless, the production is lavish, the Technicolor beautiful, the signature songs memorable, along with a solid story better developed than most. But for me, it's a deceptively innocent Haver whose Kate shines most of all. Her presence not only lights up the stage, but amounts to one of the most unusual ingénues in musical history. And catch that great last scene that drives home the point.

All in all, the movie may not be the best musical on record, but that sizzling first half remains in the running.

I saw "I Wonder Who is Kissing Her Now" last night. It is my third June Haver musical and I was slightly underwhelmed by it.

An extravagant biography of the ups and downs of the vaudeville songwriter Joe Howard (Mark Stevens) and his romantic adventures with a songstress Lulu Madison (Martha Stewart) while being true to his jealous sister Katie (Haver), "I Wonder..." turns out to be an opulent Gay 90s musical in the vein of "Hello Frisco Hello"(1943) and "My Gal Sal"(1942). The Technicolor, lavish sets, and turn-of-the- century costumes are sometimes thrilling, but the plot is very frustrating and soapy. It doesn't go anywhere.

However, the stars and the music make it worthwhile. The best numbers are the title song and "Goodbye My Baby Love".

This is a story, in conventional sense, not the etymological "Narration/ Recital of True Events". But this happens when one tries to make a "True Story" on some one still living - or some one dead so long back that the life is shrouded in mystery. Any story naturally have to have TRP, and especially in case of living person, people have to be doubly careful, not to hurt the feelings, and suppress/ modify truth to the audience and the person's choice. This seem to be a glaring example of that.

As a truth or biographical sense, based on the information I could access, it ranks somewhere around 1 out of 10, but on entertainment value, it is 7.

The only thing that seem to be true in it, is the name of the male protagonist, Howard, and links to his musical numbers, except the name-sake "I wonder Who Is..." which he had appropriated from other (Harold Orlob) and if there was one, may be...

But except Howard, the other protagonists, thank fully the names (screen) don't ring bell - I Wonder who were they ?

Katie could have been his second wife Ida Emerson - the ages almost match (3-4 years younger), but who was on screen Mabel Barrison, on whose tour he had tasted first success ? Lulu ? Doesn't seem to be based on Mabel's biography - since she did marry Howard in 1906 - and stayed married till her death in 1912 of TB. Second though already successful on Vaudeville, she was much younger than either Joseph or Ida - in fact by age standard she would have been Katie (Joseph-12 to 15) - only that here there was no child-hood romance - she was Canadian. Of course if one goes by the timeline of I wonder.... (1909).... it would be she.

With so many contradiction, I will remove the claimed "True" and "Story" and consider it to be a fiction with no relation to any one (then) living or (now) dead. But once that is removed, probably, it is any other Musical Romance. Enjoyable, thanks to the musical number, but nothing too out of the way as far as the plot is concerned - now HAD it been really true... !