Melody in May

Ruth Etting, a popular depression era songstress, made a series of shorts, playing herself, with a song or two in each. Etting didn't do many films, so this is a rarem chance to both see and hear her.

This is one of he better ones and conveys the innocence and charms of the 1930s.

After recording a wonderful version of St. Louis Blues Etting retreats to a small town. There she befriends a "soda jerk" played by Frank Coughlin Jr. And with her fame, helps the teen with his dating troubles.

Ruth wraps up the film with a rendition of the hit, It Had To Be You.

Simple, charming and a time machine to those wonderful days of soda shoppes.

In "Melody in May", Ruth Etting stars as, of all people, as herself...or at least a fictionalized version of herself. The story begins with her singing "St. Louis Blues" and then departing for a lengthy vacation. She stays with a family in a small town and soon feels sorry for the young man, Tommy (Junior Coughlin), as he's having girl troubles. It seems that Mary has asked him to the dance....and at the last minute she dumped him for her old boyfriend. Ruth feels sorry for him and asks him to go to the dance...where the other teens treat poor Tommy awfully. But when they all realize who his date is, suddenly this sad sack is Mr. Popularity.

This was just an okay film. I did find the message of the film a bit dubious, as Tommy seemed very nice...but his 'friends' were universally jerks. And, him suddenly being popular after he takes Etting to the dance, well, that seemed a bit sad instead of entertaining. Not a bad short but one that isn't all that good either.

Star of stage and screen Ruth Etting, tired from belting out St. Louis Blues at the recording studio, goes t a small town and rents out a room on top of the ice cream parlor. Can she help the nerdy soda clerk get some respect from his peers by crooning a MELODY IN MAY?

The only reason to watch one of these two-reelers is to see the still pretty Etting sing some standards out of the American Song Book, drive an Auburn boat tail, and model some mid-30s dresses. This follows the formula nicely -- and avoids straining the viewer's sensibilities by following dramatic, teenage drama clichés, rather than two-reel comedy clichés. Etting sings St. Louis Blues in a darker, deeper voice than is typical for her, and sounds great, but not terribly distinctive. She also sings It Had To Be You in her more typical style, but it is clear she is modifying her sound away from her Beiderbecke-like lightness, to something more in keeping with the swing era.

Note, to those who stumble on this movie after LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME. Etting does not look like Doris Day. She sounds NOTHING like Doris Day.