Broadway en folie

The best thing I like about Diamond Horseshoe is the original songs that Mack Gordon and Harry Warren wrote for the score, interpolating it with some old standards. The More I See You and I Wish I Knew were mega hits in 1945 bigger for Dick Haymes than Betty Grable because Haymes was a big selling recording star for Decca Records and Darryl Zanuck kept Grable as he did many of his stars away from the record studios.

The backstage plot is simple enough and doesn't get in the way of the extravagant musical numbers for Grable, Haymes and the rest. Haymes is the son of veteran performer William Gaxton who doesn't want Haymes going into show business. He might become the victim of golddigging dames so Grable is supposed to make Haymes fall for her and dump him. Then Haymes will go back to medical school and become a doctor as he's supposed to.

Of course best laid plans never quite work out in these situations and in Diamond Horseshoe that's no exception.

It was nice to see William Gaxton who did most of his work on Broadway in this, one of his rare screen appearances. According to a recent biography of Betty Grable she was one of the very few of his co-workers to have a kind word for Dick Haymes. He was not one of the most savory people out there in spite of having one mellow singing voice. She did do The Shocking Miss Pilgrim with him a couple of years later.

Darryl Zanuck spared no expense with Diamond Horseshoe, one of the bigger budget items for 20th Century Fox that year. It holds up very well and a must for fans of its leads.

"Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe" is another effervescent Fox musical in Technicolor starring Betty Grable, this time supported by Dick Haymes, Phil Silvers, William Gaxton and Beatrice Kay.

Grable plays Bonnie Collins, a performer at the Horseshoe who doesn't get along with the head guy, Joe Davis Sr. (Gaxton). When Joe Davis Jr. Arrives (Haymes), Senior turns his attention to Junior, ignoring his girlfriend Claire (Kay).

Junior has decided to try his hand at show business and forget his studies to be a doctor, to the chagrin of his dad. Desperate to get the kid out of the way, Claire asks Bonnie to pretend she likes Junior and then dump him, figuring that Junior's ego won't allow him to stick around.

The prize for doing this is a fur coat of Claire's that Bonnie has always envied. Of course, the inevitable occurs.

Grable looks fabulous in a variety of costumes and is very funny as Bonnie, who is annoyed at first by Junior's attention. She has some good numbers - "Shoo Shoo Baby" and "A Nickel's Worth of Dime," plus a reprise of "More than You Know."

Dick Haymes' lyrical sound is delightful singing "I Want to Know" and "The More I See You." Silvers has a great comic bit at a dinner table.

The one off note is William Gaxton's character of Joe, who for most of the movie is absolutely hateful and so nasty to poor Claire, you want to slap him.

Great entertainment, the kind of stuff that made Betty so popular.

Backstage musical alert. So, that means you know the story - people fall out and get back together again. And throw in some songs. What keeps this film interesting are three things – the costumes, the Technicolour and stage announcer Phil Silvers (Blinkie) who isn't his usual obnoxious self. I've never seen him in a likable role like this before.

Unfortunately, with Dick Haymes (Junior) in the cast you know you're going to get some ballads. The songs aren't that good in this film – the only good ones are sung by Betty Grable (Bonnie) as she gets the up-tempo tunes of which there is a regrettable lack of. It's what the film needed because the story drags as it heads towards the predictable schmaltzy ending. Even then, we get another ballad – yawn. Wrong way to end a musical.

Still, don't watch for the songs or story but for the reasons I have mentioned and the film becomes OK. And you also get to find out why the show must go on!

I have loved this movie since the first time I saw it on TCM years ago. I love classic movies and when I found out that this one isn't even available on VHS I was heartbroken. I can never seem to catch it on television anymore and I as such haven't seen it in years. Also, I love sharing my favorites with friends and family, but am not able to do so with this one. I desperately want it in my collection. If you're as much a fan of this movie as I am, please go to the following websites and put in your request to have it released for purchase. Hopefully, fans of the movie will eventually be able to have it in their collection!

E-mail Universal Studios and request that it be released.

Vote at Turner Classic Movies. Search for The Diamond Horseshoe and on the side of the page will be an icon to click on and vote!

20th Century Fox Studios promotes this film as a "Technicolor Extraganza," as the greatest Musical to hit the silver screen, but even though its stars may outdo what they do best, its screen-story, Cinematography and direction seem to cry for help here.

For this, 20th creates another backstage Musical, this time borrowing from the plot of the Broadway production of "The Barker" (1927) (Claudette Colbert and Norman Foster star in its original cast), adapted for the screen as "The Barker" (1928) (with Dorothy Mackaill and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.), and now changing its venue from a carnival setting unto a nightclub circuit for "Diamond Horseshoe" (1945).

Betty Grable, by now, has become a major headliner for 20th especially because of WWII-era pin-up posters, war bond drives and USO tours, and, oh yes, those Techinicolor extravaganzas. Her co-star, Dick Haymes, a very capable deep rich baritone, handles his material well in an early leading screen role.

For their supporting performers, we find a cast rarity: the film debut of Beatrice Kay coincides with the film swan song for William Gaxton. These four, along with comedian Phil Silvers, advance the balance of the plot, as most others appear sporadically, in one scene or in uncredited roles, for which there are multitudes.

Carmen Cavallaro as Himself (pianist) appears in performance at Club 21. Willie Solar as Double-Talking Singer Comedian appears in performance at Diamond Horseshoe nightclub. Margaret Dumont as Mrs. Standish appears in Bonnie's dream sequence, along with Charles Coleman as Majordomo, Bess Flowers as Duchess of Duke, and Evan Thomas as Duke of Duchess.

Familiar faces as Phyllis Kennedy, Julie London, and Ray Teal as Tough Customer appear in bit roles although "Billy Rose," owner of Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe fails to make his appearance throughout the entire picture.

And as for story, this also borrows rather heavily from customary "the Coney Island Plot," a rags-to-riches type, in which cast members form an entertainment group, and something happens to break them up, and it's back to rags again, while someone tries to find a way to bring them back together.

Here, Bonnie Collins (Betty Grable), a chorus-dancer-turned-star and her roommate, Claire Williams (Beatrice Kay), a nostalgia singer, entertain at the lavish Diamond Horseshoe Nightclub, along with Joe Davis Sr. (William Gaxton), a widowed career singer, who spends his life in near poverty, saving his earnings, and hoping that his son would become an engineer or doctor to receive some sort of career security, which he's never known.

Claire and Joe Sr. have been seeing each other socially and plan for a future together, while Bonnie and Joe Sr. often cross swords after the curtain closes each evening. The someone who steps among the three would be Joe Davis Jr. (Dick Haymes), who arrives backstage to announce his plans to become a singer rather than an engineer or doctor, to his father's disapproval, which also causes a rift between Claire and Joe Sr.

Blinkie Miller (Phil Silvers), who works as a stage-hand, would be the one to try to bridge the feuding foursome with a semblance of peace if he can manage such a thing. But the plot thickens when Claire bribes Bonnie with the prize of one of her mink coats if Bonnie manages to convince Joe Jr. to return to his medical studies so that Joe Sr. wouldn't be worrying about Joe Jr., thus leaving Joe Sr. to concentrate upon his romance with Claire.

Binkie then introduces Joe Jr. to the manager of a rival night-spot, the Footlights Club (not to be confused with the "Stage Door" (1937) boarding house). Bonnie then launches into her extended dream sequence about being received as a "somebody" in mink, before being awakened by Joe Jr. to picnic (in front of a painted wall scene, it would seem), riding on a riverboat, lounging by the pool, and nightclub-hopping amid various camera effects.

So, because Bonnie, Claire, Joe Sr. and Joe Jr. each has an agenda of her or his own to fulfill, as well as harboring conflicting notions as to what the mink symbolizes, Binkie pretty much has his hands filled if he aims to try to gather the old gang back into Diamond Horseshoe in time for the big number and plenty more top-heavy head-dresses and ostentatious costuming.