A biopic of the career of Joe Howard (12 February 1878 - 19 May 1961), famous songwriter of the early 20th Century. He wrote the title song, "Goodbye, My Lady Love" and "Hello, My Baby" amon... Read allA biopic of the career of Joe Howard (12 February 1878 - 19 May 1961), famous songwriter of the early 20th Century. He wrote the title song, "Goodbye, My Lady Love" and "Hello, My Baby" among many others. Mark Stevens was dubbed by Buddy Clark, well known singer of the '30s and '... Read allA biopic of the career of Joe Howard (12 February 1878 - 19 May 1961), famous songwriter of the early 20th Century. He wrote the title song, "Goodbye, My Lady Love" and "Hello, My Baby" among many others. Mark Stevens was dubbed by Buddy Clark, well known singer of the '30s and '40s.
- Awards
- 1 win total
- Man in Line
- (uncredited)
- Clerk
- (uncredited)
- Quartette Member
- (uncredited)
- Fan in Audience on Stage
- (uncredited)
- Train Conductor
- (uncredited)
- Man in Audience
- (uncredited)
- Quartette Member
- (uncredited)
- Human Pyramid Acrobat
- (uncredited)
- Stagedoor Johnny
- (uncredited)
Featured reviews
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... !
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.
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.
The movie, has terrific set design. The technology was the 10 gigahertz computer of the day. The wardrobes have beautiful embroidery with terrific symbolism of a hot night life. Even the difficulties of Russia of that time are gently assuaged with positivisms that only the arts could present as opposed to political intrigues that were overwhelming at that time for almost any successful state of mind.
The movie did much for me feeling very happy about being a private in the front lines of money, being able to speak under orders that had an authority behind them and should of I had a few dollars, maybe could have a chance a kissing one of those girls.
Did you know
- TriviaJean Peters was supposed to make her screen debut in this film.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 44 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1