Mr. Music

When this film first came out in 1950 it was like Babe Ruth hitting a double. The score by Burke-Van Heusen is serviceable for Crosby, a couple of nice numbers. In fact the best number in the movie is And You'll Be Home, sung at a college assembly by Bing who is later joined by the whole ensemble. Unfortunately it occurs in the first 20 minutes of the movie so then it's downhill.

Bing plays a golf loving composer who's lost his muse and would rather spend more time on the links and at the track then working. His producer, Charles Coburn, hires Nancy Olson who is a graduating student from Bing's alma mater as a secretary to keep Bing's nose to the grind- stone. That has complications for Bing's steady, Ruth Hussey and Olson's inamorata, Robert Stack. Suffice it to say that everyone winds up with someone in the end.

It's a show business story, but not one like those Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney let's put on a show. We got some sophisticated folks in this story, not the usual kind who Bing hangs around with in the normal course of his films. A whole lot of the film action takes place in Bing's Park Avenue penthouse and Crosby looks a little lost there. He has some funny moments with Ida Moore, Tom Ewell, and Richard Haydn.

Of course a show is the highlight of the film and one awkward moment comes when Charles Coburn is amazed at some of the show business types Bing's obtained the services for a preview of his new Broadway show. At one point Coburn remarks to Crosby, "there's Dorothy Kirsten of the Metropolitan Opera" like he doesn't know who she is. But the audience probably doesn't. Still it looks so phony when the next performer they run into is Groucho Marx. No one thought of giving Coburn a line like "there's Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers."

Speaking of Groucho he and Crosby sing a duet of Life Is So Peculiar which Bing had sang earlier in the movie with Peggy Lee. The film should be seen for both versions of this number also.

If you love Bing as I do or if you want to see him sing with Groucho Marx and Peggy Lee by all means see this film.

Paul Merrick (Bing Crosby) is a composer whose best years seem behind him. Since his last big Broadway success, he's done everything but compose more music and his producer (Charles Coburn) is getting tired of waiting. In desperation, he hires a young lady (Nancy Olson) to be his secretary and task master! The arrangement works marvelously...but in the process she finds herself falling for Merrick.

"Mr. Music" was remade at the end of the decade and had Clark Gable falling for a significantly younger Carol Baker. This film was pleasant but a letdown for Gable...and a lot of it was the lack of chemistry between them and it just seemed difficult to see the young lady falling for him. In "Mr. Music", although there also is the age difference, Bing Crosby is so charming that the romance, though a bit forced, does work better. It also helped having a few nice cameos--Peggy Lee and Groucho in particular. Overall, a pleasant little film...nothing super special but a nice time-passer.

If you love Bing Crosby, add Mr. Music to your must-see list. In this comedy, he plays a songwriter who prefers to spend his time on the golf course instead of by the piano. His producer and faithful friend, Charles Coburn, makes an arrangement with uptight secretary, Nancy Olson, in order to force Bing back to work. He hires Nancy as Bing's personal jailer, and gives her Bing's fifteen thousand dollar salary and permission to do anything necessary to keep him working.

In Sunset Boulevard, I thought Nancy Olson was plain and slightly irritating, but in this movie, it totally works. She's supposed to be plain and irritating! Bing is charming and a bit of a scoundrel, but it's clear he means well, and Charles Coburn as funny and flustered as he needs to be. Bing is particularly adorable in this movie, since he gets to make fun of himself. And, in pursuit of Nancy, he even does pull-ups to compete with her athletic suitor, Robert Stack!

Bing Crosby stars as a burned-out songwriter who comes alive after his producer (Charles Coburn) hires a non-nonsense secretary (Nancy Olson) to manage his affairs. Crosby has an on-and-off thing going with Ruth Hussey, and Olson has the hots for Robert Stack, but of course these are mere roadblocks to true love and a renewed career.

There are a few good lines here and there but overall it's pretty tame. Guest stars like Peggy Lee and Groucho Marx sparks things a bit. Richard Haydn has a cameo (and also directs) and others include Tom Ewell, Marge and Gower Champion, Dorothy Kirsten (in a truly awful number), and Ida Moore as the elderly aunt. The songs for this one are pretty dismal.