Love on Tap

Mary Howard is about to get married to Truman Bradley, but every time they're about to head off, there's a crisis among the chorines of the Merriel Abbott Dancers, and the great day must be postponed.

It's a silly little short, intended to show off the acrobatic dancing troupe, and it does so very nicely under the direction of George Sidney. He had begun directing shorts for MGM in 1936, and in 1941 would switch to features. Although he would turn out the occasional swashbuckler, his specialty was musicals, and he would continue to direct them until the end of the 1960s, including VIVA LAS VEGAS.

Besides directing movies, Mr. Sidney was a co-founder of Hanna-Barbera and from 1957 through 1968, the company's president. He died in 2002, age 85.

A controlling leader of a girls' dance team is engaged. The problem is, every time she and her VERY patient boyfriend are about to get married, some emergency involving the team occurs and she leaves the poor sap waiting. You really feel sorry for the guy, as his girl seems very self-centered and indifferent to his plight. He seems like such a nice guy, you really wish he'd just leave her and find someone worthy of his love. But despite his warnings that "enough is enough", she somehow keeps stringing him along until the film's conclusion.

Unlike many shorts, this one looks like it could easily have been stretched into full-length since the film had a relatively complex plot and since it was acted at break-neck speed. This short is both a musical and has a love story as well--and as I mentioned, this is a lot for a musical short--many others just featured music. As far as musical shorts go, this one isn't bad like some because of the addition of an honest-to-goodness plot, but it also isn't great or especially memorable either. One of the things working against the film (other than the forgettable dance numbers), is that the female lead really is a self-centered jerk and so instead of rooting for her to finally tie the knot, I wanted him to dump her once and for all--and this is not a good basis for a film.

One of the Tin Pan Alley studios made this short film about the Merriel Abbott Dancers. It has a few routines with this small dance troupe of eight young acrobatic women. A romance of some sort is woven into it. One can't get much in such a short amount of time.

The dancers are so-so. They are entertaining for what they do, mixing in some acrobatic flips and things, but there's nothing exceptional in their talents and routines. The one funny and notable scene in this short film is all eight dancers packed into a police car.

This short came with a DVD of the Thin Man series that I bought.

Love on Tap (1939)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

MGM short about a man and woman (Truman Bradley, Mary Howard) who are trying to get away so that they can be married but each time they try to leave something comes up at her tap dancing school. That's pretty much the entire story here, which is admittedly pretty weak but there are a few dance sequences here that make this 9-minute film worth sitting through. The Merriel Abbott dancers are the main reason to check this thing out as they do some pretty impressive dance sequences including one where they pretty much hold each other upside down and do cartwheels. The story itself really isn't anything overly special and I think it actually works against the film because the female lead is so unlikeable that you're really hoping the guy will wise up and leave her for good. With that said, if you're a fan of the genre then there's enough here to make it worth viewing at least once.

What's entertaining about this, and things like it, is savoring the notion that the people who made it thought they could get away with it.

There are similar affronts today all over the multicinema. But with a little distance, this one is pretty bad.

It is a short to begin with. And 2/3 of it has to be dancing, so the story is as skeletal as possible, more cartoonish than your standard cartoon.

You have your ultrarich handsome, patient guy in love. You have the target of his affection, a sensitive, artistic beauty who manages (owns?) a dance troop of 14 or so dancers. When on stage, the girls are sexy in that way of elegant crotchshowing we are not supposed to notice. When with the owner, they act like children.

The story involves how the "children" get in the way of setting a wedding date, then repair the damage.

The "on tap" part is their tap dancing. They *are* pretty.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.