"Father is a Batchelor" with William Holden (1950)

Johnny Rutledge (Wiliam Holden) is a Minstrel in a traveling Medicine Show but finds himself stranded in small town when the owner is jailed temporarily for fraud. When he meets a group of siblings named January ("Jan"), February ("Feb") along with twins March and April and their little sister May (Jane Saunders). Jan and Feb  are the only ones who knows the truth that their parents have been killed in a Riverboat accident 6 months ago. Little May is still waiting for her Mom and Dad to return. The children are fending for themselves over the summer, but with school approaching things will come to a head.

When Jan tells Johnny the secret he starts to help them out for just a few weeks until the Medicine Show can continue. But somehow he becomes their de-facto  father. This arouses the Mayor's daughter Prudence (Coleen Grey) to wonder where the parents are. Fearing that she will send the children to an orphanage Johnny must pull off several little scams, or miracles, to avoid this. And he gradually warms to the task. There are a few silly songs involved, with William Holden's singing is overdubbed by Buddy Clark, whose voice is almost a dead ringer for Bing Crosby. Unfortunately Buddy Clark passed away just a few months before this film was released.

If you've got about 90 minutes to spare, this film is a forgotten little gem.

Irish / Italian Medley - Bing Crosby and Dean Martin

I could not upload Bing Crosby doing "Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral" from "Going My Way" with Barry Fitzgerald. The only other movie which is as Irish as that one is probably "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, but they don't sing. There is a pub scene where the locals sing songs, but that clip is also unavailable.

So, while looking around for something appropriate to post for St. Patrick's Day, I found this cool little clip from Bing Crosby’s show in 1958, with Bing and Dean Martin trading Irish and Italian songs. 

They actually end with a bit of "Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral". Along the way they hit some favorites numbers, among them "Torna a Surriento", "My Wild Irish Rose", "Oh Marie", "Galway Bay", "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral"  and "O Solo Mio" with a bit of light banter thrown in.

You can view Bing Crosby singing Barry Fitzgerald to sleep in "Going My Way" by hitting this link;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZYZspnmOdI   

Happy St. Patrick's Day and Éirinn go Brách!

"We're Not Dressing" with Carole Lombard and Bing Crosby (1934)

Carole Lombard, as heiress Dorothy Worthington; along with a very young Ethel Merman as her friend Edith; take a trip aboard Dorothy’s yacht, which is captained by the inimitable Leon Errol. Bing Crosby plays a deckhand hopelessly smitten with Ms. Lombard, not realizing that she has fallen for him as well. There is even a real trained bear who is infatuated with Bing Crosby’s singing.  Add in the yacht hitting a reef, with all finding their way to a seemingly deserted island; even the bear swims in this film; and you have a recipe for a good old fashioned madcap comedy.

When they begin to set up camp ashore; all eyes turn towards the deckhand to provide them with food and shelter. He refuses, arguing that they are now outside of civilized society, and as such, it is now all for one, and one for all. When they refuse, he leaves the group to go fishing for himself.

Unknown to all of them is the presence on the island of 2 biologists; Gracie Allen and George Burns. When Dorothy finds them in the jungle, she resorts to a bit of cunning in order to borrow some tools, which she then lets Bing Crosby “find” in order to build a shelter. She has been very high handed with him and he has refused all of her attentions; so what better way to win him back than to have him believe he is “the man?”

There is great acting by everyone in this film. Ethel Merman is a standout; even at this early stage of her career you can see that she is going to be big. Leon Errol is also wonderfully vibrant as, well, Leon Errol playing a yacht captain. And with Bing singing his way into Carol Lombard’s heart, this film is just plain fun to watch.

"Going My Way" with Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald (1944)

I'm not in the best if shape to really read right now, what with this lump on my head, so I'll be doing movies for the next few days while I get back to normal, whatever that is. Luckily for me, the Mooreville Public Library has outdone itself this year with their acquisition of some of my favorite classic movies. This one turned up just the other day; you can tell by the marking on the cover that it was just purchased in the last few weeks. I used to watch this every Christmas when I had a larger VCR collection. When I made the switch to DVD I found it too cumbersome to change from one format another every time I was watching something, so a lot of those tapes were given away. And sometimes it's just plain fun to run across an old favorite unexpectedly, rather than have it at your disposal constantly. Somehow it loses value when it can be taken for granted. I suppose that’s true of most things.

At any rate, this one was a sheer delight to watch again. Briefly, Bing Crosby, playing Father O'Malley, comes to the aging parish of Saint Dominic's, which has been the domain of the aging Parish Priest Father Fitzgibbon, played by Barry Fitzgerald in his unique and mischievous way. Unknown to the elder Priest, Father O'Malley is there to replace him. But who would break this old man's heart with the news? His life, after all, has been spent in this one Parish, where he is known, and loved, by all.

Through a series of mishaps, Father O'Malley manages to get off to a bad start with some of the local parishioners, but manages to strike a chord with some of the neighborhood roughnecks. The Parish is in an impoverished area of the city, which makes it all the more challenging for Father O'Malley, while Father Fitzgibbon has grown a bit too "long in the tooth" to be completely effective.

The church is in debt and in threat of foreclosure if it cannot meet its financial obligations. The same bank also owns the tenements which exist in the neighborhood. At the same time in which the owner is evicting one of the tenants; an old woman with no visible means of support; the owner's son is becoming romantically involved with a young woman, Carol James, played by Jean Heather, who aspires to become a singer. He has even installed her in an apartment in the same building in which the destitute old woman lives. This sparks a scandal, which must be handled by the irrepressible Father O'Malley.

O'Malley is no stranger to love, having once been in love with opera star Genevieve Linden, played wonderfully by real life opera star Rise Stevens. Their reunion scene; and her part in helping Father O'Malley with the children; form some of the more poignant parts of the film.



While attempting to navigate this veritable mine field, O'Malley, with the help of a fellow Priest named Father O'Dowd, played by Frank McHugh, manage to help Father Fitzgibbon overcome a fire at St. Dominic's, while quietly engineering a re-union of the old man and his mother, a woman of 90 who still resides in Ireland. They also find the time to form some of the local kids into a Boys’ Choir with the help of Ms. Stevens. When Christmas Eve arrives , and the Boys’ Choir is performing, Father Fitzgibbon is re-united with his aging mother on Christmas Eve, bringing this movie to a beautiful finish, and leaving the viewer a bit misty eyed in the process.

Dean Martin - The Capitol Years

I have always been a fan of Dean Martin. I love the arrangements and of course, the singing. Dean Martin is one of the "whiskey throated" smooth voiced singers of the 1940's through the 1960's. Along with Nat King Cole, Mr. Martin was largely influenced by the sound of Bing Crosby in his phrasing of the lyrics, as compared to the earlier stylings of singers such as Rudy Valee. That difference in styling marked the change from "crooning" to what we now consider real singing.

This double CD has it all, including Nat King Cole and Dean Martin's rousing duet of "Open Up the Dog House" to Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis singing "Every Street's a Boulevard", from the 1954 soundtrack of "Living It Up." The pop hits with orchestral backings are a refreshing change from the Top 40 sounds that comes over today's radio. They don't write songs like "I'd Cry Like A Baby" anymore. I'd wager, that if that recording were ever released as a single today, it would top the charts. Laugh if you will, but remember, this is the voice that knocked The Beatles off of the Top Ten in the summer of 1964 with "You're Nobody Til Someday Loves You." Who'd have thought?

Some of my favorite tracks, as usual, are the "previously unreleased" stuff, which gives you a chance to see where the hits came from. It's a glimpse into the creative process that lends an extra attraction to the listening experience. It's the stuff I prefer to hear in my car, where it all seems so personal.

The disc covers every genre of Mr. Martin's unique talent during the years 1949 - 1957. It includes such hits as "Sleepy Old New England Town" and "Solitaire", with their sweet sentimentality, to the rollicking renditions of "Beau James" and "Good Morning Life." And with 40 selections to chose from this collection still manages to keep you in the mood for more.