The Merry Monahans

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title The Merry Monahans
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1944
length 91 minutes
Rod
Director Charles Lamont
script Michael Fessier ,
Ernest Pagano
production Michael Fessier,
Ernest Pagano
music Hans J. Salter
camera Charles Van Enger
cut Charles Maynard
occupation

The Merry Monahans is an American musical tragic comedy directed by Charles Lamont from 1944. It stars Donald O'Connor , Peggy Ryan , Jack Oakie and Ann Blyth .

The film was nominated for an Oscar in the category “Best Film Music” .

action

During a performance at the Boston Empire Theater, vaudeville star Pete Monahan proposes to his partner Lillian, which she accepts. As soon as they both left the stage, showgirl Rose explains that she is already engaged to Pete because he proposed to her the night before while he was drunk. When Lillian finds out about this, she turns away from Pete, who then marries Rose. Pete and Rose start a family and later become the "Four Monahans" with their son Jimmy and daughter Patsy.

At some point, Rose leaves her family. Pete leaves her a message that he never told her he loved her, only spoke of his love for Lillian. The now “Three Monahans” gave a performance at the Colonial Theater in Schenectady , New York State , at the beginning of World War I , when they were offered the position of leading stars of Empire Theater. However, Pete does not want to return to Boston because of his sad memories. This refusal has the consequence that the trio also loses its engagement in the Colonial. The family's situation improved, however, when a theater agent booked them for the prestigious Keith Theater Circuit.

Jimmy meets Sheila DeRoyce, Lillian's daughter, on a train ride to Philadelphia. Assuming Jimmy is just a stray, Sheila tells the young man that she and her mother will be performing on the Keith Circuit with famous actor Arnold Pembroke. When the two then meet behind the stage, Sheila is amazed. Of course, the now widowed Lillian meets Pete again. Pembroke, on the other hand, puts pressure on Sheila because he doesn't want her to have any further contact with Jimmy. Because of Sheila, Pembroke chose the "Keith Circuit" because he thinks she is extraordinarily talented.

Pete tells his children that he will propose to Lillian again at the next performance, but notices a little later that she has just become engaged to Pembroke. Desperate to have lost Lillian one more time, Pete gets drunk. He cannot know that Lillian only accepted Pembroke's proposal to secure the future of her daughter Sheila. Jimmy and Patsy are therefore forced to perform without their father that evening. Weldon Laydon, the producer of the "Manhattan Follies", offers the siblings to hire it. Without knowing who he really is, both refuse.

Some time later, Sheila leaves home because of Pembroke. She just wants to get away with Jimmy. However, Lillian and Pembroke can catch up with them and Pembroke withdraws because his ego does not allow him to be the star behind the young woman in the long run. Pete has since been sentenced to thirty days in prison for throwing a stone into the window of a liquor store out of anger . During this time, Jimmy and Patsy join the "Manhattan Follies". But when Weldon explains to them that he will not hire their father, they leave the show again. Pete is released from prison the day Prohibition is passed in the United States . After reading the enthusiastic reviews of his children's show in Variety , he decides to work alone and to switch to the Patriotic Charities Benefit Show. However, Jimmy and Patsy insist on accompanying their father on stage and when Weldon sees the three of them together, he is ready to book the trio. And finally Pete and Lillian become a couple, as well as Jimmy and Sheila and the "Four Monahans" become "The Merry Five Monahans".

production

Production notes

The film was produced by Universal Pictures . According to the industry magazine The Hollywood Reporter , the film had the largest budget of any film Donald O'Connor has starred in to date. In September 1943, the magazine announced that Frank Ryan was the director of the film and that filming would begin on October 11, 1943. However, Ryan was replaced by Charles Lamont and filming did not begin until December 6, 1943 and ended in late January 1944. One scene in the film called for Peggy Ryan to imitate the singer Sophie Tucker while she sings her trademark song Some of These Days . Donald O'Connor in turn imitated Al Jolson and his song Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody . According to a Universal press release, O'Connor was originally scheduled as a dark-skinned Jolson impersonator for the tune Mammy . The actor Sidney Blackmer , announced for the film, could not be made out in the finished film; and Billy Curtis , who was also called, did not occur.

For the Filmbauten wore John B. Goodman , Martin Obzina and Russell A. Gausman responsibility for the costumes jurisdiction was Vera West and visual effects, especially the photographic, with John P. Fulton .

Music in the film

  • Lovely by Irving Bibo and Don George
    sung by Jack Oakie, Rosemary De Camp and Ann Blyth
  • Beautiful To Look At by Bibo and George,
    sung by Donald O'Connor
  • We're Having a Wonderful Time by Bibo and George
    sung by Jack Oakie, Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan
  • Stop Foolin ' by Bibo and George
    sung by Peggy Ryan and Donald O'Connor
  • I Hate to Lose You by Archie Gottler and Grant Clarke,
    sung by Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan
  • Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody by Jean Schwartz , Joe Young and Sam M. Lewis ,
    sung by Donald O'Connor
  • Missouri Waltz by Frederick Knight Logan and JR Shannon,
    sung by Donald O'Connor
  • Impersonations by Bibo and George
    sung by Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan
  • I'm Always Chasing Rainbows by Harry Carroll and Joseph McCarthy ,
    sung by Jack Oakie, Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan
  • In My Merry Oldsmobile by Gus Edwards and Vincent P. Bryan
    sung by Jack Oakie, Donald O'Connor, Peggy Ryan, Ann Blyth and Rosemary DeCamp
  • Isle D'Amour by Leo Edwards and Earl Carroll
    sung by Ann Blyth
  • What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For? by Joseph McCarthy and Howard Johnson
    sung by Jack Oakie, Donald O'Connor, Peggy Ryan and a trio
  • Old Folks at Home by Stephen Foster ,
    sung by Jack Oakie, Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan
  • Carry Me Back to Old Virginny by James Allen Bland, sung by Jack Oakie, Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan
  • I Love You, California by AF Frankenstein and FB Silverwood,
    danced by Donald O'Connor, Jack Oakie and Peggy Ryan
  • Ta-ra-ra Boom-der-é by Henry J. Sayers,
    sung by Jack Oakie and Isabel Jewell
  • Some of These Days by Shelton Brooks
    sung by Peggy Ryan
  • Rose Room by Art Hickman and Harry Williams,
    danced by Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan
  • When You Wore a Tulip and I Wore a Big Red Rose by Percy Wenrich and Jack Mahoney
  • The Campbells Are Coming , traditional tune,
    sung by Jack Oakie

publication

The film premiered in the United States on September 15, 1944. It was published in Argentina in December 1944, in Mexico in December 1944, in Sweden in February 1945 and in Finland in July 1948. He has also been shown in cinemas in Brazil, Portugal and Spain. The film was not released in the Federal Republic of Germany.

reception

criticism

TMP noted in the New York Times that there were twenty musical numbers in the film that, when first shown, would have put a melodic trail of fog across the big screen. But one had the impression that there were a lot more songs and maybe even three times more than background music. Because as soon as the plot gets a little sluggish, the band joins an old nostalgia number such as Missouri Waltz or the Monahans play a part with Suwanee River or In My Merry Oldsmobile , they sing, dance and pull out all the stops, so for the plot the film doesn't have that much time left. The songs are pleasantly sentimental, even if there are too many of them and a variety show doesn't just depend on one team. In fact, what The Merry Monahans is all about is a festival of songs that has pleasant moments in store.

The Movie & Video Guide wrote: “Spirited cast does its best with bland, utterly predictable vaudeville saga, filled with period tunes like 'When you wore a tulip'.” (“Spirited cast doing their best in a smooth, absolutely predictable variety film , filled with historical melodies like 'When you wore a tulip'. ")

Halliwell's Film Guide characterized the film as follows: “Acceptable backstage comedy drama with good athmosphere.” (“Acceptable tragic comedy that looks behind the scenes with a good atmosphere.”)

Award

Academy Awards 1945

Aftermath

According to the Hollywood Reporter , the radio show Double or Nothing dedicated its September 15, 1944 broadcast to this film.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The Merry Monahans see notes at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English)
  2. ↑ TMP: At Loew's Criterion: "The Merry Monahans" In: The New York Times, October 13, 1944 (English). Retrieved February 17, 2019.
  3. ^ Leonard Maltin : The Merry Monahans. In: Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 851 (English).
  4. ^ Leslie Halliwell : The Merry Monahans In: Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 671 (English).