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When My Baby Smiles at Me
As the 20th Century Fox version of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Dan Dailey and Betty Grable made five musicals together and one of their stronger efforts was 1948 gem called When My Baby Smiles at Me, which features a terrific score of tin pan alley classics and an exceptional performance from the leading man.
Bonny Kane and Skid Johnson are vaudeville performers who are touring the country and dong pretty well, despite Skid's battle with the bottle. Skid gets an offer from producer Sam Harris to do a Broadway show, leaving Bonny in the mid west but happy for Skid's success. As soon as she can, Bonny arrives in New York and is distressed to learn that Skid is still drinking and when she sees a picture of him in the paper with his pretty co-star, she promptly files for divorce.
Can't believe it took three writers to come up with this paper thin screenplay that is pretty hard to distinguish from the other four films that Dailey and Grable did together. There chemistry is solid as usual, but this story does attempt to make Skid Johnson more flawed than the usual 1940's musical comedy leading man and Dailey is up to the task, but it doesn't change the fact that just like an Astaire and Rogers picture, we're just happy unless Daily and Grable are together again.
The film is jam packed with classic songs like "Bye Bye Blackbird", "Sweet Georgia Brown", "Ain't We Got Fun", and "The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady". Can't deny being a little disturbed by the "Birth of the Blues" which featured Dailey backed u by four chorus girls in blackface. Grable is also given a solo on a huge set called "What Did I Do" which had Grable dancing on a huge stage all by herself but most of it was shot from the waist up so we're unable to see her footwork or those famous million dollar legs.
There's no denying that Dailey lights up the screen in one of his most interesting characters, who doesn't always behave like a good song and dance man. Dailey was so good here the performance earned him his only Oscar nomination for Best Actor, which he lost to Laurence Olivier for Hamlet.. Jack Oakie and June Havoc provide the same comic support they did to Alice Faye in Hello Frisco Hello and as he always did, James Gleason steals every scene's in. But if you're like me and think Dan Dailey was always underrated as a song and dance man, this one's for you.
As the 20th Century Fox version of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Dan Dailey and Betty Grable made five musicals together and one of their stronger efforts was 1948 gem called When My Baby Smiles at Me, which features a terrific score of tin pan alley classics and an exceptional performance from the leading man.
Bonny Kane and Skid Johnson are vaudeville performers who are touring the country and dong pretty well, despite Skid's battle with the bottle. Skid gets an offer from producer Sam Harris to do a Broadway show, leaving Bonny in the mid west but happy for Skid's success. As soon as she can, Bonny arrives in New York and is distressed to learn that Skid is still drinking and when she sees a picture of him in the paper with his pretty co-star, she promptly files for divorce.
Can't believe it took three writers to come up with this paper thin screenplay that is pretty hard to distinguish from the other four films that Dailey and Grable did together. There chemistry is solid as usual, but this story does attempt to make Skid Johnson more flawed than the usual 1940's musical comedy leading man and Dailey is up to the task, but it doesn't change the fact that just like an Astaire and Rogers picture, we're just happy unless Daily and Grable are together again.
The film is jam packed with classic songs like "Bye Bye Blackbird", "Sweet Georgia Brown", "Ain't We Got Fun", and "The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady". Can't deny being a little disturbed by the "Birth of the Blues" which featured Dailey backed u by four chorus girls in blackface. Grable is also given a solo on a huge set called "What Did I Do" which had Grable dancing on a huge stage all by herself but most of it was shot from the waist up so we're unable to see her footwork or those famous million dollar legs.
There's no denying that Dailey lights up the screen in one of his most interesting characters, who doesn't always behave like a good song and dance man. Dailey was so good here the performance earned him his only Oscar nomination for Best Actor, which he lost to Laurence Olivier for Hamlet.. Jack Oakie and June Havoc provide the same comic support they did to Alice Faye in Hello Frisco Hello and as he always did, James Gleason steals every scene's in. But if you're like me and think Dan Dailey was always underrated as a song and dance man, this one's for you.