Thank Your Lucky Stars (film)

Thank Your Lucky Stars

theatrical poster
Directed by David Butler
Produced by Mark Hellinger
Written by Norman Panama
Melvin Frank
Starring Eddie Cantor
Joan Leslie
Dennis Morgan
Music by Heinz Roemheld
Cinematography Arthur Edeson
Edited by Irene Morra
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Release dates
  • September 25, 1943 (1943-09-25)
Running time
 124 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $2.8 million (US rentals)[1]

Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943) is a musical comedy film made by Warner Brothers as a World War II fundraiser, with a slim plot, involving theater producers. The stars donated their salaries to the Hollywood Canteen, which was founded by John Garfield and Bette Davis, who appear in this film.[2] It was directed by David Butler and stars Eddie Cantor, Dennis Morgan, Joan Leslie, Edward Everett Horton and S. Z. Sakall.[3][4]

Plot

Theater producers (Horton and Sakall) staging a wartime charity program, only to have the production taken over by their egotistical star (Eddie Cantor). Meanwhile, an aspiring singer (Dennis Morgan) and his songwriter girlfriend (Joan Leslie) conspire to get into the charity program by replacing Cantor with their look-alike friend, tour bus driver Joe Simpson (Eddie Cantor).

Many of Warner Brothers's stars performed in musical numbers, including several who were not known as singers. The show features the only screen musical numbers ever done by Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, and Ida Lupino.

Cast

Cameo appearances

Musical numbers

Production

Filming for Thank Your Lucky Stars started 1 October 1942.[5] Producer Mark Hellinger and director David Butler both made cameo appearances in the film.[6] The film utilized sets which had been built for the Warner Bros. films The Green Pastures and Wonder Bar.[6] Thank Your Lucky Stars was the film debut of both Dinah Shore and Spike Jones and his City Slickers.[6] Each of the cast members was paid a $50,000 fee for their appearance which was then donated to the Hollywood Canteen.[7]

Reception

Thank Your Lucky Stars was popular with audiences, and the critic James Agee called it "the loudest and most vulgar of the current musicals. It is also the most fun."[8] Ticket sales combined with the donated salaries of the performers raised more than two million dollars for the Hollywood Canteen.[9]

Awards and honors

The song ""They're Either Too Young or Too Old" by Arthur Schwartz (music) and Frank Loesser (lyrics) was nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Music, Original Song", but lost to "You'll Never Know" by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon from the film, Hello Frisco, Hello. Despite not winning the award, Kitty Kallen and the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra had a hit with the song.[2][10]


The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

References

Notes

  1. ↑ "Top Grossers of the Season", Variety, 5 January 1944 p 54
  2. 1 2 3 4 Landazuri, Margaret. "Articles: Thank Your Lucky Stars"." Turner Classic Movies (TCM.com). Retrieved: January 26, 2015.
  3. ↑ Film review: 'Thank Your Lucky Stars'." Variety, August 18, 1943, p. 10.
  4. ↑ Film review: 'Thank Your Lucky Stars'." Harrison's Reports , August 21, 1943, p. 136.
  5. ↑ The New York Times, August 29, 1942, p. 18.
  6. 1 2 3 "Notes: Thank Your Lucky Stars." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: January 26, 2015.
  7. ↑ Spada 1993, p. 194.
  8. ↑ Ringgold and Quirk 1966, p. 123.
  9. ↑ Spada 1993, p. 195.
  10. ↑ "Awards." IMDB.com. Retrieved: January 26, 2015.
  11. ↑ "AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-08-13.

Bibliography

  • Ringgold, Gene and Lawrence J. Quirk. The Films of Bette Davis. New York: Cadillac Publishing Co., 1966. ISBN 978-0-8065-1177-1.
  • Spada, James. More Than a Woman. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1993. ISBN 978-0-7515-0940-3.
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