Louise Beavers

Sherry Williams (Jane Powell) is a fifteen year old girl at boarding school. On the day of the school show, in which she has a leading part, she goes to the rail station to meet her sister Josephine (Constance Moore). Sherry thinks that her sister is a Broadway musical star, but in fact she is in burlesque. Josephine has left the train on the wrong side to avoid meeting Arthur Hale (Ralph Bellamy), a Broadway producer who she fears might recognise her as "Bubbles Barton", her stage name. By the time that she emerges, Sherry and all the taxis have gone, so Josephine has to hitch a lift to the school, while Arthur gets there first. He is at the school talent spotting, so meets Sherry who is in tears because of teasing by other girls over the non-arrival of her famous sister. He earns Sherry's friendship by quick-wittedly supporting her belief that Josephine Williams is indeed a big star. The show goes on, Sherry is a smash and Josephine and Arthur meet. he is smitten but can't quite place her face. They return to New York separately, swiftly followed by Sherry who wants to see her sister perform. She catches the burlesque act and deeply shocked by the sight of her sister's legs, rushes from the theatre in tears to seek solace at Arthur's apartment. Eager to get rid of her, he calls up Josephine who comes round to collect her and reveals that she is Bubbles Barton. Josephine must leave on tour next day, so extracts a promise that Arthur will put Sherry on the train back to school next day. Sherry however, calls a friend, goes shopping and returns after the train time dressed to kill. It is her intention to make Arthur put her into his next musical, so that the money she earns can rescue her sister from a life of sin. Arthur is taken aback, but is persuaded to take her to a big night club, where she is the centre of attention, particularly when she sings with the band! The bandleader, Morton Gould (as himself) introduces her to a radio producer who is just about to sign her, when her sister appears and is recognised by a bystander. The producer reneges on his offer, as his sponsor can have no connection with the sister of a burlesque artiste. Undaunted, Sherry devises a new plan, records her sister singing, plays the record to Arthur, who recognises immediately that she is the star he needs to save his new show and puts both girls onto the stage. They are a smash and Josephine also gets a marriage proposal from Arthur.

Episodes in the adventurous life of the American novelist (1876-1916). Episodes in the novelist's life: In 1890, young Jack London quits a cannery job to try oyster piracy. Later, he signs on for a sealing voyage, tries Yukon prospecting and a brief university career, loving and leaving women along the way. Instead of riches, he gets story ideas. Suddenly, he finds success and a delectable lady; but the urge to adventure won't let him go. —Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Famous showbiz trio breaks up, as crooner Jim Hardy (Bing Crosby) plans to take his fiancée Lila Dixon (Virginia Dale) out to Connecticut to live on a farm and enjoy the lazy life. The problem is that suave dancer Ted Hanover (Fred Astaire) has stolen Lila from Jim and runs off with her to continue their showbiz careers. Farming does not prove as easy as Jim had hoped and after a year, he ends up having a nervous breakdown. In the sanitarium, Jim comes up with the idea to turn his old barn into a nightclub that is only open on holidays. Jim visits Ted and Lila in New York and tells his old agent Danny to send him any talented acts for his club. Danny encounters a young woman at a flower shop who is bent on a career as a dancer and singer. Her name is Linda Mason (Marjorie Reynolds), and he gives her tickets to a show and tells her to audition at Holiday Inn. At the show she meets Jim and both pretend to be more important than they really are. When she arrives in Connecticut they are surprised to be caught in their lies. Linda auditions and Jim agrees to let her star in his shows beginning with the upcoming New Year's Eve performance. In the meantime, Lila leaves Ted for a Texas millionaire. This starts Ted to drinking, and sends him to his buddy who knows what it is to have the woman you love stolen away from you. When he arrives at the inn he is extremely drunk and ends up dancing with Linda. They dance an incredible improvised comic dance routine that is still a classic. Agent Danny arrives in time to see Linda's back as she walks up the stairs. In the morning when Ted wakes up, he can't remember anything about her but the way that she danced and he know he wants her to be his partner. He and Danny decide to come back to the club on Lincoln's birthday to scout for "the back of a woman they don't know." Meanwhile, Jim has fallen in love with Linda, who can really sing and dance, and he offers her a life at the Inn, and sort of proposes to her. She agrees to stay with him at the Inn and is excited to be sort of engaged. Of course, Ted has also fallen in love with his mystery dance partner who he rediscovers on Valentine's day. He decides to stay at the inn and dance with Linda there. In an elaborate plan to get Linda away from the inn and Jim, Ted arranges for men from Hollywood to watch the 4th of July performance. Jim learns of this plot and decides to sabotage their routine by preventing Linda from arriving that day and inviting Lila, whose millionaire was not who she hoped he would be, to come in her place. In her attempts to get to the inn, Linda meets up with Lila and learns of Jim's plot. When she finally does arrive she is furious with Jim and in her anger agrees to leave with Ted for Hollywood. Jim closes the inn and mopes around. His housekeeper gives him sage wisdom that sends him to Hollywood to get his woman back. He arrives on the day before Linda and Ted's wedding, and sneaks onto the set. Linda gradually picks up signs that he is there and when he finally reveals himself she joyously runs to meet him. The movie culminates with a rewrite of the opening number in which we learn that Jim and Linda will be staying together at the Inn to sing and Ted will resume his dancing career with Lila. Holiday Inn is a Christmas treasure that shows a simpler time in history in a warm and endearing light.

Trouble-prone Billy Peck and his gang descend on a traveling circus that has just hit town, and before long their antics are causing the circus owner all kinds of problems. Bill Peck (Tommy Kelly) receives ten dollars from his parents for railroad fare to summer camp where he is to defend his trophy cup in a cross-country obstacle race. But he is forced to spend his money for tickets to a circus that comes to town. In revenge, he feed his mother's sleeping pills to the circus lions. Arthur Bailey (Edgar Kennedy, the lion tamer, swears vengeance on the one responsible. His money gone, Bill hitch-hikes a ride to the camp with the circus. A puppy-love romance develops between Bill and Fleurette de Cava, ten-year old bareback rider. During rehearsals, Fleurette sprains an an ankle, and she must appear for the next performance or have her contract cancelled. Bailey suggests that Bill wear a wig and substitute for Fleurette. Bailey volunteers to guide Bill with a wire---one end fastened around Bill's waist and the other strung through a revolving pulley controlled by Bailey. Just as the act begins, Bailey learns that Bill ruined his lion-act. He gets his revenge manipulating the wire so that Bill spins through the air in a series of ludicrous poses, which causes the audience to howl with laughter and make Bill a comedy success. Bailey, really soft-hearted, finally forgives Bill. But, Bill is still miles from the summer camp and has only thirty minutes to get there. Baily and Bill requisition a circus racing chariot and take a thrilling short-cut over the mountains. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

A struggling widow and her daughter take in a Black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter; the two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along the way. Bea Pullman and her daughter Jessie have had a hard time making ends meet since Bea's husband died. Help comes in the form of Delilah Johnson, who agrees to work as Bea's housekeeper in exchange for a room for herself and her daughter Peola. Bea comes up with a plan to market Delilah's pancake recipe. The two soon become wealthy, and their friendship deepens through the years, but their relationships with their daughters become strained. Ashamed of her mother, Peola seeks a new life by passing for white. Bea's love for her daughter is tested when she and Jessie fall for the same man. —<dbubbeo@cmp.com> Following the death of her husband who she admits she never truly loved in a romantic sense, Bea Pullman is having a difficult time with life trying to make ends meet by maintaining his maple syrup business while raising their daughter, Jessie Pullman. The child care side of the equation is addressed when she meets a black woman named Delilah Johnson, who is looking for a housekeeping job primarily for room and board which includes for her light skinned daughter, Peola Johnson. While Jessie and Peola become fast friends, Bea sees in Delilah more than just a housekeeper, but a friend and business partner when she learns that Delilah makes the world's best pancakes, which triggers the idea that they should open a pancake restaurant and sell syrup as a side business. That successful business morphs, based on a suggestion by a down and out customer named Elmer Smith who becomes their partner, into an even more successful venture selling the pancake flour mix for home use. This business makes both women richer than they could have ever imagined, although all Delilah wants is to continue to live with the Pullmans to look after them and Peola. As the girls grow into young womanhood and go away to college - Peola specifically to one catering to blacks in the South - issues arise which threaten to tear each family apart largely as the girls now have the power to do what they will. For the Pullmans, the issue surrounds what may be the first true loves each has experienced in her life, Bea's with Elmer's friend, ichthyologist Stephen Archer. And for the Johnsons, the issue is Peola taking action to run away from her life as a black woman, wanting to pass as white. —Huggo

Pat Morgan and Ted Kord are rival newspaper reporters always trying to outscoop each other. They join together to solve a series of murders being committed in an apartment building. Pat Morgan is a reporter for the Morning News whose editor has placed her as an undercover secretary to philanthropist Adam Harker. He is mixed up in something with the local mob boss Josephus Martini. There is a shriek in the night; Adam Harker has fallen to his death from his penthouse. Police inspector Russell begins to suspect that Harker was pushed. He sees through Pat's cover as "Miss Terry", prying out of her a card she swiped from Harker bearing the image of a hissing snake and the words "You will hear it". Pat's rival reporter, Ted Rand, works for the Daily Express. He borrows a badge from his police friend Eddie, and gains access to the crime scene. He overhears Pat and Russell visiting, then phones the details of the case to his paper for an unethical scoop. Broken fingernails on Harker are consistent with scratches on a broken curtain rod in the apartment below his penthouse. The woman who lives there is dead, and her husband is missing. He is later found dead in the river. Harker's maid, Augusta, finds a secret compartment behind a bureau drawer while cleaning out the apartment. It is an anonymous threat to Harker for the role he played in the wrongful electrocution of Denny Fagan in prison. Pat and Ted now collaborate to gather further information on this case. Harker had been involved in placing blame on Denny for the murder of a Mr. Brinkman who had been applying heat on Harker. The apartment house janitor is behind all the murders. He is actually Denny's brother out for revenge. He uses gas to first subdue his victims. —Garon Smith