Annie Get Your Gun (1950)

Simply put, Annie Oakley (Betty Hutton) is a better shot than “swoll-headed” Frank Butler (Howard Keel). She beats them in their first competition and is taken in as Frank Butler’s assistant when Buffalo Bill (Louis Calhern) and manager Charlie Davenport (Keenan Wynn) see how great with a gun she is. Content to keep her as Butler’s assistant and aware that a romance is growing between the two; Buffalo Bill is reticent to follow Charlie’s suggestion that Annie should do some of her tricks. They are far better than Frank’s and they need the publicity since Buffalo Bill’s former partner and latest competition Pawnee Bill (Edward Arnold) is affecting sales with his own show.

 However, Buffalo Bill does give in and under the guise of impressing Frank so he will ask her to marry him, they convince Annie surprise Frank with some of her own tricks during the show. Unfortunately, Frank instead thinks that Annie has been playing him all along just so that she can have her moment in the spotlight. He leaves Buffalo Bill’s show and joins Pawnee Bill’s. Annie, upset and indignant at his reaction, follows Buffalo Bill’s show to Europe where she treats royalty to a spectacular taste of the Wild West and is awarded several medals that she can’t wait to show off to Frank.

Buffalo Bill sees that she is only putting up a front, that she’s truly upset about her split from Frank. So, despite the sales he could get staying on in Europe, he packs up the show and heads back to America- much to Annie’s delight.

There they are greeted by one of Pawnee Bill’s men and invited to a reception in Annie’s honor. Buffalo Bill sees this as a great opportunity for him and Pawnee Bill to get back together- he has the talent (Annie) and PB has the money. Unfortunately, PB, who would also like to merge, assumes that BB has the necessary funds after a successful trip to Europe. When it’s realized that neither have the funds, PB grows irate and throws BB out of the reception only to be stopped by Chief Sitting Bull (J. Carol Naish) who points out that all Annie’s medals should bring in the money needed. Willing to give her medals up only after Frank sees them, Annie Agrees and everyone is happy.

However, when Frank, in hopes that Annie will forgive him and as a peace offering, offers up the three medals he won for his shooting. But when Annie takes off her wrap and searches for a place for him to pin them among her much more ostentatious metals, Frank blows up again. The only way to resolve the matter is to have another competition. So, the next day they meet and Chief Sitting Bull, knowing Annie would rather have Frank over anything else, fixes her guns so that she will lose the competition. Annie eventually catches on and she and Frank reconcile. Oh, the pride of men.

Judy Garland was originally slated to do this film and though I think she was a fantastic actress and singer, Annie Get Your Gun would have had a totally different feel than the one that was produced with Betty Hutton. That’s my polite way of saying it would not have been nearly as good. While reading up on this film, I realized there is footage of Judy in this film before she was fired. Even without sound in most of them, I can tell that Hutton was a better pick for this particular characterization of Annie or perhaps Hutton made Annie her very own with her particular brand of talent.

I don’t much like musicals (I believe I have stated that a few times on this blog) though I do have one favorite- Meet Me in St. Louis (starring Judy Garland). However, Betty Hutton makes me want to watch musicals. She’s so very animated, so comical, so expressive, and such a joy to watch. I made a note to myself back in 2009 when I watched an interview with Robert Osborne and Betty Hutton to watch Annie Get Your Gun and am sorry I haven’t seen it sooner.

Betty Hutton is the star of this film, everyone else falls flat in comparison. In her interview with Osborne, Hutton stated that the crew at MGM was not very nice to her because they told her they'd rather have Judy Garland in the role. Perhaps this encouraged her to be even bolder and more outgoing in this role compared to her others because she really shines in this film! Annie Get Your Gun is a must see, even if you don’t care for musicals.

Oscar Trivia:

Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Keenan Wynn, and director George Sidney were never once nominated for an Academy Award.
Louis Calhern received one Best Actor Oscar nomination in his entire career for his role in The Magnificent Yankee.

Merrily We Go To Hell (1932)

**I am moving into 1932 and skipping over Fredric March's first Academy Award winning film, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Halloween is around the corner and I am saving the most popular versions: Barrymore, March, and Tracy as a treat.




Jerry Corbett (Fredric March) never quite got over stage actress Claire Hempstead (Adrianne Allen). When he meets Joan Prentiss (Sylvia Sidney) at a house party, he’s drunk and gives every indication that he’s normally so. But he let’s Joan know he thinks she’s “swell”. Despite several indications that Jerry is not at all ready for marriage: he admits that Claire, his first love, is someone he still thinks of from time to time, he’s late to his and Joan’s first date, he drunkenly passed out before making it to their engagement party, and he lost Joan’s wedding ring, secretly replacing it with a bottle opener at the ceremony, Joan is head- over -heels for him and willing to be the person to reform him.
After they are married, Jerry dutifully goes on the wagon and though it takes time, he eventually writes a successful play that will be produced in New York. Slotted for the leading role is none other than the Claire Hempstead who unconsciously starts Jerry’s drinking again by handing him her drink as she points out what she would like changed in the script. Joan pitifully looks on as he sips away. Come the opening night of the play, Jerry is all but panting for Claire and when Joan arrives backstage to congratulate him after the successful first run, Jerry’s tanked.
Instead of bringing home the cast as Jerry said he would, he stays out late while Claire and her disapproving father wait for his arrival. When he does arrive, he’s being carried by his faithful friend Buck (Skeets Gallagher). When Joan is trying to help him out of his clothes, he keeps murmuring the name Claire. Joan’s father tries to get her to leave but she refuses. Instead she gets drunk for the first time to see why Jerry thinks it’s so great. When Jerry comes to and receives a phone call from Claire, he tells her he desperately wants to see her, but he won’t. When he confronts a drunken Joan, he begs her to bar him from going to Claire’s but Joan opens the door and kicks him out.
A repentant Jerry shows up the next day expecting Joan to be gone. But Joan has other plans. She’s going to be the modern wife with all the privileges Jerry has. While Jerry drunkenly enjoys his freedom, you can tell Joan is still miserable. When she finds out she is pregnant, she tries to tell Jerry but he won’t listen and so she leaves- letting him know that all she wanted was for him to love her like she loved him.
The moment Joan is gone Jerry realizes he loves her. He kicks Claire out and goes on the wagon for good. He attempts for months to reach Joan but her father cuts off any connection. When he hears that Joan is pregnant and going into labor, he rushes to the hospital to find the baby has died and Joan asking for him. The movie ends with Jerry pledging his devotion.

Bottle opener in lieu of the wedding ring, always a sure sign of smooth sailing ahead!

Though there were many opportunities for this movie to stray towards the melodramatic, it refrains, thankfully. Sydney and March play their parts magnificently, allowing me to despise Jerry for what he does to Joan but making himself totally redeemable. Sydney, in turn, displays a wonderful inner strength and despite constantly being let down by Jerry she takes it all in stride with no dreaded histrionics. Add to this the delightful addition of tap dancing Skeet Gallagher and all Jerry’s drunken cronies- including a pre-fame Cary Grant, the movie is quite engrossing.

Knit It!

It takes two to make a thing go right
It takes two to make it outta sight
Knit it!

Ingrid Bergman

Greer Garson

Sylvia Sidney

Rosalind Russell

Jayne Mansfield

Katharine Hepburn

In through the front door,
Once around the back.
Peek through the window,
And off jumps Jack!
-Susan Kranz-

Audrey Hepburn

Mae Marsh

Bette Davis

Ann Sheridan

And the Queen Bee of knitting, Ms. Joan Crawford!

On the set of Reunion in France

On the set of Humoresque

On the set of Mildred Pierce

Now if I only I had one of her on the set of The Women. Reportedly while George Cukor filmed Shearer, Crawford sat on the sidelines knitting an afghan with the loudest needles available, until Shearer complained of the distraction to Cukor who then ordered Crawford back to her trailer.

Tonight on TCM!

It's Elvis' birthday and though the man could sing, I preferred he simply stuck to that. Watch his movies at your own risk. ;)