Ship Ahoy is the title of a 1942 musical-comedy motion picture produced by MGM.
The film stars Eleanor Powell as Tallulah Winters, a dancing star who is hired to perform on an ocean liner. Before she leaves, she is recruited by what she believes is a branch of the American government and asked to smuggle a prototype explosive mine out of the country. In fact, she is unknowingly working for Nazi agents who have stolen the mine. Meanwhile, Merton Kibble (Red Skelton), a writer of pulp fiction adventure stories but suffering from severe writer's block, is on the same ship and soon he finds himself embroiled in Tallulah's real-life adventure. Also appearing in the film were Bert Lahr, Tommy Dorsey, Buddy Rich, and Virginia O'Brien.
This was the first of two films in which Powell and Skelton co-starred. It is considered a lesser effort on both actors' behalf, however the film is chiefly remembered today for including the film debut of Frank Sinatra, who appears in an uncredited performance as a singer with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. The movie also is credited with one of the most unusual displays of dance on screen for a sequence in which Powell's character, needing to communicate a message to a (real) US agent in the audience of one of her shows, manages to tap out the message in morse code. (Reportedly, Powell taps genuine code during the performance.)
Skelton and Powell next paired up in 1943's I Dood It. In that film, they appeared with Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy's brother.
Cast
- Eleanor Powell as Tallulah Winters
- Red Skelton as Merton K. Kibble
- Bert Lahr as "Skip" Owens
- Virginia O'Brien as Fran Evans
- William Post Jr. as H. U. Bennett
- James Cross as "Stump"
- Eddie Hartman as "Stumpy"
- Stuart Crawford as Art Higgins
- John Emery as Dr. Farno
- Bernard Nedell as Pietro Polesi
- Tommy Dorsey as Himself
- Frank Sinatra as Himself
- Buddy Rich as Himself
- Ziggy Elman as Himself
- Monroni Olsen as Inspector Davis
- George Watts as Hotel detective
- Ralph Dunn as Flammer
- William Tannen as Grimes
External links
- Ship Ahoy at the Internet Movie Database
Other uses
The Internet Movie Database lists at least five additional films with the title Ship Ahoy released between 1919 and 1930.
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