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Varsity Show

 
Movies:

Varsity Show

  • Director: William Keighley
  • AMG Rating: starstarstar
  • Genre: Musical
  • Movie Type: Backstage Musical, Musical Comedy
  • Themes: Success is the Best Revenge, Fighting the System, College Life
  • Main Cast: Dick Powell, Fred Waring, Priscilla Lane, Walter Catlett, Ted Healy
  • Release Year: 1937
  • Country: US
  • Run Time: 120 minutes

Plot

If you're wondering which Warners musical featured the songs "Old King Cole" and "Have You Got Any Castles?," we refer you to Varsity Show. Dick Powell stars as a musical producer, called back to his alma mater to stage the annual college variety show. Uptight dean Walter Catlett is dead set against Powell's "scandalous" form of entertainment. The college kids conspire with Powell to stage their show in an empty Broadway theatre during the off-season. Turns out that Powell has Busby Berkeley under contract; well, he doesn't really, but it is Berkeley who stages the "big show" finale, in a spectacular fashion that would be impossible for any stage, college or professional. Among the costars of Varsity Show are Rosemary Lane as the ingenue, Ted Healy (in his last screen appearance) as comic relief, and Our Gang's "Spanky," here billed more formally under his real name, George McFarland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast

Rosemary Lane - Barbara "Babs" Steward; Lee Dixon - Johnny "Rubberlegs" Stevens; Mabel Todd - Cuddles; Halliwell Hobbes - Dean Meredith; Edward S. Brophy - Mike Barclay; Emma Dunn - Mrs. Smith; Buck and Bubbles - Themselves; Sterling Holloway - Trout; Roy Atwell - Prof. Washburn; Ben Welden - Hammer; Johnnie Davis - Buzz Bolton; Carole Landis - Bit Part; George "Spanky" McFarland - Hap

Credit

Busby Berkeley - Choreography, William Keighley - Director, George J. Amy - Editor, Richard A. Whiting - Composer (Music Score), George Barnes - Cinematographer, Sol Polito - Cinematographer, Louis Edelman - Producer, Warren B. Duff - Screen Story, Sig Herzig - Screen Story, Warren B. Duff - Screenwriter, Sig Herzig - Screenwriter, Richard Macaulay - Screenwriter, Jerry Wald - Screenwriter

Similar Movies

Holiday Inn; Rock 'n' Roll High School; Summer Stock; White Christmas
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Wikipedia: Varsity Show (film)
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Varsity Show
Directed by William Keighley
Written by Warren Duff (story)
Sig Herzig (story)
Jerry Wald (screenplay)
Reichard Macaulay (screenplay)
Sig Herzig (screenplay)
Warren Duff (screenplay)
Starring Dick Powell
The Pennsylvanians
Ted Healy
Music by M.K. Jerome (uncredited)
Cinematography Sol Polito
George Barnes (finale)
Editing by George Amy
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) September 4, 1937
Running time Original 121 min.
DVD release 80 min.
Country United States
Language English

Varsity Show is a 1937 feature film from Warner Brothers about a group of students at "Winfield College" who butt heads with their faculty advisor while producing an annual stage show.

The film was directed by William Keighley from a script by Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay, Warren Duff and Sig Herzig. The movie features songs by Richard A. Whiting and many others. The finale was directed by Busby Berkeley.

This film, however 'kitschy' it may be, is one of the most important to modern choral music in America. In 1937, Fred Waring was approached to play a starring role in this film. He brought his famous glee club, the Pennsylvanians, to the shoot and planned on using the college glee club from Pomona College ("Winfield College" in the movie) for additional singers. When Mr. Waring arrived at the campus he found the Glee Club conductor was ill but his replacement was a young, energetic young man named Robert Shaw. Robert Shaw followed Fred Waring, after the movie was finished, to New York. There, Mr. Shaw founded the Collegiate Chorale and the Robert Shaw Chorale. Robert Shaw went on to be one of the most important personalities in American choral music in the 20th century.

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