A Little Bit of Heaven (1940 film)

Last updated
A Little Bit of Heaven
ALittleBitOfHeaven1940Poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Andrew Marton
Screenplay by Daniel Taradash
Gertrude Purcell
Story by Grover Jones
Produced by Joe Pasternak
Starring Gloria Jean
Cinematography John F. Seitz
Edited byLásló Benedek
Production
company
Universal Pictures
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
  • October 11, 1940 (1940-10-11)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

A Little Bit of Heaven is a 1940 musical film starring teenage soprano singer Gloria Jean.

Contents

The film's title comes from a traditional Irish song that Gloria Jean sings at a family gathering. Her 2005 biography is similarly titled: Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven. The film is an unofficial sequel to 1939's The Under-Pup , featuring several cast members from that film, but as different characters. The group of girls in The Under-Pup was called "The Penguins", and Gloria Jean sings the group's song early in this film.

Plot

Midge Loring is a young member of a large Irish working-class family who becomes a singing sensation on a local radio station. The family's new-found wealth causes some discord until the family realizes that their closeness is what they value the most.

Cast

Production

In January 1940 Universal announced that Gloria Jean's third movie would be Our City, the tale of two sisters, based on a story by Grover Jones. Loretta Young was to play the sister and the cast would include Robert Cummings, Eugene Pallette, Lewis Howard and Billy Gilbert. [1]

By May the title had been changed to Straight from the Heart and Young was replaced by Nan Grey. [2] Then it became A Little Bit of Heaven and Cummings was replaced by Robert Stack. Filming began in June. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peggy Ryan</span> American actress and dancer (1924–2004)

Margaret O'Rene Ryan was an American dancer and actress, best known for starring in a series of movie musicals at Universal Pictures with Donald O'Connor and Gloria Jean.

The Our Gang personnel page is a listing of the significant cast and crew from the Our Gang short subjects film series, originally created and produced by Hal Roach which ran in movie theaters from 1922 to 1944.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Cummings</span> American actor (1910–1990)

Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings was an American film and television actor who appeared in roles in comedy films such as The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) and Princess O'Rourke (1943), and in dramatic films, especially two of Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers, Saboteur (1942) and Dial M for Murder (1954). He received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Single Performance in 1955. On February 8, 1960, he received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion picture and television industries, at 6816 Hollywood Boulevard and 1718 Vine Street. He used the stage name Robert Cummings from mid-1935 until the end of 1954 and was credited as Bob Cummings from 1955 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Gilbert</span> American comedian and actor (1894–1971)

William Gilbert Barron, known professionally as Billy Gilbert, was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his comic sneeze routines. He appeared in over 200 feature films, short subjects and television shows beginning in 1929.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Pasternak</span> American film producer

Joseph Herman Pasternak was a Hungarian-American film producer in Hollywood. Pasternak spent the Hollywood "Golden Age" of musicals at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, producing many successful musicals with female singing stars like Deanna Durbin, Kathryn Grayson and Jane Powell, as well as swimmer/bathing beauty Esther Williams' films. He produced Judy Garland's final MGM film, Summer Stock, which was released in 1950, and some of Gene Kelly’s early breakthrough roles. Pasternak worked in the film industry for 45 years, from the later silent era until shortly past the end of the classical Hollywood cinema in the early 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Catlett</span> American actor (1889–1960)

Walter Leland Catlett was an American actor and comedian. He made a career of playing excitable, meddlesome, temperamental, and officious blowhards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gloria Jean</span> American teen actress and singer (1926–2018)

Gloria Jean was an American actress and singer who starred or co-starred in 26 feature films from 1939 to 1959, and made numerous radio, television, stage, and nightclub appearances. She may be best remembered for her appearance with W. C. Fields in the film Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941).

<i>Never Give a Sucker an Even Break</i> 1941 film by Edward F. Cline

Never Give a Sucker an Even Break is a 1941 Universal Pictures comedy film starring W. C. Fields. Fields also wrote the original story, under the pseudonym Otis Criblecoblis. Fields plays himself, promoting an extravagant screenplay he has written. As he describes the script to a skeptical producer, the often surreal scenes are shown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugene Pallette</span> American actor (1889–1954)

Eugene William Pallette was an American actor who worked in both the silent and sound eras, performing in more than 240 productions between 1913 and 1946.

<i>The Stolen Jools</i> 1931 film

The Stolen Jools is a 1931 American pre-Code comedy short produced by the Masquers Club of Hollywood, featuring many cameo appearances by film stars of the day. The stars appeared in the film, distributed by Paramount Pictures, to raise funds for the National Vaudeville Artists Tuberculosis Sanitarium. The UCLA Film and Television Archive entry for this film says—as do the credits—that the film was co-sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes to support the "fine work" of the NVA sanitarium.

<i>Three Smart Girls Grow Up</i> 1939 film

Three Smart Girls Grow Up is a 1939 American musical comedy film directed by Henry Koster, written by Felix Jackson and Bruce Manning, and starring Deanna Durbin, Nan Grey, and Helen Parrish. Durbin and Grey reprise their roles from Three Smart Girls, and Parrish replaces Barbara Read in the role of the middle sister. Durbin would reprise her role once more in Hers to Hold.

<i>The Under-Pup</i> 1939 American film

The Under-Pup is a 1939 American feature film by Richard Wallace that introduced soprano singing star Gloria Jean to the screen.

<i>If I Had My Way</i> (film) 1940 American film

If I Had My Way is a 1940 musical comedy film directed by David Butler and starring Bing Crosby and Gloria Jean. Based on a story by David Butler, the film is about a construction worker who takes charge of the daughter of a friend killed in an accident.

<i>Nice Girl?</i> 1941 film

Nice Girl? is a 1941 American musical film directed by William A. Seiter, and starring Deanna Durbin, Franchot Tone, Walter Brennan, Robert Stack, and Robert Benchley. Based on the play Nice Girl? by Phyllis Duganne, the film is about a young girl who finds herself attracted to one of her father's business partners who comes to town to give her father a scholarship for his dietary studies.

<i>Misbehaving Husbands</i> 1940 film by William Beaudine

Misbehaving Husbands is a 1940 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine for Producers Releasing Corporation. The film had the working titles At Your Age and Dummy Husbands. Harry Langdon, Betty Blythe, Esther Muir, and others in the cast had been stars in silent films. It was Gig Young's film debut, under his real name Byron Barr.

<i>Little Big Shot</i> (1935 film) 1935 film by Michael Curtiz

Little Big Shot is a 1935 American film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Sybil Jason and Glenda Farrell. The film was released by Warner Bros. on September 7, 1935. The plot concerns a young girl who endears herself to her caretakers after her father is murdered by mobsters.

<i>Star Dust</i> (film) 1940 film by Walter Lang

Star Dust is a 1940 American comedy drama film directed by Walter Lang and starring Linda Darnell and John Payne, Roland Young and Charlotte Greenwood.

<i>Lets Live a Little</i> 1948 film by Richard Wallace

Let's Live a Little is a 1948 American romantic comedy film directed by Richard Wallace and starring Hedy Lamarr, Robert Cummings and Anna Sten. Written by Howard Irving Young, Edmund L. Hartmann, Albert J. Cohen, and Jack Harvey, the film is about an overworked advertising executive who is being pursued romantically by his former fiancée, a successful perfume magnate, who is also the ad agency's largest client. While visiting a new client—a psychiatrist and author—to discuss a proposed ad campaign, his life becomes further complicated when the new client turns out to be a beautiful woman, who decides to treat his nervous condition.

Edward Francis Finney (1903–1983) was an American film producer and director. He is best known as the man who introduced cowboy singer Tex Ritter to the moviegoing public.

<i>Sandy Is a Lady</i> 1940 American film

Sandy Is a Lady is a 1940 American comedy film directed by Charles Lamont and written by Charles Grayson. The film stars Baby Sandy, Billy Lenhart, Kenneth Brown, Eugene Pallette, Nan Grey, Tom Brown, Mischa Auer, Billy Gilbert and Edgar Kennedy. The film was released on May 21, 1940, by Universal Pictures.

References

  1. SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD: Pasternack to Make 'Our City' at Universal New York Times 22 Jan 1940: 17.
  2. SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD New York Times 13 May 1940: 23.
  3. SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD. New York Times 11 May 1940: 20.