Starlift | |
---|---|
Directed by | Roy Del Ruth |
Screenplay by | John D. Klorer Karl Kamb |
Story by | John D. Klorer |
Produced by | Robert Arthur |
Starring | Doris Day Gordon MacRae Ruth Roman Janice Rule Dick Wesson Ron Hagerthy |
Cinematography | Ted McCord |
Edited by | William H. Ziegler |
Music by | Howard Jackson |
Production company | Warner Bros. |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 103 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $1.9 million (rentals) [1] |
Starlift (a.k.a. Operation Starlift) is a 1951 American musical film released by Warner Bros. starring Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Virginia Mayo, Dick Wesson, and Ruth Roman. It was directed by Roy Del Ruth and written by John D. Klorer and Karl Kamb, from a story by Klorer. The film was made during the beginning of the Korean War and centers on a U.S. Air Force flyer's wish to meet a film star, and her fellow stars' efforts to perform for injured men at the air force base.
Starlift features many of Warner Bros. top stars, including Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, James Cagney, Gene Nelson, Jane Wyman, Randolph Scott, Virginia Mayo and Phil Harris in cameo appearances as themselves. [2]
United States Air Force flyers Rick Williams (Ron Hagerthy) and Mike Nolan (Dick Wesson) attempt to meet Nell Wayne (Janice Rule), a (fictitious) film star performing in a star-studded musical in San Francisco. Rick and Nell were both from the same small town, but had never met. Mike attempts to convince both the staff and cast members at the theater that Rick and Nell are best friends and are extremely close. Ruth Roman takes pity on them and takes them to meet Nell. However, the men first meet with Doris Day and Gordon MacRae, who are rehearsing the song "You're Gonna Lose Your Gal."
When they find that Nell is not there, and that if she were, she would reveal that she did not know the boys, Mike claims that they are both shipping out to the Korean front that night. This makes Ruth and Doris feel guilty, and they invite the boys to lunch. When Nell does arrive, not knowing him, she attempts to make their visit brief. Doris and Ruth had already guessed that the two didn't know each other, but still let him meet Nell.
Waiting for Nell had made the boys late for their bus to return to base so Doris, Ruth and Nell offer to drive them back to Travis Air Force base, all the while wearing fur coats and ball gowns for that night's movie premiere. Instead of being shipped to the front lines in Korea however, the boys operate routine transport flights to Honolulu, Hawaii. While at the base they go to the transport terminal, where many of the soldiers are waiting for their flights to be called. Doris gets on stage to dance and sing "'S Wonderful", while Nell and Ruth go out to the runway to kiss Rick goodbye. Nell gives Rick a good-luck charm from her charm bracelet. As they watch the aircraft take off, their driver, the colonel, suggests that they greet some wounded soldiers at the hospital, where Doris sings a medley of "You Oughta Be in Pictures" and "You Do Something To Me."
After making their appearance at the Air Force Base, the three ladies return to San Francisco to perform in the show ("What Is This Thing Called Love?"). When an aircraft with wounded soldiers arrives with Rick and Mike in it, unwounded, and fresh from Honolulu, Nell is furious for Rick lying to her about going to the Korean front lines. However, she keeps up the love act for gossip columnist Louella Parsons which allows the "Operation Starlift" celebrities to perform at Travis Air Force base. The next morning they sing and dance while the aircraft leave ("Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)").
That night the cast performs for the base ("God's Green Acres of Home," "It's Magic"). The next day the Warner Bros. president arranges for several other Warner Bros. actors to perform at the base that night. While visiting her parents Nell finds that Rick's parents are at her home...and so is Rick. After dinner the Waynes take the Williams out for a movie leaving Nell and Rick in the house alone together. They quarrel and Rick gives Nell back the charm from her bracelet. The next morning when the Williams arrive, Nell finds that Rick was sent overseas ahead of schedule. She rushes to the base but his flight had already left.
Meanwhile, the Starlift, the aircraft containing the film stars, had arrived, containing Virginia Mayo and Phil Harris ("I May Be Wrong (but I Think You're Wonderful)", "Noche Caribe (Caribbean Night)"). Phil Harris purposely loses $750 to a soldier while playing Gin Rummy before performing "Look Out, Stranger, I'm a Texas Ranger."
Rick's aircraft arrives but he runs away from the hangar where Nell is waiting. While writing a letter to be given to him, Nell sees Rick enter the cafeteria and runs in after him. Without him realizing it she takes over for the waitress and makes him the chocolate malt he orders, just the way she did back in Youngstown, where her family had a malt shop. They drink the malt together, and they forgive each other. The next day, when Rick is finally shipped out, Nell is there to kiss him goodbye.
Performing as "guest stars" in the film's show segment were: James Cagney, Gary Cooper, Virginia Gibson, Phil Harris, Frank Lovejoy, Lucille Norman, Louella Parsons, Randolph Scott, Jane Wyman and Patrice Wymore. The comedy team of Tommy Noonan and Peter Marshall made their film debut in Starlift, also performing during the show segment.
Beginning in 1950, Operation Starlift was a program created by the Special Services Officers and Hollywood Coordinating Committee to bring movie stars of the time to Travis Air Force Base in order to entertain the wounded coming in from the Korean War. Ruth Roman was the forerunner of the project, which also saw such stars as Jane Russell, Shirley Temple, Shelley Winters, Alan Ladd, Jack Benny, Danny Kaye, Claudette Colbert, Keenan Wynn, Donald O'Connor, Janet Leigh, Debbie Reynolds, Bob Hope and many others. [3]
The flights flew the entertainers from Burbank every Saturday and returned them the following day. Shows performed in the Passenger Terminal Building (for departing servicemen) would usually last between two and three hours. They would then give performances for the men in the hospital auditorium. [4] Time magazine reported that Operation Starlift ended in November 1951, when the program ran out of funds. [5] Revived in November 1999, the USO operated its own Operation Starlift, which included Salma Hayek, Dennis Haskins, Danica McKellar, Garrett Morris and Sheeri Rappaport, among others. [6]
Bosley Crowther in his 1951 review of Starlift for The New York Times , wrote that the "... acts are unspeakably slapdash and the romance is painful beyond words," and the "performances given by Miss Rule and Ron Hagerthy as the flier are as sappy as they could possibly be, and Dick Wesson as a pushy pal of the flier is downright insufferable." [7]
In its own 1951 review of the film, Time stated that the film's Operation Starlift "now supplies a backdrop for a spotty variety show, loosely glued together by the romance of a Hollywood star and an Air Force corporal from her home town." [5]
On April 7, 2009, Warner Archive released Starlift on Region 1 DVD as part of the Doris Day Spotlight Collection. The 5-disc set contains digitally remastered versions of It's a Great Feeling (1949), Tea for Two (1950), April in Paris (1952) and The Tunnel of Love (1958). [8]
Albert Gordon MacRae was an American actor, singer, and television and radio host. He appeared in the film versions of two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Oklahoma! (1955) and Carousel (1956), and played the leading man opposite Doris Day in On Moonlight Bay (1951) and sequel By The Light of the Silvery Moon (1953).
Virginia Mayo was an American actress and dancer. She was in a series of popular comedy films with Danny Kaye and was Warner Bros. biggest box-office draw in the late 1940s. She also co-starred in the 1946 Oscar-winning movie The Best Years of Our Lives.
Ruth Roman was an American actress of film, stage, and television.
Roy Del Ruth was an American filmmaker.
"It's Magic" is a popular song written by Jule Styne, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn, published in 1947. They wrote the song for Doris Day in her Warner Brothers film debut, Romance on the High Seas. In the autumn of 1948 Vic Damone, Tony Martin, Dick Haymes, Gordon MacRae and Sarah Vaughan all charted on Billboard magazine charts with versions of the song, but none as successfully as Day's recording. "It's Magic" received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song, but in March 1949 lost to "Buttons and Bows" by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.
On Moonlight Bay is a 1951 American musical film starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae, and directed by Roy Del Ruth, which tells the story of the Winfield family at the turn of the 20th century. The movie is based loosely on the Penrod stories by Booth Tarkington. The sequel By the Light of the Silvery Moon was made in 1953.
By the Light of the Silvery Moon is a 1953 American musical film directed by David Butler and starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae. As with the film's predecessor On Moonlight Bay, the film is based loosely on the Penrod stories by Booth Tarkington.
Gene Nelson was an American actor, dancer, screenwriter, and director.
Tea for Two is a 1950 American musical romantic comedy film starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae, and directed by David Butler. The screenplay by Harry Clork was inspired by the 1925 stage musical No, No, Nanette, although the plot was changed considerably from the original book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel; and the score by Harbach, Irving Caesar, and Vincent Youmans was augmented with songs by other composers.
Mary Janice Rule was an American actress and psychotherapist, earning her PhD while still acting, then acting occasionally while working in her new profession.
Lucille Norman was an American mezzo-soprano, radio personality, and stage and film actress active in the 1940s and 1950s.
Patrice Wymore Flynn was an American film, television and stage actress of the 1950s and 1960s, known for her marriage to Errol Flynn.
The West Point Story is a 1950 musical comedy film starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo and Doris Day, and directed by Roy Del Ruth.
The McConnell Story is a 1955 dramatization of the life and career of United States Air Force (USAF) pilot Joseph C. McConnell (1922–1954) directed by Gordon Douglas. McConnell served as a navigator in World War II before becoming the top American ace during the Korean War and was killed on August 25, 1954, while serving as a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert, California. The Warner Brothers production, filmed in CinemaScope and Warner Color, stars Alan Ladd as McConnell and June Allyson as his wife. Longtime Warners staff composer Max Steiner wrote the musical score for the film.
George Greeley was an Italian-American pianist, conductor, composer, arranger, recording artist and record producer who is known for his extensive work across the spectrum of the entertainment industry. Starting as an arranger and pianist with several notable big bands in the 1940s, he segued into the Hollywood radio scene, working on several nationally broadcast variety programs. After conducting an Army Air Force Band during World War II, he was hired by Columbia Pictures as a staff pianist and orchestrator. He worked as pianist on several hundred motion pictures, worked with many famous composers orchestrating their soundtrack compositions, and created original compositions of his own in several dozen movies. It was Greeley's hands that performed the piano parts that Tyrone Power mimed in The Eddy Duchin Story. Concurrent with his work at Columbia Pictures, George Greeley also worked at Capitol Records as music director, pianist, and conductor for many artists such as Gordon MacRae, Jane Powell, Jo Stafford, Frankie Laine, and Doris Day. He was hired in the late 1950s by the newly established Warner Brothers Records. George Greeley arranged, orchestrated and performed as primary artist for a series of hit recordings entitled "Popular Piano Concertos." As music tastes changed in the late 1960s, Greeley had already moved into television, composing themes and music for popular TV series like My Favorite Martian,The Ghost and Mrs. Muir,Nanny and the Professor, and Small Wonder. He performed as featured piano soloist and as guest conductor in concert appearances around the world. He died from emphysema at age 89 in Los Angeles, California.
About Face is a 1952 American musical comedy film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Gordon MacRae, Eddie Bracken and Virginia Gibson. It was future Oscar winner Joel Grey's film debut. It was produced and distributed by Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of the 1936 play Brother Rat by John Monks Jr. and Fred F. Finklehoffe and a remake of the 1938 film of the same title.
Look for the Silver Lining is a 1949 American biographical musical film directed by David Butler and written by Phoebe Ephron, Henry Ephron and Marian Spitzer. A biography of Broadway singer-dancer Marilyn Miller, it stars June Haver and Ray Bolger. It was nominated for an Academy Award for best scoring for a musical picture in 1950.
Lucky Me is a 1954 American musical comedy film starring Doris Day, Robert Cummings and Phil Silvers. It was the first musical film produced in the CinemaScope process and filmed in Warnercolor.
Wide Open is a 1930 American pre-Code romantic comedy film directed by Archie Mayo, starring Edward Everett Horton and Patsy Ruth Miller, and featuring Louise Fazenda, T. Roy Barnes and Edna Murphy. Released by Warner Bros., it is based on the 1924 novel The Narrow Street by Edward Bateman Morris.
Ronald F. Hagerthy is an American actor on television and in films.