Arabella’s Notes  

Betty Hutton                        1921 – 2007             “They all fell in love with Betty Hutton.                None of them fell in love with me.”

The Fleet’s In   1942  Directed by Victor Schertzinger Paramount        B/W

This was the third version of the Kenyon Nicholson/Charles Robinson stage play “Sailor Beware” with music by Victor Schertzinger and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The storyline pits shy sailor Casey Kirby (William Holden) against an icy songstress called the Countess (Dorothy Lamour) by fellow gobs who think he is a Lothario in sheep’s clothing.

But the film’s success was largely due to the first-time appearance of Betty Hutton who steals every scene she’s in.  Her hilarious rendition of “Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry” made fans cry for more and her rapport with Eddie Bracken insured that they would be together again.

Also watch for Bob Eberle’s “Tangerine” , a song that made the Hit Parade for weeks that year.

Happy-Go-Lucky   1943   Directed by Curtis Bernhardt Paramount           Color

It’s Bracken and Hutton again with Dick Powell and Mary Martin top-billed and Rudy Vallee and Mabel Page rounding out the cast. The critics called it “cute”, “a happy little musical” which in critic vernacular meant it wasn’t much of a movie. And while the critics didn’t actually pan the score, they didn’t give it much applause either. Betty does one of her big hits in this movie “Murder, He Says” plus another goodie “The Fuddy-Duddy Watchmaker”.

This was probably the last of these musical adventures for both Mary Martin and Dick Powell who would soon be off on other straight dramatic roles.

The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek   1944  Directed by Preston Sturges Paramount                B/W	Betty and Eddie Bracken

A hilarious wartime comedy where a bump on the head creates all kinds of trouble for Trudy Kockenlocker (Betty Hutton). She can’t remember what she did or who she married and it is obvious she is very pregnant!  Preston Sturges plays fast and loose with the censors who frown on situations like this. James Agee remarked “the Hays Office must have been raped in their sleep.”

This is comedy at its best with Eddie Bracken (as the old beau who steps up to the plate) and Bill Demarest as the disgruntled father of the amnesiac bride are at their best, too. This was Betty’s big chance at doing a role without music and she showed everyone she could do it. The film was filmed in 1942 and sat on the shelf, not because of its content but because Paramount had too many other films waiting for release.

This story was later laundered a bit and remade as “Rock-a-Bye Baby” with Jerry Lewis.

Incendiary Blonde  1945  Directed by George Marshall Paramount           Color

Betty Hutton did Texas Guinan, the Roaring Twenties nightclub queen in this bio-film and set an attendance record at the Paramount Theater in New York.  She was a bit more restrained in Guinan’s skin but belts out some old favorites like “If It Had To Be You”, “Ragtime Cowboy Joe”,  “Oh, By Jingo” and “What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes At Me For?”
Barry Fitzgerald plays her father Mike Guinan and Arturo de Cordova plays Bill Ramon Kilgannon.

Note: Character actor Bud Jamison (in an uncredited role as the head bartender) died of diabetic shock shortly after this movie wrapped. Bud refused insulin for his condition because of his Christian Science beliefs. The actor, seen often in films with the Three Stooges, was only 50 years old.

The Stork Club   1945  Directed by Hal Walker Paramount              B/W

A hat check girl fishes an old man out of the water when he “accidentally" falls off the pier. Her reward?....a penthouse, a charge account with no limits, a limo and a chauffeur! Then her boyfriend finds out and dumps her because he thinks she is a kept woman. So she wants to give it all back. Only in the movies!

Barry Fitzgerald pairs with Betty again as the crusty old millionaire and Don De Fore is her reluctant beau. The New York Times  called Hutton “tom-boisterous”, Fitzgerald “roguish” and gave the rest of the cast a glad hand, too… except for Andy Russell “a squabbish young man (who) sings a song entitled “Love Me” dismally”. Sorry, New York Times,  Arabella happens to like Andy Russell!

Betty sings “Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief”, “I’m a Square in the Social Circle”,  “In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree” and duets with Andy in “If I Had a Dozen Hearts”.

Red, Hot and Blue   1949   Directed by John Farrow Paramount          B/W	on the set of "Red, Hot and Blue"

A slapstick comedy with gangsters, murder and even kidnapping thrown it, this was a movie strictly for Betty Hutton fans. Betty did her best with what the script gave her but even Frank Loesser’s songs weren’t up to his usual talent  However, the composer was given an acting role as gangster Hair-Do Lempke!...  As far as I know, Frank never tried acting again.

Victor Mature was Betty’s love interest and William Demarest plays her anything-for-a-buck press agent. June Havoc, Gypsy Rose Lee’s sister, and a fine comedienne, suffers through as Betty’s roommate . But there is a great almost Mack Sennett-like routine where Betty bowls over the villains with a fire hose. And Betty does a very funny version of “Hamlet”

Note: If you look quick, Julie Adams has her first role in this film as one of the starlets and William Talman also gets his first screen role as Bunny Harris. Bill went on to become the luckless DA in the Perry Mason series.

Annie Get Your Gun  1950   Directed by George Sidney  MGM                  Color	Betty and Howard Keel

Here Betty dons the persona of Annie Oakley, sharpshooter extraordinaire while Howard Keel does the “I Can Do Anything Better Than You” rival gun ace Frank Butler. Off screen, the two stars didn’t like each other much but it only made the onscreen chemistry work much better.

Judy Garland had this movie in progress until she took ill and the footage was scrapped. Betty took over from scratch and did it her way with a rootin’ tootin’ song filled battle with good old Frank. It won an Oscar for Adolph Deutsch (best Scoring of a Musical) and a Golden Globe Best Actress nomination for Betty. She also got Photoplay’s Most Popular Star of 1950 award and it was presented to her by Cecil B. De Mille on the set of her next picture” Somebody Loves Me”.

All the songs are great but look for “Doin’ What Comes Natur’lly”  and “You Can’t Get a Man With A Gun”… Betty is in top form.

The Greatest Show on Earth  1952  Directed by Cecil B. De Mille Paramount            Color	Stewart, Heston and Hutton

Actors actually begged for a part in this film. Jimmy Stewart did it for only a fifth of his usual price and all the actors did likewise. Betty Hutton sent De Mille an 18’ floral arrangement!

There was an all-star cast with Jimmy, Betty, Charlton Heston, Dorothy Lamour, Cornel Wilde, Gloria Grahame and more…but the actually performers from the Ringling bros. and Barnum and Bailey circus were stars, too. Much of the filming took place at their Sarasota, Florida headquarters. De Mille was a stickler for actors doing their own stunts. Betty did many of her own trapeze stunts with a net just out of camera range…Gloria Grahame had to let an elephant put its foot on her head and Cornel Wilde had to take a deep breath and conquer his fear of heights.

Critics to this day regard this film as “the worst Oscar winner in history” but nonetheless, audiences are still enjoying it.

Somebody Loves Me   1952    Directed by Irving Brecher Paramount           Color

This is the story of vaudeville performer Blossom Seeley that opens on the 1906 Barbary Coast after the San Francisco earthquake….and it is done Hollywood style. But it has all the aura of the era and Betty does a bang-up job with the music. Benny Fields, the entertainer who stole Blossom’s heart and then dumped her is played convincingly by Ralph Meeker.

Betty sings “Way Down Yonder in New Orleans”, “Somebody Loves Me”, “On San Francisco Bay”, “Jealous” and many more classics from Blossom’s repertoire.

Note: Betty Hutton made this movie just after undergoing surgery to remove a growth on her vocal cords.