A Song Is Born *** (1948, Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Benny Goodman, Hugh Herbert, Steve Cochran) – Classic Movie Review 11,434

Director Howard Hawks’s 1948 Technicolor musical film remake A Song Is Born stars Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo.

Director Hawks’s re-interpretation of his own 1941 classic Ball of Fire features a snappy performance from Kaye as the shy, mild-mannered musicologist Professor Hobart Frisbee brought to life by sexy nightclub singer Honey Swanson (Mayo).

She teaches Kaye and his book-worm colleagues the joy of jazz with a little help from the best in the business (Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Tommy Dorsey), but also leads the Mob to Kaye’s door.

The great music and sharp script are the highlights, and it is an entertaining movie, even if it suffers when compared to the classic original.

A Song Is Born is based on the story From A to Z by Billy Wilder and Thomas Monroe, adapted by Harry Tugend (uncredited), is produced by Samuel Goldwyn, is made by Samuel Goldwyn Productions, and is released by RKO Radio Pictures.

Other notable musicians playing themselves include Al Hendrickson, Benny Carter, Charlie Barnet, Harry Babasin, Mel Powell, Louis Bellson, The Golden Gate Quartet, Russo and the Samba Kings, The Page Cavanaugh Trio, and Buck and Bubbles.

The  cast include Benny Goodman as Professor Magenbruch, Hugh Herbert as Professor Twingle, Steve Cochran as Tony Crow, J Edward Bromberg, Felix Bressart as Professor Gerkikoff, Ludwig Stossel, O Z Whitehead, and Esther Dale.

It was number one film in the US when released on 6 November 1948, while Hawks’s other (and he said best) film, Red River, was second. However, A Song Is Born failed to make a profit, earning only $2.4 million (on a cost of $2.3 million), while Red River grossed $4.1 million.

Kaye’s wife, writer and composer Sylvia Fine refused to take part because he had left her for actress Eve Arden. He refused any other song writer, so he does not perform any songs in the film.

A sour and ungracious Hawks only agreed to direct because he was offered $250,000. He recalled: ‘Danny Kaye had separated from his wife, and he was a basket case, stopping work to see a psychiatrist every day. He was about as funny as a crutch. I never thought anything in that picture was funny. It was an altogether horrible experience and Virginia Mayo’s performance was pathetic. She’s not Barbara Stanwyck, I’ll tell you that.’

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,434

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