My Blue Heaven **½ (1950, Betty Grable, Dan Dailey, David Wayne, Jane Wyatt, Mitzi Gaynor, Una Merkel) – Classic Movie Review 11,291

Director Henry Koster’s 1950 20th Century Fox Technicolor musical My Blue Heaven stars Betty Grable, Dan Dailey, David Wayne, Jane Wyatt and Mitzi Gaynor.

Grable and Dailey play a radio show entertainer couple, who are having problems starting a family, and they attempt to adopt a child and meet with many setbacks. After Kitty Moran (Grable) miscarries, she and her husband Jack (Dailey) move their show to TV, and become determined to adopt a baby.

Nice enough songs lead a pleasant musical which strays from sharp showbiz and lapses into slushy melodrama, but it is invigorated by Grable, who shows off her legs in some impressive dance sequences with Dailey. However, a great cast find their potential is not fulfilled because of the often dreary script that lacks any edge or bite.

The title song is by George Whiting and Walter Donaldson.

It is Gaynor’s feature film debut. She plays Gloria Adams. She had previously been in a 1949 short film It’s Your Health, billed as ‘Mitzi Gerber.’ She turns 90 on 4 September 2021. She was born in Chicago as Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber.

The screenplay by Lamar Trotti and Claude Binyon is based on the story Stork Don’t Bring Babies by S K Lauren.

A postcard shows the State Theatre, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, showing My Blue Heaven (1950).

Also in the cast are Jane Wyatt as Janet Pringle, Una Merkel as Miss Irma Gilbert, Louise Beavers as Selma, Minerva Urecal as ‘Old Mule Face’ Mrs Bates, Phyllis Coates as Party Girl, Mae Marsh as Maid, Larry Keating, Barbara Pepper as waitress Susan, Laura Pierpont as Mrs Johnston, Don Hicks, Beulah Parkington, Ann Burr, Melinda Plowman, Vicki Lee Blunt, Gary Pagett, Myron Healey, Lois Hall, Suzanne Ridgeway and Elinor Donahue as bratty autograph seeker Mary.

It is shot at 20th Century Fox Studios, 10201 Pico Blvd, Century City, Los Angeles.

Runtime: 96 minutes.

It is shot in Technicolor by Arthur E Arling, produced by Sol C Siegel and scored by Alfred Newman.

It is the stars’ third pairing after Mother Wore Tights in 1947 and When My Baby Smiles at Me in 1948. They later made a fourth, Call Me Mister (1951).

A reluctant Grable only agreed to film it if Lamar Trotti rewrote Claude Binyon’s script and Henry Koster replaced Binyon as director.

Jane Wyatt and Elinor Donahue later starred in the TV show Father Knows Best (1954–1960).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,291

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