Song of the Open Road ** (1944, Jane Powell, Bonita Granville, Peggy O’Neill, Jackie Moran, Bill Christy, W C Fields, Edgar Bergen, Sammy Kaye) – Classic Movie Review 11,586

Director S Sylvan Simon’s 1944 musical comedy film Song of the Open Road is remembered as the debut film of teenage singer Jane Powell, as well as for its appearances by W C Fields and Edgar Bergen.

In 1943, the 14-year-old Suzanne Lorraine Burce was on holiday in California and entered and won a Hollywood talent show, and then signed a contract with MGM in Hollywood the next day. Typically, she was immediately loaned to United Artists for her first film, Song of the Open Road (1944), where she plays the character of Jane Powell and took that as her professional name, apparently assigned her stage name by MGM.

Jane Powell (in her debut at 14) plays unhappy teen screen singing sensation Jane Powell, who runs off to join her friends on a Crops Corps camp farm (where they are having trouble with their tomatoes) and, guess what?, they put on a spectacular performance that attracts stars like W C Fields, Edgar Bergen and his puppet Charlie McCarthy, Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra, The Lipham Four and the dance specialty act the Condos Brothers.

Young Powell and Bonita Granville put plenty of vim and vigour into this daftly pleasing tale that garnered Oscar nominations for musical direction and the Walter Kent-Kim Gannon tune ‘Too Much in Love’. Fields plays himself and juggles some oranges. He says: ‘This used to be my racket’, and then, missing a catch, he drops the oranges and walks away muttering: ‘Used to be my racket, but it isn’t anymore!’ It is his penultimate film. Sensations of 1945 was released nine days after this.

The young actors’ characters all have their own names. Also in the cast are Bonita Granville as Bonnie, Peggy O’Neill as Peggy, Jackie Moran as Jack Moran, Bill Christy as Bill, Reginald Denny as Director Curtis, Regis Toomey as Connors, Rose Hobart as Mrs. Powell, Sig Arno as Spolo, and  Irene Tedrow as Miss Casper.

RIP the MGM soprano girl-next-door star Jane Powell.

Jane Powell (born Suzanne Lorraine Burce; April 1, 1929 – September 16, 2021) was notable for her performances in A Date with Judy (1948), Royal Wedding (1951), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), and Hit the Deck (1955).

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,586

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