Exclusive“Strike Up the Band” (1940): First Youth Extravaganza

A friend was meant to be It's boy for girl, and it's he for she They fuss, they quarrel, and tears start to brew But after the tears, their love still shines through Although she tries, she cannot hide The thrill she gets when he's by her side And where they'll proudly declare Wasn't Oz a lovely, lovely Tiffany! Tiffany! There you are! I've been waiting for you! I know, I know! But something wonderful has happened! What? I just got an offer to tour North America with a production of Giselle! Really? Well that's wonderful! When are you leaving? Today! I have to go pack right now! But you can't leave! We're going to do a show right now! Oh. A show. Well, you can talk about movies by yourself, right? I don't know. It wouldn't be the same. And besides that, what about our concert in two weeks? But this is my big chance! You can't ask me to give it up! How can it be a good opportunity if you have to start by walking out on your friends? Well, imagine this. It's two weeks from now. The curtain is rising. The orchestra's tuning up. The conductor lifts his baton. I'm there with the other dancers, but you're not there. What would we do? You're right. I see that now. I'll be there. All right, leader. Strike up the band! I'm Rebecca Brannan. I'm Tiffany Brannan. Welcome to Real Thoughts on Cinema. The great thing about movie musicals from the golden era, especially a certain kind of niche genre that was called the let's-put-on-a-show musical involving young people, is they all have a really strong moral to them. That's a good point. And it's funny that it is considered a genre, the hey kids, let's put on a show or the backyard show musical. But there were only four movies in that genre, and they all starred Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. Great couple. They all have sort of a similar theme running through them and a similar message about being true to your friends and... Honoring your commitments. Honoring commitments, definitely, but none so strongly as Strike Up the Band from 1940, their second movie in this genre. This movie is about a high school senior, Jimmy Connors, who loves music more than anything. He's a drummer, but he gets tired just playing the same old marches, so he tries to convince the principal to let him and his friends form a modern dance band so they can perform at all the school dances. And he's a very persuasive young man, so he sells his idea to the principal, and always by his side is his best friend, Mary, who wants to be more than his best friend. And it seems that Jimmy's unstoppable. They put together a great band and they sell out a wonderful dance, and then it seems like the next stop is to participate in this band contest that Paul Whiteman, the famous band leader, is hosting. But in order to audition for him, they have to get to Chicago. So they come up with a variety of means to raise the money, one of them being putting on a show. But Jimmy encounters some problems along the way. For instance, a little blonde rich girl who comes to town and makes Mary a bit jealous. And also, when he has some other opportunities come up, he has to choose between sticking with his friends and pursuing what he considers his big chance. Of course, as we mentioned, this stars Mickey Rooney as Jimmy Connors, and Judy Garland as his pal Mary. It also stars, of course, Paul Whiteman, the band leader, as himself, and June Prizer as the other woman, if you will, Barbara Francis. And it was directed by Busby Berkley. It's a very famous name known for his... His elaborate musical numbers? Yeah, elaborate musical numbers, but he actually directed the whole movie, and produced by Arthur Fried, one of the great musical producers at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer MGM, where this was produced. And, of course, it's a musical, so we have to talk about what the music was. That's right. It's interesting. The title and the title song, which you don't hear until the very end of the movie, is by Gershwin. And there was a, I believe, 1929 stage musical of the same name. But the title and that song are where the similarities end. There's no other music by Gershwin in it, and the story is not even close. The other songs were written by Roger Eatons. And at least one of them, Arthur Fried wrote the words. Sometimes Roger Eatons did both. There really aren't that many songs in this, but there are really cute ones. Yes, one of, probably the most memorable song would be Our Love Affair. Yeah, that's heard a couple of times. That they sing together, and then, of course, there's the title song, Strike Up the Band. They do a big Latin number, the La Conga. A really peppy tune called The Drummer Boy. Right, when he shows off his amazing drumming skills. That's a very memorable number. And Judy has a solo Nobody, where she's kind of lamenting that he's not interested in her in the library. A lot of times, in movies of all eras, you see significantly older actors playing young characters. Right. And Mickey definitely did do this. But he and Judy were actually very young at the time that this movie was made. He turned 20 in 1940, and Judy Garland turned 18 that year. So they were both very close to the ages they were supposed to be. They actually were very young. And you see a lot of the usual young talent at MGM in this movie. Yeah, there was a definite. A lot of boys in the background were playing in the band. And June Prizer is quite an impressive acrobat. The first movie of the Let's Put on a Show genre, Babes in Arms, she's also in that, a very similar character. And she starts out as just seeming like, oh, she's just going to be the little pretty rich girl. But then she shows off she has this very unusual style as a gymnast. She does some more standard things, like front and back walkovers. But this signature move of hers is just... It's like she's collapsing on the floor. And she and her sister actually toured all over the world with their acrobatic routine. When choosing a first classic film to show to young people, a film about young people is a very good place to start. And as we were just talking about, most of the actors featured in this are very young. And we definitely wanted to do one of the Mickey and Judy collaborations. And I think we chose this one because it really seems the most relatable. Yeah, because in a lot of them, they're not really going to school or anything. But this one, they're high school students when it starts. And they have more normal life experiences. I think being in the school band, going to school dances, is a more relatable experience than some of the other things they do. Yeah, like Mickey big on Broadway. Nothing that isn't relatable necessarily. But yeah, the school aspect, I think, is very... But then they take it to the next level. And then it becomes very inspiring as Jimmy and his friends are unafraid to start their own thing. Definitely. And to go to different groups. It's very inspirational. Get support. And they're really doing something. And I really love this character for Mickey Rooney, Jimmy Connors. Even though it is one of the younger characters, because he is in high school, he's very mature emotionally. He also has to learn a lot of good life lessons throughout the film. But he seems a bit immature romantically. Or almost more like he's just already a confirmed bachelor just because he's so focused on his goals. It's true. I think it's partly from his father died when he was quite young. So he's had to be sort of the man of the house with his mother. I think that probably adds to the maturity of the character. But yeah, he really just gets all these other young people together and is really a self-starter and inspires all his classmates, his fellow musicians. And Ann Shoemaker is a really beautiful depiction of a mother. As his mother, they have a really sweet relationship. The first, I would say kind of the first challenge that Jimmy faces is his mother and his father, when he was alive, always had the dream that he would be a doctor because his father was a doctor. And he's really come to realize he wants to be a musician. Being a drummer is what he loves most. And he struggles with telling his mother because he knows it's going to hurt her very deeply. And it's a really amazing, touching scene when he tells her he wants to make music. That's sort of a way of healing, too, because people come and listen to music and they forget their cares and troubles for a while. She just really doesn't understand at first. So he offers right then and there to give up his dreams, says he'll be a doctor and he'll be a good one. And that really is what makes her realize that her son is a man now. And so even though he was willing to give up his dreams, his mother really realizes how important it is to him. But she warns him to climb the ladder the right way. And that is very important for him to remember when he faces his second challenge, which is Paul Whiteman offers for him to be a drummer in this new band in New York. It's every musician's dream. But if he leaves then, then he'll leave all his friends in the lurch because they were all planning on participating in Paul Whiteman's contest. So his mother has to kind of remind him again, this is the first rung of the ladder. You'd be climbing it by walking out on your friends. There's kind of a parallel between what Jimmy says to his mother and then what Paul Whiteman says to him about music. And Paul Whiteman was a very successful band leader of his day, one of the more old-fashioned names of his era. And it's a really up-close-and-personal look at his band because he and his band play at Barbara Francis's birthday party. And it's quite a lucky break for them because then it'll be a chance to meet him in person. And you just see what kind of a genuine nice person Paul Whiteman really was. And it's really touching what he talks about what music can do for people, both listening and playing, and how rhythm is something that's in you from the moment you're born with your heartbeat to when you die, when you finally come to the last eight bars of your life. You know, rhythm is really a wonderful thing. Sometimes I think rhythm almost runs the world. In a little baby, the first thing that starts is his rhythm. His little heart starts to beat. And every different city has a different kind of rhythm. And in your own car, if the engine's missing and jerking or you feel the bump of a flat tire, it's the rhythm that tells you something's wrong. And if you call a doctor, the first thing he does is check your rhythm. He feels your pulse to find if your rhythm is solid and your beat's strong. So, Jimmy, when we get to the last eight bars of the big tune and the old ticker kind of slows down, no matter what's wrong with us, the last thing to stop is our rhythm. It's a really nice moment, and it's very inspiring. But then how he truly understands and agrees with Jimmy's mother that it's not the right thing, and he gets other kind of good opportunities because Paul Wipeman respects him for making the right choice, having some honor. Yes, very early on in the film, he's talking about his dream of being like the conductor, the orchestra leader of a huge orchestra in this really charming stopgap animation. It's kind of an early example of that scene where he puts all the fruit out on the table and they all turn into little musicians. But that dream is realized by the end of the film because he makes the decision not to take that opportunity, that's an amazing opportunity, but it would probably take him years to work up to being a band leader again. Yeah, and you see he has both interests, like some more creative performers do, both just being a performer himself as a drummer and being an instigator who he likes to produce, and not just putting a band together. They put on quite an involved show to raise money. That's right. It's like a gay 90s throwback, and it's really funny in a playful way, sort of poking fun at the dramas with the asides and the evil villain, and the silent film-esque makeup. But it's really funny and just very inventive. It's kind of an unusual feature. And it gives both Mickey and Judy a chance to be more dramatic in an otherwise light-hearted, primarily light-hearted film. But in terms of other musical numbers, what's your favorite musical number from the whole movie? I think I want to say the Drummer Boy number because, of course, it's a really catchy song and Judy sings it really beautifully, but you can tell Mickey Rudin is actually playing the drums, and then he's playing the vibes, the vibraphone. And he had so many talents, and not all of them were that often displayed. I think a lot of people who've heard of him probably know him more as just an actor, but he was so musically talented. He sang and danced and played a lot of instruments, and you get to see more of his talents in this than you often do. So that's one of the things I really love about this movie. You really get to see his versatility. And I think in Do the La Conga, which is the big dance number, you see Busby Berkeley's cinematic style more than anything else. It's a very long number, and it's a very long sequence where it's just the drums, and Mickey and Judy are dancing together. And that number took a really long time for them to film. Yeah, it took 13 days of solid rehearsal to film it in one take. Wow. So that's really impressive. So they did do it in one take. That's amazing. There are so many young dancers there, and they all have to look high school age, and it's very impressive synchronization. The conga was kind of just catching on in America at that point, so it was very popular for a while there because it's a dance anybody can do. That's just one of many really fun moments and a lot of showcasing actors of many different ages. But there's always a broad range of emotions in pretty much all classic films. That's what makes them so unique is they're so multilayered, but it never feels like it's just junk. I mean, that's an exaggeration. We all go wrong at some point. But for the most part, it's always blended so beautifully. Drama and comedy and sentiment. Mickey Rooney was very dramatic as an actor, so even in his lightest Andy Hardy movies, he often gets to a point where he's crying. Yeah, the Andy Hardy movies are very dramatic. But this, I think, really showcases that nicely by having the musical element. But he goes through multiple difficult choices and sort of crossroads, and we talked about two of them. The third challenge he faces is when this young boy, Willie, one of their group in the play, injures his arm, and he doesn't want to tell anyone at first, and by the time he does finally let the doctor look at it and finds out it's broken, it's become really badly infected, and he needs surgery. And they've finally gotten together the $200 to go to Chicago, and he gives that money for them to fly Willie to a hospital. Yeah. And it's really just such a beautiful sacrifice, and it is repaid, and Barbara Francis's father gives them the money to go to Chicago after all. But it's really a beautiful parallel because of his mother wanting him to be a doctor, even though he didn't heal him himself. The money, he gave him himself, and all his friends did, giving him this money so that this boy could be healed. And young Larry Nunn, who plays that role, is such a sad-looking boy. He's really emotional and dramatic. He's excellent, yes. And there's sort of a love triangle there. So I guess you could say it's a love square because you've got, you know that Mary and Jimmy are meant to be together, and they really care about each other, but then his head is turned for at least a little bit by Barbara Francis. And then on the other hand, you have Willie, who is a few years younger. He's only 13 going on 14, but he asks Mary to marry him. He's very serious. Yes, and he's a very sincere young man, so you see how much he cares about Mary. And he just can't understand how Jimmy just kind of... Takes her for granted. Takes her for granted, yes. You can tell he really loves her. He's very fond of her. You know, they walk along holding hands, but he's just like, you're going to make some guy a fine wife. They do kind of make it official about him that she's his girl. Although she's very professional about it. When he finally gets down to it, she's like, we're business partners now, so we have to focus on that. I would say in some ways this is the least romantic of their films. They don't even kiss in this movie. It's true. It's just kind of an understanding between them, but it's more... They're even more focused on their goals. Yeah, and she really cares about his dreams and goals too, so she tries to help him achieve them, even when he's not treating her right. Even when she's mad at him, she still cares about him. Yeah, he's gone off to the fair with Barbara Francis, and she goes and talks to the head man at the Elks Club to get them this opportunity. Of course, that's not just for him. It's for all of them. She's always kind of the right-hand woman. Yeah, and it's 1940, so the overall look is sort of a blend of the late 30s and the early 40s post-World War II. Yeah, it's interesting. And you see some different fashion styles in it. My outfit is based on one of the costumes which Judy Garland wears, most notably in a scene where she's talking on the front porch with Jimmy. It's a polka dot dress with black-and-white spectator shoes, a white bow belt, a little white bow at the neck, and in another scene, she wears a cute white hat similar to this. My outfit is inspired by the fashion of Barbara Francis. In her first scene, when she first arrives at high school, she's wearing an ensemble very much like this, a simple white blouse with cap sleeves and a light-colored skirt, the white belt, and rather unusual jewelry, including a watch and a charm bracelet and sort of a constellation of brooches on her blouse. And in another scene, she wears a hat rather like this with an upturned brim. Comparing this movie to a more modern movie like High School Musical, the difference is astounding, and these young people are such great role models of how to be mature and navigate life's storms, and they truly become very mature members of society, and they learn and teach us so much about how to treat others. Yes. And they face a lot of difficult circumstances, and then they don't always make the right choices, but then, you know, a couple of times, Jimmy's like, why do I do the dumb things that I do? You know, he makes mistakes, but he acknowledges it, and then he tries to learn from his parents and mentors and his friends. I really always appreciate in the scene when he goes to tell Paul Whiteman that he can't accept the opportunity he's offered him, he doesn't pretend that he figured it out all by himself. He says, I talked it over with my mother, and I think that shows a lot of maturity, that he's willing to admit that he went and talked to his mother and asked her for her advice, because I think there's become far too much of a feeling of you have to be, like, ashamed of your parents or of needing help, needing advice, and that's never the right way to be. We all can use advice from parents or any other kind of mentor, or even from other friends. Like, Mary gives him a lot of good advice if you'll listen to her. Yes. But it really does illustrate just in spades how important it is to honor commitments that you've made. Even if you feel like you're going to miss out on something very important, and your word is more important than any opportunity, because if people can't trust you, you're not really going to be worth very much as a person. People won't be able to have any kind of regard for you, and you can't really have meaningful relationships if you have set yourself up as being sort of untrustworthy. And it's interesting that all these movies they made as performers themselves are about the performing arts, because I think it happens, especially in the performing arts, you get these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, and it's very common to take that first step by doing something unethical. And maybe that's why show people have a bad reputation of being people of rather low moral character, because a lot of them did make the wrong choice, and it sort of sets you off to make a lot of bad decisions. Now, we don't always see the recompense for doing the right thing as quickly, or as obviously in real life, as in movies. But it is just to show it doesn't always happen this fast for everyone. And it doesn't always in movies. That's right. But it does come back to you. Both the good and the bad. Comes back to you if you do the wrong thing, too, usually in a very different setting or under very different circumstances. But it's just, especially as a young person, if you're just getting started in whatever business it is, even if it's not the performing arts, you don't want to start yourself off by doing the wrong thing, by leaving people in the dust. Because it's just never a good way to start out on any journey. You always want to start out... On the right foot. On the right foot, and knowing that you are an honorable person. And I'm glad that we can see these movies really readily now, so we can look back and be inspired by the wisdom and the fashion and the high moral values, as well as the high entertainment values that these great movies had. Absolutely. This film, for instance, is available for rent or purchase on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, several other streaming services. It's also available on DVD as a single, or in a four-pack Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland collection released by Warner Classics. That's what we have. And you can see all four of their movies that they made in this let's-put-on-a-show genre. So it never has been easier to see great movies like this. We talked a lot about how this movie, and many others like it, really show wonderful relationships of friends and family. But another wonderful relationship, which is highlighted a lot in classic films, is really great teachers and the influence they have on their students and their colleagues. So join us next time as we talk about a film which features one of the greatest, but lesser-known teachers from classic literature. Thank you for watching. Goodbye.