Good News (films)
Encyclopedia
Good News is the title of two American
MGM musical film
s based on the 1927 stage production of the same name
.
The first, released in 1930
, was directed by Nick Grinde. The cast included Bessie Love
, Cliff Edwards
and Penny Singleton
. The film was shot in black-and-white, although the finale was in Technicolor
. (The surviving print lacks the finale; no footage is known to survive.)
By the 1940s, the original had become illegal to view or exhibit in the United States due to its Pre-Code
content, which included sexual innuendo and lewd suggestive humor. A sanitized 1947
version starred June Allyson
, Peter Lawford
, Mel Tormé
, and Joan McCracken
. The screenplay
by Betty Comden
and Adolph Green
was directed by Charles Walters
in Technicolor
.
The original score was embellished with tunes by Ralph Blane
, Hugh Martin
, and Roger Edens
, who were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Pass That Peace Pipe."
is over and the Roaring Twenties
have arrived, and with them women have won the right to vote and college
campus
es, such as fiction
al Tait College, are as much a social scene as an academic one. Football is the big game, and Tait's star player Tom Marlowe (Peter Lawford
) is a prime catch. All the girls are interested in Tom and vice-versa, although one society climber seems to have him in hand. Studious part-time school librarian
Connie Lane (June Allyson
) doesn't seem to have a chance and stays out of the fray. When Marlowe fails a final, he needs a tutor to help him pass so he can play in the big game on Saturday. Connie is selected to keep his nose to the grindstone, and the two fall for each other. The couple's romance can only endure if the team loses the big game.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
MGM musical film
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
s based on the 1927 stage production of the same name
Good News (musical)
Good News is a musical with a book by Laurence Schwab and B.G. DeSylva, lyrics by DeSylva and Lew Brown, and music by Ray Henderson.The show opened on Broadway in 1927, the same year as Show Boat, but its plot was decidedly old-fashioned in comparison to Show Boats somewhat tragic and daring...
.
The first, released in 1930
1930 in film
-Events:* November 1: The Big Trail featuring a young John Wayne in his first starring role is released in both 35mm, and a very early form of 70mm film and was the first large scale big-budget film of the sound era costing over $2 million. The film was praised for its aesthetic quality and realism...
, was directed by Nick Grinde. The cast included Bessie Love
Bessie Love
Bessie Love was an American motion picture actress who achieved prominence mainly in the silent films and early talkies. With a small frame and delicate features, she played innocent young girls, flappers, and wholesome leading ladies. Her role in The Broadway Melody earned her a nomination for...
, Cliff Edwards
Cliff Edwards
Cliff Edwards , also known as "Ukelele Ike", was an American singer and voice actor who enjoyed considerable popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s, specializing in jazzy renditions of pop standards and novelty tunes. He had a number-one hit with "Singin' in the Rain" in 1929...
and Penny Singleton
Penny Singleton
Penny Singleton was an American film actress. Born Marianna Dorothy Agnes Letitia McNulty in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania she was the daughter of an Irish-American newspaperman Benny McNulty — from whom she received the nickname "Penny" because she was "as bright as a penny".During her sixty...
. The film was shot in black-and-white, although the finale was in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
. (The surviving print lacks the finale; no footage is known to survive.)
By the 1940s, the original had become illegal to view or exhibit in the United States due to its Pre-Code
Pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood refers to the era in the American film industry between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines. Although the Code was adopted in 1930, oversight was poor and it did not become rigorously...
content, which included sexual innuendo and lewd suggestive humor. A sanitized 1947
1947 in film
The year 1947 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 22 - Great Expectations is premiered in New York.*November 24 : The United States House of Representatives of the 80th Congress voted 346 to 17 to approve citations for contempt of Congress against the "Hollywood Ten".*November 25...
version starred June Allyson
June Allyson
June Allyson was an American film and television actress, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was a major MGM contract star. Allyson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in Too Young to Kiss . From 1959–1961, she hosted and occasionally starred in her own CBS anthology...
, Peter Lawford
Peter Lawford
Peter Sydney Ernest Aylen , better known as Peter Lawford, was an English-American actor.He was a member of the "Rat Pack", and brother-in-law to US President John F. Kennedy, perhaps more noted in later years for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting...
, Mel Tormé
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
, and Joan McCracken
Joan McCracken
Joan McCracken was an American dancer, actress, and comedian who became famous for her role as Silvie in the original 1943 production of Oklahoma!. By age 11, she was studying dance with Catherine Littlefield. She dropped out of high school to join Littlefield's ballet company...
. The screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by Betty Comden
Betty Comden
Betty Comden was one-half of the musical-comedy duo Comden and Green, who provided lyrics, libretti, and screenplays to some of the most beloved and successful Hollywood musicals and Broadway shows of the mid-20th century...
and Adolph Green
Adolph Green
Adolph Green was an American lyricist and playwright who, with long-time collaborator Betty Comden, penned the screenplays and songs for some of the most beloved movie musicals, particularly as part of Arthur Freed's production unit at MGM, during the genre's heyday...
was directed by Charles Walters
Charles Walters
Charles Walters was a Hollywood director and choreographer most noted for his work in MGM musicals and comedies in from the 1940s to the 1960s....
in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
.
The original score was embellished with tunes by Ralph Blane
Ralph Blane
Ralph Blane was an American composer, lyricist, and performer.-Life and career:Born Ralph Uriah Hunsecker in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Blane was the son of grocery store owners. He attended Tulsa Central High School...
, Hugh Martin
Hugh Martin
Hugh Martin was an American musical theater and film composer, arranger, vocal coach, and playwright. He is best known for his score for the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me In St...
, and Roger Edens
Roger Edens
Roger Edens was a Hollywood composer, arranger and associate producer, and is considered one of the major creative figures in Arthur Freed's musical film production unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the "golden era of Hollywood".-Early career and work with Judy Garland:Edens was born in...
, who were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Pass That Peace Pipe."
Cast (1930 version)
- Mary Lawlor as Connie Lane
- Stanley Smith as Tom Marlowe
- Bessie LoveBessie LoveBessie Love was an American motion picture actress who achieved prominence mainly in the silent films and early talkies. With a small frame and delicate features, she played innocent young girls, flappers, and wholesome leading ladies. Her role in The Broadway Melody earned her a nomination for...
as Dixie O'Day - Cliff EdwardsCliff EdwardsCliff Edwards , also known as "Ukelele Ike", was an American singer and voice actor who enjoyed considerable popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s, specializing in jazzy renditions of pop standards and novelty tunes. He had a number-one hit with "Singin' in the Rain" in 1929...
as 'Pooch' Kearney - Gus Shy as Bobbie Randall
- Lola Lane as Patricia Bingham
- Thomas E. Jackson as Coach Bill Johnson
- Delmer DavesDelmer DavesDelmer Daves was an American screenwriter, director, and producer.-Life and career:Born in San Francisco, Delmer Daves first pursued a career as a lawyer...
as Beef Saunders - Billy Taft as Sylvester
- Frank McGlynn as Professor Kenyon
- Penny SingletonPenny SingletonPenny Singleton was an American film actress. Born Marianna Dorothy Agnes Letitia McNulty in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania she was the daughter of an Irish-American newspaperman Benny McNulty — from whom she received the nickname "Penny" because she was "as bright as a penny".During her sixty...
as Flo - Helyn Virgil as Girl
- Vera Marshe as Blonde Girl
Synopsis (1947 version)
World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
is over and the Roaring Twenties
Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties is a phrase used to describe the 1920s, principally in North America, but also in London, Berlin and Paris for a period of sustained economic prosperity. The phrase was meant to emphasize the period's social, artistic, and cultural dynamism...
have arrived, and with them women have won the right to vote and college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
campus
Campus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...
es, such as fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
al Tait College, are as much a social scene as an academic one. Football is the big game, and Tait's star player Tom Marlowe (Peter Lawford
Peter Lawford
Peter Sydney Ernest Aylen , better known as Peter Lawford, was an English-American actor.He was a member of the "Rat Pack", and brother-in-law to US President John F. Kennedy, perhaps more noted in later years for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting...
) is a prime catch. All the girls are interested in Tom and vice-versa, although one society climber seems to have him in hand. Studious part-time school librarian
Librarian
A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...
Connie Lane (June Allyson
June Allyson
June Allyson was an American film and television actress, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was a major MGM contract star. Allyson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in Too Young to Kiss . From 1959–1961, she hosted and occasionally starred in her own CBS anthology...
) doesn't seem to have a chance and stays out of the fray. When Marlowe fails a final, he needs a tutor to help him pass so he can play in the big game on Saturday. Connie is selected to keep his nose to the grindstone, and the two fall for each other. The couple's romance can only endure if the team loses the big game.
Cast (1947 version)
- June AllysonJune AllysonJune Allyson was an American film and television actress, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was a major MGM contract star. Allyson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in Too Young to Kiss . From 1959–1961, she hosted and occasionally starred in her own CBS anthology...
as Connie Lane - Peter LawfordPeter LawfordPeter Sydney Ernest Aylen , better known as Peter Lawford, was an English-American actor.He was a member of the "Rat Pack", and brother-in-law to US President John F. Kennedy, perhaps more noted in later years for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting...
as Tommy Marlowe - Patricia Marshall as Pat McClellan
- Joan McCrackenJoan McCrackenJoan McCracken was an American dancer, actress, and comedian who became famous for her role as Silvie in the original 1943 production of Oklahoma!. By age 11, she was studying dance with Catherine Littlefield. She dropped out of high school to join Littlefield's ballet company...
as Babe Doolittle - Ray McDonald as Bobby Turner
- Mel TorméMel TorméMelvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
as Danny (as Mel Tormé) - Robert E. Strickland as Peter Van Dyne III (as Robert Strickland)
- Donald MacBrideDonald MacBrideDonald MacBride was an American character actor on stage, in films and on TV who launched his career as a teenage singer in vaudeville and went on to be an actor on Broadway. He appeared in nearly 140 films between 1914 and 1955...
as Coach Johnson - Tom DuganTom DuganTom Dugan was an Irish film actor. He appeared in over 260 films between 1927 and 1955. He was born in Dublin, Ireland and died in Redlands, California....
as Pooch - Clinton SundbergClinton SundbergClinton Sundberg was a stage and film character actor.Sundberg was born in Appleton, Minnesota on December 7, with sources differing on his year of birth...
as Professor Burton Kennyon - Loren Tindall as Beef
- Connie GilchristConnie GilchristConnie Gilchrist was a stage, film and television character actress.Born Rose Constance Gilchrist in Brooklyn, New York...
as Cora the cook - Morris AnkrumMorris AnkrumMorris Ankrum was an American radio, television and film character actor.-Early life:Born Morris Nussbaum in Danville, Illinois, Ankrum originally began a career in academics. After graduating from USC with a law degree, he went on to an associate professorship in economics at the University of...
as Dean Griswold - Georgia LeeGeorgia LeeGeorgia Lee is an independent film director. Her work includes the 2006 film Red Doors.- Personal life :Lee was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to immigrants from Taiwan. She was raised primarily in Waterford, CT in the house that is featured in her film Red Doors. She received an A.B. in...
as Flo - Jane Green as Mrs. Drexel
Soundtrack
- Good News
- Music by Ray HendersonRay HendersonRay Henderson , was an American songwriter.Born Raymond Brost in Buffalo, New York, Henderson moved to New York City and became a popular composer in Tin Pan Alley...
- Lyrics by Lew BrownLew BrownLew Brown was a lyricist for popular songs in the United States.Brown was born as Louis Brownstein in Odessa, Russian Empire...
and Buddy G. DeSylva - Sung by Joan McCrackenJoan McCrackenJoan McCracken was an American dancer, actress, and comedian who became famous for her role as Silvie in the original 1943 production of Oklahoma!. By age 11, she was studying dance with Catherine Littlefield. She dropped out of high school to join Littlefield's ballet company...
and chorus
- Music by Ray Henderson
- Tait Song
- Music by Ray Henderson
- Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva
- Performed by Joan McCracken and chorus
- Be a Ladies' Man
- Music by Ray Henderson
- Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva
- Performed by Peter LawfordPeter LawfordPeter Sydney Ernest Aylen , better known as Peter Lawford, was an English-American actor.He was a member of the "Rat Pack", and brother-in-law to US President John F. Kennedy, perhaps more noted in later years for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting...
, Ray McDonald, Mel TorméMel TorméMelvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
, Tom DuganTom DuganTom Dugan was an Irish film actor. He appeared in over 260 films between 1927 and 1955. He was born in Dublin, Ireland and died in Redlands, California....
and Lon Tindal
- Lucky in Love
- Music by Ray Henderson
- Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva
- Performed by Patricia Marshall, Joan McCracken, Mel Tormé, June Allyson and Peter Lawford
- The French Lesson
- Written by Roger EdensRoger EdensRoger Edens was a Hollywood composer, arranger and associate producer, and is considered one of the major creative figures in Arthur Freed's musical film production unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the "golden era of Hollywood".-Early career and work with Judy Garland:Edens was born in...
, Betty ComdenBetty ComdenBetty Comden was one-half of the musical-comedy duo Comden and Green, who provided lyrics, libretti, and screenplays to some of the most beloved and successful Hollywood musicals and Broadway shows of the mid-20th century...
and Adolph GreenAdolph GreenAdolph Green was an American lyricist and playwright who, with long-time collaborator Betty Comden, penned the screenplays and songs for some of the most beloved movie musicals, particularly as part of Arthur Freed's production unit at MGM, during the genre's heyday... - Performed by June Allyson and Peter Lawford
- Written by Roger Edens
- The Best Things in Life Are Free
- Music by Ray Henderson
- Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva
- Performed by June Allyson
- Performed also by Mel Tormé
- Pass That Peace Pipe
- Written by Roger Edens, Hugh MartinHugh MartinHugh Martin was an American musical theater and film composer, arranger, vocal coach, and playwright. He is best known for his score for the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me In St...
and Ralph BlaneRalph BlaneRalph Blane was an American composer, lyricist, and performer.-Life and career:Born Ralph Uriah Hunsecker in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Blane was the son of grocery store owners. He attended Tulsa Central High School... - Performed by Joan McCracken, Ray McDonald and chorus
- Written by Roger Edens, Hugh Martin
- Just Imagine
- Music by Ray Henderson
- Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva
- Sung by June Allyson
- Varsity Drag
- Music by Ray Henderson
- Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva
- Performed by June Allyson, Peter Lawford and chorus