Eleanor Powell was born to dance. Lawrence Tierney was born to kill. And in this adolescent musical Virginia Weidler and Ray McDonald were born to vocalize. The duo were MGM's backup teen couple in 1942. And by backup, I mean they were given scripts that Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney were either too busy to do or had turned down.
Miss Weidler first made her mark as a child performer in Hollywood at Paramount. She appeared in hit films with Gary Cooper, Claudette Colbert, George Raft and W. C. Fields. After Paramount cut her loose, she freelanced at RKO and Columbia before snagging a contract at Metro in 1938. She was still playing child parts in important studio films-- as Norma Shearer's daughter in THE WOMEN and as Katharine Hepburn's kid sister in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY.
By 1942, Weidler had matured significantly. So at this point in her screen career, she was taking on older roles after hitting puberty. Though she had a memorable song in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, she was not exactly a singer on par with Miss Garland. MGM did use Weidler in another musical a year later, BEST FOOT FORWARD, but her contract was not renewed. She went east to do a role on the stage in a short-lived Broadway production. But that was basically it or her as an actress.
As for Ray McDonald, he had several notable Broadway successes in the 1940s. He performed with his sister Grace, as well as with his wife Peggy Ryan, a juvenile star who worked for Universal during this period. Mr. McDonald's last film would be a Columbia musical in the 1950s.
I don't think BORN TO SING is a terrible motion picture, but it's not a great one either. It seems to borrow its ideas from the teen flicks made at low-rent studio Monogram, where the kids are up against a legal system trying to sort out an injustice.
The musical numbers contain a lot of energy, and the whole cast seems to be trying awfully hard to make a turkey fly. I would say it's more a matter of the script needing a bit more polishing, and probably a lot more inspiration. The production is highly formulaic, not very different from those Babes musicals with Garland and Rooney, who let's face it, did it better when these threadbare concepts were still fresh.
The best, or rather most memorable, sequence is the last one. This is where we have Weidler, McDonald and the supporting cast go full throttle in a rousing morale booster number. I'm sure it helped pep up wartime audiences and renew a sense of patriotism, which wasn't in as short supply then as it is now.
Miss Weidler first made her mark as a child performer in Hollywood at Paramount. She appeared in hit films with Gary Cooper, Claudette Colbert, George Raft and W. C. Fields. After Paramount cut her loose, she freelanced at RKO and Columbia before snagging a contract at Metro in 1938. She was still playing child parts in important studio films-- as Norma Shearer's daughter in THE WOMEN and as Katharine Hepburn's kid sister in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY.
By 1942, Weidler had matured significantly. So at this point in her screen career, she was taking on older roles after hitting puberty. Though she had a memorable song in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, she was not exactly a singer on par with Miss Garland. MGM did use Weidler in another musical a year later, BEST FOOT FORWARD, but her contract was not renewed. She went east to do a role on the stage in a short-lived Broadway production. But that was basically it or her as an actress.
As for Ray McDonald, he had several notable Broadway successes in the 1940s. He performed with his sister Grace, as well as with his wife Peggy Ryan, a juvenile star who worked for Universal during this period. Mr. McDonald's last film would be a Columbia musical in the 1950s.
I don't think BORN TO SING is a terrible motion picture, but it's not a great one either. It seems to borrow its ideas from the teen flicks made at low-rent studio Monogram, where the kids are up against a legal system trying to sort out an injustice.
The musical numbers contain a lot of energy, and the whole cast seems to be trying awfully hard to make a turkey fly. I would say it's more a matter of the script needing a bit more polishing, and probably a lot more inspiration. The production is highly formulaic, not very different from those Babes musicals with Garland and Rooney, who let's face it, did it better when these threadbare concepts were still fresh.
The best, or rather most memorable, sequence is the last one. This is where we have Weidler, McDonald and the supporting cast go full throttle in a rousing morale booster number. I'm sure it helped pep up wartime audiences and renew a sense of patriotism, which wasn't in as short supply then as it is now.