Dorothy Mullican (1906-81) was one of the four Lane sisters, and the one who chose the most exotic stage name (the others were Rosemary, Priscilla and, running Lola a close second, Leota).
Three of the sisters (Leota was allegedly rejected by director Michael Curtiz), had their breakthrough in Four Daughters (1938) and its sequels, but only Priscilla went on to a successful career.
Lola Lane had previously played a series of supporting roles, one of which was Pat in Good News.
Augustus Scheu (1893-1945) was a song-and-dance man in vaudeville and on Broadway, noted as an ‘eccentric’ dancer like Ray Bolger and Buddy Ebsen.
Shy made his Broadway debut in 1915 and worked regularly throughout the 1920s. His biggest show was Good News (1927), in which he played Bobbie. He and the leading lady, Mary Lawlor, recreated their roles in the 1930 film version.
Unlike Lawlor, Shy stuck around in Hollywood, and featured in two further Metro musicals: A Lady’s Morals and New Moon. He had been in the original production of The New Moon (1927), but playing a different role.
Gus Shy also worked as a dialogue director on a number of films before retiring from acting to become a Hollywood agent.
Joseph Stanley Smith (1903-74) started acting in stock theatre as a juvenile and worked steadily before making his first screen appearance in 1929. He was part of the influx of stage actors following the introduction of sound.
Smith worked mostly for Paramount, including playing the lead opposite Clara Bow in Love Among the Millionaires (1930). Immediately afterwards, he went to MGM to perform the same function for Mary Lawlor in Good News.
It was reported in 1932 that Smith was supplementing acting as the conductor of his own orchestra
By the end of his film career in 1943, Smith was taking small parts, often uncredited.
Mary Lawlor (1907-77) was a musical comedy star who made her Broadway debut in 1922.
Lawlor created the role of Connie in Good News (1927), and travelled to Hollywood to play the character in MGM’s first film version.
After making one further film, a non-musical drama, Lawlor married Lyn ‘Broadway’ Lary, a major league baseball star, and retired from acting.
The Synopsis
At Tait College, Babe tells her friends that old-fashioned Professor Kenyon has flunked Tom Marlowe in astronomy, which means he will not be able to play football for the college. Tom has another exam tomorrow, but he “doesn’t know a star from a chorus girl”.
Babe is being pursued by footballer Beef Saunders, who warns her to keep away from other boys, and especially Bobbie Randall, who is the substitute on the football team. Later, Babe tells Bobbie that he is now her boyfriend, but Bobbie is afraid of Beef.
Beef tells Bobble to stay away from his girl, because everyone knows he cannot play football when he is upset. [Football].
Coach Bill Johnson decides they must find the best astronomy student on campus to prepare Tom for the exam. Tom suggests his girlfriend, Patricia Bingham. Coach’s assistant, Pooch Kearney, does not think that will work [I Feel Pessimistic].
In the girls’ house, Pat’s cousin, Connie Lane, is a drudge who does all the work. Pat is reluctant to spend the day teaching, and suggests Connie would be much better at it. Connie agrees to help, but Tom does not see how he can learn anything from “a four-eyed old maid”. But Connie’s friends give her a makeover, and Tom does not recognize her until she introduces herself. He immediately begins flirting with her. They agree to postpone the lesson until 8 o’clock by the boathouse.
That evening [If You’re Not Kissing Me], Tom tells Connie she has already taught him more than Professor Kenyon managed in three years [If You’re Not Kissing Me].
The next morning, Tom tells his roommate Bobbie that he is in love with Connie. Bobbie is cynical, because Tom falls in love all the time. Tom also tells Bobbie that Beef may not be able to play in the game tomorrow, because Babe has got him so upset, so he has asked Beef to come over and teach Bobbie the signals. Tom leaves, and Babe enters through the window. When Beef arrives, Babe hides under a bed.
On the way to the exam, Tom meets Pat, who reminds him that they are engaged, and she has the proposal in writing. Pat tells Bobbie she is going to marry Tom if they win the game tomorrow.
In a Latin class, the students are left for quiet study, but Flo decides they should study dance instead of Latin [The Varsity Drag].
PLaying innocent, Babe wins all Bobbie’s money in a crap game [Gee, But I’d Like to Make You Happy].
Coach sends Pooch to ask Kenyon how Tom did in the exam. He failed, but Kenyon agrees to pass him, for the good of Tait College. Words spreads quickly that Tom has passed [Tait Song]. Tom tells the crowd that he is pleased to have beaten Professor Kenyon at his own game. Bobbie announces that Pat has promised to marry Tom tomorrow if he wins the game, causing Connie to faint.
That evening, Babe is pursuing Bobbie, who jokingly tells her that, like Tommy and Pat, they will marry if he wins the game [Gee, But I’d Like to Make You Happy].
Tommy tells Connie that he loves her but, because of his own stupidity, he has to go through with marrying Pat [The Best Things in Life Are Free].
[Good News]. Beef is injured during the game, which is not going well for Tait. At half-time, Coach asks Tom why he is not even trying to play well, but gets no answer. He agrees to let Bobbie start the second half.
Connie is secretly watching the game through a hole in the fence. With two minutes to go, she is happy that Tait does not have a chance and that Tom’s heart is not in the game. In the final seconds, Bobbie unexpectedly finds himself with the ball in his hands and scores a touchdown. Tait have won. Bobbie agrees to marry Babe. Tom is considered a certainty for the All-American team, but he says he does not deserve it.
At Tom and Pat’s wedding [Football], Tom lifts Pat’s veil to find that he is marrying Connie. Pat had realized that he loved Connie, and stepped aside. Tom and Connie kiss.
Lewis Keester Sweeney (1910-96) is not credited on this website against any of the musicals listed, but mention of him is essential.
Sweeney was an art student sent from UCLA in 1936 to help MGM with makeup for The Good Earth (1937). He stayed at the studio for over a quarter of a century.
His internet presence is peculiar. It acknowledges him as an important makeup artist who worked with the great MGM stars of the classic period, but both IMDb and the AFI only show a few credits from 1956 onwards, largely television assignments. There is no indication of which films he worked on through the bulk of his career.
Sweeney knew nothing about makeup when called to MGM and had to learn on the job. In an interview, he said the first star he worked with was Jeanette MacDonald, who helped him out and became a friend.
The obituary for Keester Sweeney in the Los Angeles Times described him as the “MGM makeup artist who prepared such stars as Jeanette MacDonald, Judy Garland, Greta Garbo and Fred Astaire for the cameras”. The unavailability of details about this apparently eminent career is mystifying.
George Westmore (1879-1931) was the founder of what is unquestionably Hollywood’s greatest dynasty. Five generations of Westmores, including six of George’s sons, worked as makeup artists for over a hundred years.
George Westmore was a hairdresser with a distinguished clientele before emigrating from the UK to Canada and then to the United States, where he worked in beauty parlours. In 1917 he established Hollywood’s first makeup department, for the Selig company, and can be credited with creating the profession of film makeup artist. In the 1920s, Westmore worked on some of the most notable pictures starring Rudolph Valentino and Douglas Fairbanks, including The Sheik (1921) and The Thief of Bagdad (1924).
Shortly before taking his own life in a particularly unpleasant fashion (mercury poisoning), Westmore worked on three musicals at MGM: The Rogue Song, Call of the Flesh and New Moon.
Composer Paul Lambkovitz (1888-1953) was born either in Poland or Russia, and trained at the Petrograd Conservatory before working as both a conductor and cantor. He emigrated to America in 1922.
Lamkoff was qualified by both his professions to work as a vocal coach and choral arranger for the ‘Kol Nidre’ sequence of The Jazz Singer (1927), roles he also carried out for the 1952 remake.
He then had a sporadic career in the film industry, working as composer, orchestrator and vocal coach on a dozen or so pictures. These included Call of the Flesh, Here Comes the Band, A Night at the Opera, Rose-Marie and San Francisco. Alongside this he pursued his work as a cantor and expert on Jewish music.
Dorothy Farnum (1897-1970) acted in a couple of films as a teenager, but realized that her real strength was writing. In 1919 she sold an original scenario to producer Harry Rapf, who would later be a colleague at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. After a few years of journeyman work in which she learned her trade, Rapf hired Farnum to write Beau Brummel (1924). Star John Barrymore told a newspaper it was the best part he had ever been given, and the film launched Farnum’s reputation as an expert adapter of literary works.
Farnum became one of MGM’s top-earning writers, In 1926 her adaptation of the potboiler The Torrent was the first of several collaborations with Greta Garbo. It was described at the time as “the first picture with an unhappy ending to win a box-office success”.
Dorothy Farnum wrote two MGM musicals, providing the stories for Call of the Flesh and A Lady’s Morals. Shortly afterwards she relocated to Europe, writing a screenplay in French (she was fluent in a number of languages, and had previously written the French version of A Lady’s Morals), and then working for Gaumont-British. In 1934 she retired to the south of France.
