Mad About Music

1938

Technical Information:

Studio:  Universal 
Running Time:  1 hour, 38 minutes
Black and White
Video Availability:  Available on MCA/Universal home video

Cast:

Deanna Durbin...Gloria Harkinson
Herbert Marshall...Richard Todd
Gail Patrick...Gwen Taylor
Arthur Treacher...Tripps
William Frawley...Dusty Turner
Marcia Mae Jones...Olga
Helen Parrish...Felice
Jackie Moran...Tommy Gray
Elisabeth Risdon...Annette Fusenot
Nana Bryant...Louise Fusenot
Christian Rub...Pierre
Charles Peck...Henry
Sid Grauman...Himself
Cappy Barra's Harmonica Ensemble...Themselves

Credits:

In Charge of Production...Charles R. Rogers
Screenplay...Bruce Manning, Felix Jackson
Original Story...Marcella Burke, Frederick Kohner
Director of Photography...Joseph Valentine, A.S.C.
Art Director...Jack Otterson
Associate...John Ewing
Assistant Director...Frank Shaw
Gowns...Vera West
Miss Patrick's Gowns...Edith Head
Film Editor...Ted Kent
Musical Director...Charles Previn
Vocal Supervision...Charles E. Henderson
Orchestrations...Frank Skinner
Sound...Joseph Lapis, Bernard B. Brown
Produced by...Joe Pasternak
Directed by...Norman Taurog



    Actress Gwen Taylor (Gail Patrick) has just scored a hit with her newest motion picture, Love on Trial.  She is the toast of Hollywood, but behind all of the glitter and glamour she is a very sad woman.  In order to keep up her image as a glamour girl, she has had to keep her teenage daughter, Gloria (Deanna Durbin) hidden away at a fine boarding school in Switzerland.  She gets letters from her daughter every Tuesday and desperately wants her back, though her manager Dusty Turner (William Frawley) advises her to wait until she has enough money, since it could destroy her image, and thus ruin her career.
    Meanwhile, at school, Gloria feels left out.  All of her classmates have mothers and fathers to talk about.  She can't talk about her mother, and her father, a Navy flier, died when she was an infant.  In order to make herself feel better, she made up an exciting explorer "dad" who writes her letters from all corners of the world   The other girls at her school, especially Felice (Helen Parrish) are starting to suspect that the whole thing is a fraud, since her "father's" letters are written in the same handwriting as Gloria's, and also since a photo of her "dad" with an elephant turns out to be only an ad for a cheese company!
    After Felice embarasses her in front of her friends, Gloria retaliates and is punished.  She tries to talk her room-mate Olga (Marcia Mae Jones) into carrying out her punishment for her, telling her that her father is coming in on the next train.  All she really wants is just to meet a boy named Tommy (Jackie Moran) whom she met at church and had a date at the confectioner's with.  Unfortunately, Olga tells the headmistresses (Nana Bryant, Elisabeth Risdon) that Mr. Harkinson is coming in and Gloria is left in a sticky situation.
    She goes to the railroad station and picks out Richard Todd (Herbert Marshall), an English composer who is completely baffled when he hears Gloria's plight.  He decides to play along with her charade and pose as her father.  All of the girls at school are enchanted with Richard and his exciting stories.
    After a while, Richard gets a telegram saying that he has to go to Paris.  Gloria notices in a newspaper that Gwen Taylor (her mother) will be in Paris for an exposition.  She sneaks away from school and gets on the same train as Richard, headed for Paris to see her mother.  Gloria arrives at the hotel her mother is staying at and talks to Dusty Turner, who turns her away, saying that Gwen would never be able to let her go again if she returned.
    Dejected, Gloria finds Richard in a hotel and tells him that she saw her mother and that they had a good time.  He knows that she is fibbing, however.  They go to a movie, Love on Trial, where Richard recognizes Gwen Taylor as Gloria's mother from a photo that she had shown him.  He insists on reuniting mother and daughter and takes her to the hotel where the actress is staying.
       Meanwhile, Gwen finds out from the headmistresses of Gloria's school that she has gone away with her "father" which throws Gwen into a panic.  She announces at a press conference that she has a teenage daughter, who is missing.  At that exact moment, Richard and Gloria enter.  She is reunited with her mother, which causes a publicity frenzy.  Gwen and Richard then fall in love, and they all live happily ever after.


Songs:

[Songs performed by Deanna Durbin in boldface]
"I Love to Whistle" (McHugh, Adamson)
"Ave Maria" (Gounod)
"Chapel Bells" (McHugh, Adamson)
"A Serenade to the Stars" (McHugh, Adamson)

Academy Awards and Nominations:

Best Writing, Original Story (Marcella Burke, Frederick Kohner - nominees)
Best Art Direction (Jack Otterson - nominee)
Best Music, Scoring (Charles Previn, Frank Skinner - nominees)
Best Cinematography (Joseph Valentine - nominee)

Reviews:

"Joe Pasternak has done it again.  In 'Mad About Music,' his third film with Deanna Durbin, he has turned in another smash."
    - Daily Variety

"Little Miss Durbin is almost too good to be true - now she has added an expertly sparkling comic talent to her other gifts, and some of her scenes are as rib-tickling in their sure sense of comedy as any ever played by Irene Dunne or Carole Lombard."
    - Delight Evans, Screenland

My Review:

    I believe Mad About Music to be one of Deanna's greatest films.  She plays a spirited, determined young lady in it with a special freshness that could not be achieved with any other actress.  Herbert Marshall gets to play some rather funny scenes as well.  The only thing going against the film is probably the length (it gets a little dragged out near the end).  Otherwise, it is typical Durbin, and an all together fun affair.

Notes:

This film was remade as The Toy Tiger in 1956 with Tim Hovey, Jeff Chandler and Laraine Day.

This film premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theater on February 7, 1938.  At the premiere, Deanna got a special honor - the chance to put her hand and footprints in cement. It was the 43rd such ceremony and over 2,000 persons were on hand to witness the event.  She wrote "To Sid - With All My Love, Deanna Durbin, Feb. 7th, 1938" in the square as well as her hand prints and high heeled foot prints.  She also embedded a penny which has since been pried out.  To see pictures from this event, please visit the  Biographical Notes page.



Picture credits:
1.  Video cover scanned by webmaster.
2.  Movie still scanned by webmsater.
3.  Lobby card courtesy of Darlene Harris.


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