Hour Long Musical For Bottom Of Bills

Moonlight and Cactus Answers 1944 Need

Another musical rhinestone out of Universal and a bootleg someone passed me that surprisingly looked great. I've tried to make sense of what kept these things so prolific, and have decided it was handshake of swing and the World War to which that phenomenon was scored. Popularity of swing, vast as it was, faded once fighting stopped for mosaic of reasons. Universal quit the small tunefests for lower key of band shorts, which some of companies maintained into the 50's. It needed a particular meld of pop culture to make movie stars of the Andrews Sisters, who you wouldn't think led credits on so many B's (Moonlight their twelfth), what with few seen or available today. Like so much of old films, it was a matter of time and place. G.I.'s had picked the Andrews as their favorite vocal group, and anyone within reach of a radio or jukebox knew precisely who they were. You could make a case that this trio was Beatles-big at a peak, so U's money was safely spent even on slight vehicle that was Moonlight and Cactus, plus the dozen others.

Universal Ingenue In Support: Elyse Knox

Leo Carrillo In A Scene Either Cut From Moonlight and Cactus, Or I Slept Through It 

A name band, at least one, was essential to credits, but how prominent was Mitch Ayres and His Orchestra? I found no CD's for him, only "pre-owned" vinyl. The Andrews must have found him congenial, as they toured with Ayres as orchestral backdrop. Swing at summit was evidently a big enough tent to accommodate everyone. Moonlight and Cactusserved useful purpose of playing behind live acts that were truer draw for patronage. You could argue it was the chaser all movies were claimed to be at inception when they showed up on vaudeville programs. For the RKO Palaceat right, there was Duke Ellington and a loaded stage bill to sate customers, Moonlight and Cactus a mere intermission to be sat through so they could enjoy Duke and Company again. No wonder then that the film itself is such small punkins. It was hardly meant to be more. For those who'd inquire, there is Shemp Howard, Eddie Quillan, and recent sprinter from the Mummy, Elyse Knox, along with malaprop master Leo Carrillo arriving for a second half. I couldn't decide if music was relief from comedy or the other way around. Funsters are left pretty much to their own; you wonder if routines were extempo. Setting is an all-girl ranch which was often case at Universal, hopeful starlets more rife on this lot than anyplace in town, it seemed. Moonlight and Cactus is long spent tissue admittedly, but worth a glance if a renegade disc can he had, or someone sneaks it up on You Tube.