The Hard-Boiled Canary

Before the Disney Channel invented Camp Rock for the Jonas Brothers to attend, Paramount did this film in 1941 showing off the musical talents of youngsters with a classical bent. Paramount borrowed the plot for this film from that other major studio MGM, Boystown for this feature, There's Magic In Music.

Playing a musical Father Flanagan is Allan Jones, the son of the camp's founder William Collier, Sr. who is having his trouble keeping the camp afloat. In fact the Board of Director's has brought in Margaret Lindsay to put the place on a more efficient basis.

So when Jones brings in a find from a burlesque house in Susanna Foster, Lindsay's a bit skeptical. But the charming Allan Jones brings her around.

Foster's got a great act she's with. She sings from the classic opera while her 'guardian' Grace Bradley does her bump and grind behind her. Personally I think she's doing a public service, exposing the burlesque audience to some highbrow music, but the police still raid the place and Jones and pal Lynne Overman manage to extricate Foster from the law.

Jones and Foster had worked together once before in The Great Victor Herbert where Foster played the daughter of Jones and Mary Martin. There Jones was the star, but in this film he definitely yields the musical moments to the young Ms Foster, in fact to all the youngsters who play themselves and actually do perform.

The film really got butchered on the cutting room floor in Paramount, there are whole sections that are germane to the plot that we don't see. I would probably give it a higher rating if that weren't the case. We don't even learn what Susanna Foster's real name is, I doubt she was baptized 'Toodles'.

Despite the rotten editing and I will say that it is possible the audiences in 1941 saw a longer version of There's Magic In Music than I just did. Considering the young talent that was involved here, let's all write Paramount and see if they got outtakes lying about.

From the Original press book For "The Hard-Boiled Canary(1941)" "Great Musical Talent Cast in "Canary"... Film Bringing together one of the most impressive casts ever assembled for a motion picture, Paramount's new comedy musical, "The Hard-Boiled Canary," which opens..(Day) at the...(Theatre Name)....where it will be shown through...(Day).

Featured in the gay story of a young burlesque queen who goes operatic, are Susanna Foster, who plays the title role, and Allan Jones, Margaret Lindsay, Lynne Overman and Grace Bradley. Cast in prominent roles, brilliant Metropolitan Opera stars Richard Bonelli, Irra Petine and Tandy MacKenzie make their screen debuts in the picture. In addition to these musical luminaries, five of the most noted teen age youngsters in the world of music display their extraordinary talents which have brought them the plaudits of music-lovers throughout the country.

The five youngsters are Haimo Haitto, sixteen-year-old Finnish violinist; Patricia Travers, thirteen, considered by music authorities one of the finest young violinists in this country; Dolly Loehr, fourteen, a pianist frequently acclaimed in the concert halls, Kaye Connor, fifteen, well-known young violinist and singer, and William Chapman, a baritone of exceptional attainments.

The story is told against the background of Interlochen, the world-famous music camp in Michigan. There, it is not unusual for the dance-stirring notes of a swing version of "The Beer-Barrel Polka" to mingle with the sedate strains of music by Bach and Beethoven" End of review intended for newspaper use in towns where "The Hard-Boiled Canary" was playing in 1941. The Ames Daily Tribune used it on Saturday, March 22, 1941 where "The Hard-Boiled Canary" was booked to open on Sunday at the New Ames Theatre.

It's amazing how well this movie turned out, given all the hardships it faced during production. The film, about Interlochen, was shot at Lake Arrowhead in California. A better storyline could have been chosen than that of a burlesque singer who's taken in by the son of the camp's founder and "reformed". Most of the kids in the film----including three of the four who had major roles----had little or no acting experience. The producers, on a tight budget, had to send all of the non-contract kids home halfway through shooting and had to cut production short by a few weeks. Because of this, many scenes from the script were never shot, and the film shows this lack of continuity.

In spite of all of that, the movie ends up being very well-done. Unlike a similar film two years earlier, "They Shall Have Music," this movie doesn't just include kids, it's ABOUT kids. And frankly, the kids carry the movie and steal the show here. Their lack of acting experience only adds to the spontaneity of the film. Kaye Connor, one of the few kids with any acting background, does a good job of covering for the others when needed. Prodigy Patricia Travers is surprisingly effective portraying a spoiled brat. 14 year old Heimo Haitto is as unbuttoned in the movie as he was in real life. And a young Diana Lynn (as Dolly Loehr) appears in the first of her many ingénue' roles.

Musically, the film is excellent. The kids actually perform all the music they're seen playing, and they do so as well as professionals. This isn't surprising, since many of the kids in the orchestra, who came from various training orchestras in the Los Angeles area (notably the Meremblum orchestra) were also in the youth orchestra of the Goldwyn film "They Shall Have Music", made two years earlier. Opera stars Richard Bonelli, Tandy MacKenzie, and Irra Petina appear in the finale. Works performed are by Wagner (from the operas "Rienzi" and "Tannhäuser"), Sousa (Stars and Stripes Forever), Anton Rubinstein (Romance in E-flat, sung by Connor and performed by Travers), Brahms (Hungarian Rhapsody no. 5, performed by Haitto), Grieg (Piano Concerto, performed by the orchestra and Loehr/Lynn), Gounod (from Faust) and Bizet (Carmen). The finale, which features Faust and Carmen performed and sung simultaneously, is a wonder all by itself.

Foster is given plenty of chance to show off her incredible range, hitting and holding a near-impossible B flat over High C (by contrast, the great Lily Pons could only reach F over High C, although admittedly, Pons had a much more dynamic voice). She also does excellent imitations of Marlene Dietrich, Bonnie Baker, and Judy Canova, and a reasonable one of Katherine Hepburn.

All in all, this is a wonderful film that's been terribly neglected. Good luck finding a copy of it anywhere---it took me six months. Maybe we can persuade one of the classic movie cable stations to play it.

The reviewer forgot to mention that the star of the film was Susanna Foster (1941 Phantom of the Opera) and the finest singer ever to grace films). Her voice blew away all the other singers in he film .It is true the other kids in the film were top of the line. Susanna can be

heard in the film Climax with Boris Karloff .She is still alive but in very poor health in a nursing home. (as of 2007) If you can find the film The Great Victor Herbert you can hear Susanna at age 15 with a voice you won't believe . It would be nice to see these film again on TV ,perhaps Turner Classic. Susanna made eleven films in all before quitting Hollywood to study in Europe. She did do some stage work in the 50s with her husband mostly operettas .