Movies

The Abbott & Costello project moves into 1942/3 with Ride 'Em Cowboy, Rio Rita, Pardon My Sarong, Who Dunnit, and It Ain't Hay. After their appearance in pre-war militaristic propaganda, their films after the war began steer as much as possible into pure escapism, with only marginal war topics, such as the Nazi spy ring in in Rio Rita, and an occasional gag referring to Made In Japan, or shortages of such commodities as rubber. Ride 'Em, Rio Rita, and Who Dunnit (a radio show murder mystery) are more versions of the same movie, with A&C doing comedy relief for the central boy/girl plot. The weakness of this concept is that the plot must be carried by people who are not good enough to merit star billing, and it gets so weak at times that I just gave up on Rio Rita halfway through. Pardon My Sarong is a Gilligan's Island story, with the boy/girl crap pushed into the corner and the boys more integrated into the story, and It Ain't Hay is a perfunctory adaptation of a Damon Runyon story in which the boys at last take the primary roles. What I look for in these, other than the comedy routines, is an indication of the social issues of the day. In Ride 'Em Cowboy, the existence of African Americans is suddenly acknowledged, with Ella Fitzgerald's role as Ruby the singing maid, with a couple of musical numbers and prominent placement in many shots. In 1941's In the Navy, we have the disturbing experience of seeing the Andrews Sisters performing "Gimme Some Skin," a boogie-woogie jive number with Patty singing in a stereotypical style about "how they do it in Harlem," with not one actual or potential Harlemite in the crowd, the band, or the entire movie. As Donna said when I described it to her, "We will take your music, make it less interesting, and then pretend you don't exist." Though they must appear only as servants or entertainers, African Americans are at least allowed to exist in Ride 'Em and Rio Rita. Pardon My Sarong has its own weird racial issues, with islanders being represented as a type of white person, and played primarily by whites - when played by blacks they are cannibals and savages. Finally, in It Ain't Hay, the musical portion is pushed to the end of the movie with a short revue featuring the Four Step Brothers in zoot suits - not chef's hats and waiter's coats for once. I attribute the changing racial representation to war issues - both as an attempt to appeal to an audience which began to gain some degree of power and money through military service and increasing wartime industry, and, out of fear, to placate an abused minority which was being appealed to via racialist propaganda as a tool to weaken US power.

Mary Wickes in Who Dunnit - MURDER?!?!?