''Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga'' is a 1941 American
comedy film
The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...
Lupe Vélez
María Guadalupe "Lupe" Villalobos Vélez (July 18, 1908 – December 14, 1944) was a Mexican actress, singer, and dancer during the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.
Vélez began her career as a performer in Mexican vaudeville in the early 1920s ...
,
Leon Errol
Leon Errol (born Leonce Errol Sims, July 3, 1881 – October 12, 1951) was an Australian-American comedian and actor in the United States, popular in the first half of the 20th century for his appearances in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in film ...
,
William Frawley
William Clement Frawley (February 26, 1887 – March 3, 1966) was an American vaudevillian and actor best known for playing landlord Fred Mertz in the sitcom ''I Love Lucy.'' Frawley also played "Bub" O'Casey during the first five seasons of t ...
and
Helen Parrish
Helen Virginia Parrish (March 12, 1923 – February 22, 1959) was an American stage and film actress.
Career
Parrish was born in Columbus, Georgia. She started in movies at the age of 4, getting her first part playing Babe Ruth's daughter in t ...
.Roberts p.107 It was produced and distributed by
Universal Pictures
Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...
. The film was inspired by the same-name song interpreted by
Helen O'Connell
Helen O'Connell (May 23, 1920 – September 9, 1993) was an American singer, actress, and hostess, described as "the quintessential big band singer of the 1940s".
Early life
Born in Lima, Ohio, O'Connell grew up in Toledo, Ohio. By the ti ...
and
Jimmy Dorsey
James Francis Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. He recorded and composed the jazz and pop standards " I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary Peopl ...
Orchestra.
Plot
Aboard a luxury liner sailing for
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
are a band of struggling musicians led by Steve Morrison along with a number of swindlers, one named Beheegan and another a pair of con artists passing themselves off as Señor and Rosita Alvarez, phony names.
Another passenger is Madame La Zonga, whose nightclub in
Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
Cast
*
Lupe Vélez
María Guadalupe "Lupe" Villalobos Vélez (July 18, 1908 – December 14, 1944) was a Mexican actress, singer, and dancer during the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.
Vélez began her career as a performer in Mexican vaudeville in the early 1920s ...
as Madame La Zonga
*
Leon Errol
Leon Errol (born Leonce Errol Sims, July 3, 1881 – October 12, 1951) was an Australian-American comedian and actor in the United States, popular in the first half of the 20th century for his appearances in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in film ...
as Señor Alvarez / Mike Clancy
*
William Frawley
William Clement Frawley (February 26, 1887 – March 3, 1966) was an American vaudevillian and actor best known for playing landlord Fred Mertz in the sitcom ''I Love Lucy.'' Frawley also played "Bub" O'Casey during the first five seasons of t ...
as Beheegan
*
Helen Parrish
Helen Virginia Parrish (March 12, 1923 – February 22, 1959) was an American stage and film actress.
Career
Parrish was born in Columbus, Georgia. She started in movies at the age of 4, getting her first part playing Babe Ruth's daughter in t ...
as Rosita Alvarez
* Charles Lang as Steve Morrison
*
Shemp Howard
Shemp Howard (born Samuel Horwitz; March 11, 1895 – November 22, 1955) was an American comedian and actor. He is best known as the third Stooge in The Three Stooges, a role he played when the act began in the early 1920s (1923–1932), while i ...
as Gabby
*
Eddie Quillan
Edward Quillan (March 31, 1907 – July 19, 1990) was an American film actor and singer whose career began as a child on the vaudeville stages and silent film and continued through the age of television in the 1980s.
Vaudeville and silent fi ...
as Skat
*
Guinn "Big Boy" Williams
Guinn Terrell Williams Jr. (April 26, 1899 – June 6, 1962) was an American actor who appeared in memorable western (genre), Westerns such as ''Dodge City (film), Dodge City'' (1939), ''Santa Fe Trail (film), Santa Fe Trail'' (1940), and ''The ...
as Alvin
* Danny Beck as Danny
* Frank Mitchell as Maxwell
*
Johnny Bond
Cyrus Whitfield "Johnny" Bond (June 1, 1915 – June 12, 1978) was an American country music singer-songwriter, guitarist and composer and publisher, who co-founded a music publishing firm. He was active in the music industry from 1940 until the ...
as Pony
* Richard Reinhart as Tex
*
Jimmy Wakely
James Clarence Wakely (February 16, 1914 – September 23, 1982) was an American actor, songwriter, country music vocalist, and one of the last singing cowboys. During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, he released records, appeared in several B-Western ...
as Jim
*
Wade Boteler
Wade Boteler (October 3, 1888 – May 7, 1943) was an American film actor and writer. He appeared in more than 430 films between 1919 and 1943.
Biography
He was born in Santa Ana, California, and died in Hollywood, California, from a heart ...
as Wade Boteler
*
Eddie Acuff
Edward DeKalb Acuff (June 3, 1903 – December 17, 1956) was an American stage and film actor. He frequently was cast as a droll comic relief, in the support of the star. His best-known recurring role is that of Mr. Beasley, the postman, in ...
as Steward
References
Bibliography
* Golden, Eve. ''Strictly Dynamite: The Sensational Life of Lupe Velez''. University Press of Kentucky, 2023.
* Roberts, John Storm. ''The Latin Tinge: The Impact of Latin American Music on the United States''. Oxford University Press, 1999.