''Swing Hostess'' is a 1944 American

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

film directed by

Sam Newfield Sam Newfield, born Samuel Neufeld (December 6, 1899 – November 10, 1964), also known as Sherman Scott or Peter Stewart, was an American Film director, director, one of the most prolific in American film history—he is credited with directin ...

for

Producers Releasing Corporation Producers Releasing Corporation (generally known as PRC) was the smallest and least prestigious of the 11 Hollywood film companies of the 1940s. It was considered a prime example of what was called " Poverty Row": a low-rent stretch of Gower St ...

and starring

Martha Tilton Martha Tilton (November 14, 1915 – December 8, 2006) was an American popular singer during America's swing era and traditional pop period. She is best known for her 1939 recording of " And the Angels Sing" with Benny Goodman. Tilton was born ...

Iris Adrian Iris Adrian Hostetter (May 29, 1912 – September 17, 1994) was an American stage and film actress. Life and career Adrian was an only child, born in Los Angeles, California, to Florence (née Van Every) and Adrian Earl Hostetter, who wed in 1 ...

, Charles Collins,

Betty Brodel Elizabeth Ann Franzalia (née Brodel, February 5, 1920 – March 3, 2024), better known as Betty Brodel, was an American actress, singer and vaudevillian. She appeared in several films during a brief decade-long career, spanning 1936-1946, dur ...

Cliff Nazarro Clifford Nazarro (January 31, 1904 – February 18, 1961 ) was an American double-talk comedian, vocalist, and actor of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s who appeared in films such as ''You'll Never Get Rich'' (1941) as Swivel Tongue with Fred Asta ...

and

Harry Holman Harry James Holman (March 15, 1862 – May 3, 1947) was an American actor. He appeared in approximately 130 films from 1923 to 1947. Biography Born in Conway, Missouri, Holman dropped out of school in the ninth grade and began seeking w ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Paul Palmentola Paul Palmentola (1888–1966) was an Italian-born American art director.Stephens p.233 He designed the film sets for more than two hundred productions during his career, much of his work during the 1930s and 1940s at low-budget studios such as M ...

Plot

A down-on-her-luck would-be singer keeps encountering roadblocks on her way to stardom. Judy Alvin has a fine voice but is no match for the politics of a musical producer pushing his girlfriend, the amazingly untalented Phoebe who has obtained employment by using a record of Judy's voice rather than hers. Living at a theatrical

boarding house A boarding house is a house (frequently a family home) in which lodging, lodgers renting, rent one or more rooms on a nightly basis and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months, or years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and ...

with a variety of eccentric entertainers, Judy's best friend Marge is determined to find Judy a job to pay her bills that has something, anything, to do with music. A chance encounter with a

Rock-Ola The Rock-Ola Manufacturing Corporation is an American developer and manufacturer of juke boxes and related machinery. It was founded in 1927 by Coin-Op pioneer David Cullen Rockola to manufacture slot machines, Weighing scale, scales, and pinbal ...

3701 Master telephone juke box gets Judy employment at the company where the duties involve taking telephone calls from patrons of a bar selecting music to hear over loud speakers.''WPB Okays Cable for Installation of Phone Juke Circuit'' ''Billboard'' May 22, 1943

Cast

Soundtrack

*Martha Tilton - "Let's Capture That Moment" (Written by

Jay Livingston Jay Livingston (born Jacob Harold Levison; March 28, 1915 – October 17, 2001) was an American composer best known as half of a composing-songwriting duo with Ray Evans, with whom he specialized in composing film scores and original soundtrack ...

Ray Evans Raymond Bernard Evans (February 4, 1915 – February 15, 2007) was an American songwriter best known for being a half of a composing-songwriting duo with Jay Livingston, specializing himself in writing lyrics for film songs. On music Livingston ...

and Lewis Bellin) *Martha Tilton - "Say It With Love" (Written by Jay Livingston, Ray Evans and Lewis Bellin) *Betty Brodel - "Say It With Love" *Martha Tilton - "I'll Eat My Hat" (Written by Jay Livingston, Ray Evans and Lewis Bellin) Also performed as an instrumental at the Tropics Club *Martha Tilton, Iris Adrian, Earle Bruce, and Cliff Nazarro - "Highway Polka" (Written by Jay Livingston, Ray Evans and Lewis Bellin) *Martha Tilton - "Got an Invitation" (Written by Jay Livingston, Ray Evans and Lewis Bellin) *Martha Tilton - "Music to My Ears" (Written by Jay Livingston, Ray Evans and Lewis Bellin) Also sung twice by Betty Brodel

Notes

External links

* * 1944 films American musical comedy-drama films 1940s romantic comedy-drama films 1940s musical comedy-drama films American black-and-white films Films directed by Sam Newfield Producers Releasing Corporation films American romantic musical films American romantic comedy-drama films 1940s romantic musical films 1944 comedy films 1944 drama films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films English-language romantic comedy-drama films English-language musical comedy-drama films English-language romantic musical films {{romantic-musical-film-stub