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FOR ME AND MY GAL
Vaudeville may or may not be dead; we wouldn't know. We only know what we read in "Variety." But as far as Hollywood is concerned, two-a-day is ancient history; it happened way back in the nineteen twenties, didn't it? So for Hollywood, at any rate, vaudeville falls into the class of costume pictures, twentythree skidoo and a comic in checkered pants, derby hat and spats. "For Me And My Gal" falls back a notch beyond that and sets its tale against the background of the last war; by that coincidence, it can be flavorful and topical at the same time, nostalgic and full of the current emotional punch of a world at war.
And make no mistake about it, "For Me And My Gal" touches the heart and stirs the memory. Vaudeville may be a corpse, but the story of it has a warm and living quality. There's nothing particularly new about the picture, but it's told simply and with an eye for detail and with just the right proportions of ham and hoke. And certainly it doesn't suffer because its leading roles fall into such capable hands as those of Judy Garland, George Murphy and Gene Kelly.
It's about the Palace and Orpheum time, about the train jumps to make a "split week" in Minneapolis, about the big time and the hicks. It tells the story of Jo Hayden
By Zachary Gold
(Judy Garland), a girl with a voice and a pair of dancing legs. Jo was playing the smaller circuits with Jimmy Metcalfe (George Murphy) when, in a small Iowa theater, she meets Harry Palmer (Gene Kelly). Palmer is all bluster and big front; he's headed for the big time and the Palace, he says. And Jo falls; not for the line but for the guy himself. There's something about Harry, despite all his bluff and talk.
So Jo teams up with Harry and salves his pride when the going gets tough. It's a long, slow climb to the v Palace; but Palmer and Hayden are on their way. They've even received promise of a chance when the War breaks on America and Harry gets his draft notification. He crushes his hand deliberately in order to be deferred long enough to play the Palace. And that's too much for Jo. She quits Palmer and goes back to Metcalfe.
But War is a great teacher in some respects, and in France on the battlefields Palmer learns he's not heaven's only gift to humanity. He comes back after the war different and chastened. He comes back to an act named Palmer, Hayden and Metcalfe; but he learns that in Jo's heart the billing is still just Palmer and Hayden.
The story of "For Me And My (Continued on page 8)
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