It took nine tailors (1948)

234 IT TOOK NINE TAILORS everyone's surprise it seemed to be pretty good, so the studio gave Koster two more unknown actresses, Nan Gray and Barbara Reed, and borrowed an unknown actor named Ray Milland for the young love interest. Then they told him to go ahead and shoot but not to spend more than $150,000. That is a lot of money in Sioux City, Iowa, but in Hollywood it is just about enough to make a second-rate horse opera. Koster started shooting with that budget, and strangely enough the scenes looked pretty good. The studio got excited and decided they'd better spend a little more money, so they gave Koster two of their best contract players, Charlie Winninger and Alice Brady. The picture rescued Universal from bankruptcy. It was called Three Smart Girls and made Deanna Durbin a star. Naturally Koster stayed with Universal to make more pictures. After the success of his first picture Koster was worried about doing as good a job on his second. He had no ideas and the story department couldn't seem to find anything suitable for Deanna. One day an old fiddle player whom he had known in Vienna came to see him, looking for a job. Koster had no jobs for fiddle players, but he called up a friend who was a musical director and asked him if he had a job for a very good fiddle player who was out of work. "There are hundreds of musicians in Hollywood who are out of work," replied the friend. Koster was appalled at his friend's reply. "Something should be done about a situation like that," he told his friend. "Of course. But what can I do? I have all the musicians I need." The plight of the old fiddle player worried Koster. He decided that perhaps he could make a few jobs for fiddle players by doing a picture about musicians. That was how 100 Men and a Girl started. When the script was finished, Koster decided that he wanted me to play the part of Deanna Durbin's father. Danny Winkler,