Good News (1947)

Good News exceded my expectations. I wanted to explore Peter Lawford musicals including Easter Parade, Royal Wedding, It Happened in Brooklyn and On An Island With You.  Anyway I’m not big on musicals but had a blast with this technicolor movie about students and football players at a fictional college.  June Allyson often annoyed me so I was surprised that she made me laugh in response to her roommate that she would read her favorite novel, Les Miserables, after Peter Lawford canceled their date to prom.  June Allyson was 30 at the time of the film. Nothing wrong with a 30 yr. old co-ed but I hope the makers knew she looked it. It’s funny how June Allyson’s character tries to teach Peter Lawford’s character French so that he can impress a goldigging pretentious co-ed but Peter Lawford has better pronunciation because in real-life he spent his early childhood in France.

The DVD I got from Netflix also has two fun special features of Penny Singleton (billed as Dorothy McNulty) hoofing in the numbers “Varsity Drag” and “Good News” from the earlier screen version of Good News in 1930.   Singleton was best know for her Blondie films and as the voice of Jane Jetson. I hope it’s not true but IMDB states she was omitted from the Oscars In Memoriam 2004.  Such a travesty if true.