Next on the list is 1951's "Starlift", a fun film about a flyer that wants to meet a star from his hometown. The star's friends want to get in on the war effort and arrange to entertain soldiers at the flyer's base. The film is full of cameos, including: Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Virginia Mayo, Gene Nelson, Ruth Roman, Janice Rule, Dick Wesson, Ron Hagerthy, Hayden Rorke, James Cagney, Gary Cooper, Virginia Gibson, Phil Harris, Louella Parsons, Jane Wyman, Randolph Scott, Eleanor Audley, Patrice Wymore, and Frank Lovejoy, to name just a few.
The film begins with two friends, Sgt. Mike Nolan (Wesson) and Cpl. Rick Williams (Hagerthy), standing in front of a theater. Rick mentions that one of the stars, Nell Wayne (Janice Rule), is from his hometown. Mike schemes to get a meeting by pretending that Rick and Nell are old sweethearts. They meet up with Ruth Roman on her way into the theater and tell her the story. She thinks it's a great idea that they meet Nell and she takes them backstage.
They walk right in on Doris Day and Gordon MacRae rehearsing "You're Gonna Lose Your Gal".
It's a really fun and peppy song. After the boys and Ruth tell the story to Doris, they wait for Nell to arrive. Cpl. Williams is apprehensive about meeting Nell, especially given the story that's been spun, but she takes it in her stride and the girls give the boys a lift back to their base.
Once there, the girls see a large room with soldiers waiting to go out. Doris Day gives them a performance of "S'Wonderful", and an idea is hit upon. Hollywood stars could come up to the base and perform.
The girls go up to the hospital and entertain the wounded. Doris gives a wonderful performance of "You Ought To Be In Pictures" and "You Do Something To Me". Later on, Jane Wyman gives a performance to the boys in the hospital.
A Hollywood cavalcade of stars troops through the base. Gordon MacRae, backed up by an Air Force choir, sings "The Good Green Acres of Home", and leads the audience in the chorus.
And Virginia Mayo highlights a South Pacific dance, the likes of which the boys in uniform have only dreamed about. Other dances include Gene Nelson, Janice Rule, and Patrice Wymore.
Funnyman Phil Harris even gets in on the act. However, he gets sidetracked by a card game with the boys up at the hospital, and he ends up late to his own performance.
Harris leads Gary Cooper, Virginia Gibson, and Frank Lovejoy in a hilarious sketch about a "Texas Ranger".
It's a good one. The specialty numbers in the show are excellent, especially a drunken chef sketch by Tommy Noonan.
Through ups and downs, Cpl. Rick Williams and Nell Wayne eventually DO get together, though it was touch and go for a while, giving a very happy ending to a charming movie. Cast rundown:
Frank Lovejoy...........................................Himself That's it for "Starlift". While the film itself is fiction, its origins are real. Operation Starlift, headed by Ruth Roman, flew its stars from Burbank to the base every week. A show was held in the Passenger Terminal Building and would last anywhere from two to three hours. Afterwards, the stars gave performances for the Korean War wounded in the hospital auditorium. Operation Starlift saw action again in 1999 when it was briefly revived. As always, if you wish to leave a comment, please remember our posting rules.
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