Thank Your Lucky Stars is a 1943 American musical comedy directed by David Butler.
Two producers, Dr. Schlenna and Mr. Farnsworth, are putting together the "Cavalcade of Stars", a benefit show for the war effort that features an All-Star Cast. They desperately want rising star Dinah Shore for their show, but they do not want Shore's boss, actor/singer/dancer Eddie Cantor, who has Dinah Shore under contract and insists that he must be in the show too.
Meanwhile, two would-be stars, singer Tommy Randolph (Dennis Morgan) and songwriter Pat Dixon (Joan Leslie), meet when they both come to Hollywood. Tommy and Pat decide that they will get into the Cavalcade of Stars too, with the help of their good friend Joe Simpson, a tour guide and frustrated actor who just happens to be the spitting image of Eddie Cantor (and yes, he's played by Eddie Cantor).
All of the above is just an excuse for wall-to-wall songs and musical numbers. This film was a wartime charity effort to fund the Hollywood Canteen, a club that was staffed by Hollywood movie stars and which served active duty American servicemen. Thank Your Lucky Stars features cameos from most every star under contract to Warner Brothers in 1942, most of them singing in musical numbers.
Tropes for the film:
- Adam Westing: Eddie Cantor goes to town, playing an annoying, unfunny, egotistical version of himself.
- Be a Whore to Get Your Man: Ann Sheridan's number, "Love Isn't Born, It's Made" is all about how women can't play coy but have to put out if they expect men to fall in love with them.Love can’t do much/For a couple who don’t quite touch/Love needs a chance/To advance...So, my precious young dove/If you’re dreaming of love/Better lead him into the trap/For you’ll never remain/On the gentleman’s brain/Till you’re on the gentleman’s lap.
- The Cameo: The whole point of the movie, really, showing almost everybody working for Warner Brothers in 1942 in cameos as themselves. Humphrey Bogart, Jack Carson, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Errol Flynn, John Garfield, Ida Lupino, Hattie McDaniel, Ann Sheridan, Dinah Shore, and Alexis Smith. All the cameo actors except for Bogart (who does a comedy scene) and Smith (who dances) sing songs, although most of them weren't known for musicals (De Havilland was dubbed). "They're Either Too Young Or Too Old", sung by Bette Davis, got an Oscar nomination for Best Song.
- Celebrity Paradox:
- When Pat does her James Cagney impression she quotes his line from Yankee Doodle Dandy: "My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you." Joan Leslie (Pat) co-starred in Yankee Doodle Dandy as Cagney's wife.
- Then there's S.Z. Sakall as Dr. Schlenna sharing a scene with his Casablanca co-star Humphrey Bogart, appearing in a cameo as himself.
- Creator Cameo: Among all the other cameos there's director David Butler and producer Mark Hellinger, who strike up a chat with tour guide Joe Simpson on Hollywood Boulevard.
- Excuse Plot: The very slight story has Tommy and Pat trying to make it in show business, two impresarios trying to get Dinah Shore into the Cavalcade of Stars benefit show, and Eddie Cantor getting impersonated by an Identical Stranger. This is really just an excuse to have a whole bunch of musical numbers and guest appearances from almost every star contracted to Warner Brothers in 1942.
- Funny Foreigner: S.Z. Sakall playing his usual funny foreigner, Dr. Schlenna, one of the producers of the Cavalcade of Stars show. When his partner Mr. Farnsworth says he doesn't want the show "stunk up," Dr. Schlenna agrees, saying he doesn't want the show "stoonk up."
- Gilligan Cut:
- A stage announcer asks Dinah Shore if John Garfield is "really that tough." Dinah answers that Garfield is "the sweetest, mildest, gentlest boy you'd ever want to meet in the whole world." Cut to John Garfield backstage, grabbing Eddie Cantor by the lapels and shaking him as they argue how to play their appearance onstage.
- Eddie Cantor, promising that he'll only be honorary chairman and won't interfere with the show, says "Why, I won't even come to the rehearsal!" Cut to Cantor directing the rehearsal.
- Identical Stranger: Eddie Cantor plays both Eddie Cantor and Joe Simpson, humble Hollywood tour guide. Joe Simpson's resemblance to Eddie Cantor is a pet peeve for Joe, and it's explained that Joe's resemblance to Eddie is costing him movie roles.
- Least Rhymable Word: "I'm Ridin' for a Fall"-Oh yes, I know, she'll be spending my sugar.
I know, she'll be spending my sugar.
I know, she'll be spending my sugar.
But oh - you can't rhyme sugar! - Lobotomy: One of the weirder gags in the movie has Eddie Cantor run into a mental hospital (it would take too long to explain) and be mistaken for a mental patient who just thinks he's Eddie Cantor. He nearly get lobotomized before the real patient is wheeled into the operating room.
- Non-Singing Voice: In-Universe during the final medley. Errol Flynn appears singing an operatic solo. Only he stops, while the singing doesn't stop, and says "Oh that voice is so divine/I'm sorry it isn't mine."
- Painful Rhyme: "They're Either Too Young or Too Old" has Bette Davis pronounce "Russians" as "Roosians" because she has to in order to rhyme it with "Aleutians".
- The Prima Donna: The plot, such as it is, involves getting Glamorous Wartime Singer Dinah Shore into a benefit revue while keeping her manager Eddie Cantor away from it by any means necessary."Well, Mr. Cantor, to be brutally frank, you have the reputation of taking over everything you participate in."
- Pun-Based Title: Thank Your Lucky Stars, both referencing the old cliche and a pun on how this film is filled with Warner Brothers stars.
- Reprise Medley: The movie might have set some kind of record in movie musicals by reprising eleven songs in a row in the finale.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Alexis Smith wears a sexy backless dress during her dance routine.
- Title Theme Tune: "Thank Your Lucky Stars". In fact, the first two lines heard in the film are Dinah Shore singing "How's your love life/Well thank your lucky stars, it's doin' fine."
- Tricked into Signing: An autograph request is used to get Eddie Cantor to sign a contract.
