Universal Pictures spared no expense when it came to support its new teen sensation. After her first two movies became socko hits, the studio went all out in Deanna Durbin's third film, February 1938's "Mad About Music." Universal just re-signed Durbin to an adult-like salary of $1,250 per week with a $10,000 bonus for each of the films she made, an astronomical figure in those days for a girl just turning 16.
Durbin is known as the actress who saved Universal from bankruptcy. Her "Mad About Music" was 13th in the year's box office rankings. The film gave her a boast in confidence after rejected by Walt Disney as the voice of Snow White after he felt her voice was "too old" for the part. The studio assigned the Durbin film A-listed Herbert Marshall, whose services were much sought after, to play her fictitious father. Contemporary columnist Edwin Schallert noted, "The demand for Herbert Marshall's talents continues to spread far and wide. Even the newer and younger leading women, it is felt, need to have his proficient romanticism displayed in their pictures."
Universal spent a ton of buckaroos to construct a Swiss village on its studio lot for "Mad About Music," where Durbin's character Gloria Taylor attends school in Switzerland. Her mother in the film, Gwen (played by Gail Patrick, who was in real life only 10 years older than Durbin), is a Hollywood star whose studio as well as her manager Dusty Turner (William Frawley) want to keep secret the fact she has a daughter. Gloria's father died in the war when she was a baby, but incredulously she feels the need to invent a story that her father is alive and is a big-time explorer. One of her so-called friends, Felice (Helen Parrish), doesn't believe her story, forcing Gloria to say her father's arriving on a train to visit her. She picks a man at random at the station, who happens to be Richard Todd (Marshall), a music composer. Once he discovers Gloria's predicament, he goes along with her tall tale, with hilarious results.
Norman Taurog had just finished directing the first color-film version of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer in 1938's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." "Mad About Music" showcased several Durbin songs, including one backed by The Vienna Boys Choir, touring in California at the time of the production.
The Academy Awards nominated "Mad About Music" in five categories, including Best Art Direction for the Swiss village sets. Joseph Valentine earned a nomination for Best Cinematography, Frank Skinner and Charles Previn (Andre's cousin) for Best Music Scoring, and Marcella Burke and Frederick Kohner for Best Original Story.
Durbin is known as the actress who saved Universal from bankruptcy. Her "Mad About Music" was 13th in the year's box office rankings. The film gave her a boast in confidence after rejected by Walt Disney as the voice of Snow White after he felt her voice was "too old" for the part. The studio assigned the Durbin film A-listed Herbert Marshall, whose services were much sought after, to play her fictitious father. Contemporary columnist Edwin Schallert noted, "The demand for Herbert Marshall's talents continues to spread far and wide. Even the newer and younger leading women, it is felt, need to have his proficient romanticism displayed in their pictures."
Universal spent a ton of buckaroos to construct a Swiss village on its studio lot for "Mad About Music," where Durbin's character Gloria Taylor attends school in Switzerland. Her mother in the film, Gwen (played by Gail Patrick, who was in real life only 10 years older than Durbin), is a Hollywood star whose studio as well as her manager Dusty Turner (William Frawley) want to keep secret the fact she has a daughter. Gloria's father died in the war when she was a baby, but incredulously she feels the need to invent a story that her father is alive and is a big-time explorer. One of her so-called friends, Felice (Helen Parrish), doesn't believe her story, forcing Gloria to say her father's arriving on a train to visit her. She picks a man at random at the station, who happens to be Richard Todd (Marshall), a music composer. Once he discovers Gloria's predicament, he goes along with her tall tale, with hilarious results.
Norman Taurog had just finished directing the first color-film version of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer in 1938's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." "Mad About Music" showcased several Durbin songs, including one backed by The Vienna Boys Choir, touring in California at the time of the production.
The Academy Awards nominated "Mad About Music" in five categories, including Best Art Direction for the Swiss village sets. Joseph Valentine earned a nomination for Best Cinematography, Frank Skinner and Charles Previn (Andre's cousin) for Best Music Scoring, and Marcella Burke and Frederick Kohner for Best Original Story.