The "Hi, Buddy!" boys club has been running successfully in this east side New York neighborhood ever since Dick Foran and Robert Paige were boys, and now that Foran's in the military and Paige is pursuing a successful singing career, it's up to their childhood friend Harriet Hilliard (Nelson) to keep it running along with newly elected president Bobs Watson, as good a kid on the east side of Manhattan that you'd ever hope to see. But with a war on, times are tight, and when Paige gets a sudden singing contract and is off to entertain at local bases, only Hilliard and Watson are there to stand up to Paige's crooked agent, the snarky Gus Schilling.
It seems that while Paige had promised to send part of his salary to keep the cash-strapped boy's club running, Schilling has been pinching their share of it under the assumption that he's been advancing Paige's career. When times become tough again, Foran steps in to help, and with the help of Irish cop Timmy Cook, Schilling is exposed and dealt with in a crafty manner, especially after Hilliard, Watson and Foran accuse Paige of reneging on his promise. How else to save a boy's club and send them to summer camp during the midst of a war? Get the military involved, that's how, with the cooperation of some powerful officers high up in ranks who willingly spare talented recruits who not only can sing and dance but look great in drag and in black face.
Yep, like "This is the Army", the boys in the service put on dresses and dark make-up, so automatically this is one of those films that will raise eyebrows in spite of the talent behind the scenes. Not only is the premise of a black face minstrel show enough to make you turn off the TV, the premise is absurd as well. But other than one of the young girls who couldn't carry a tune in a May day basket while skipping and tossing out flowers, the singing and dancing is pretty good, some of it already heard in other Universal musicals of the war era. A reprise of "In the Navy" (previously sung by Dick Powell in that Abbott and Costello 1941 pre-war comedy) leads to other military organizations coming out, and the kids even attempt to put on a gay 90's show complete with "While strolling through the park one day". I wouldn't consider this one of the better Universal B musicals, but I found it interesting to see the effeminate Gus Schilling putting a different twist on villainy, ironically making fellow character actor Franklin Pangborn seem butch.
It seems that while Paige had promised to send part of his salary to keep the cash-strapped boy's club running, Schilling has been pinching their share of it under the assumption that he's been advancing Paige's career. When times become tough again, Foran steps in to help, and with the help of Irish cop Timmy Cook, Schilling is exposed and dealt with in a crafty manner, especially after Hilliard, Watson and Foran accuse Paige of reneging on his promise. How else to save a boy's club and send them to summer camp during the midst of a war? Get the military involved, that's how, with the cooperation of some powerful officers high up in ranks who willingly spare talented recruits who not only can sing and dance but look great in drag and in black face.
Yep, like "This is the Army", the boys in the service put on dresses and dark make-up, so automatically this is one of those films that will raise eyebrows in spite of the talent behind the scenes. Not only is the premise of a black face minstrel show enough to make you turn off the TV, the premise is absurd as well. But other than one of the young girls who couldn't carry a tune in a May day basket while skipping and tossing out flowers, the singing and dancing is pretty good, some of it already heard in other Universal musicals of the war era. A reprise of "In the Navy" (previously sung by Dick Powell in that Abbott and Costello 1941 pre-war comedy) leads to other military organizations coming out, and the kids even attempt to put on a gay 90's show complete with "While strolling through the park one day". I wouldn't consider this one of the better Universal B musicals, but I found it interesting to see the effeminate Gus Schilling putting a different twist on villainy, ironically making fellow character actor Franklin Pangborn seem butch.
