National Barn Dance (1944)

Made at the time when the National Barn Dance program, on radio station WLS (for World's Largest Store and owned by Sears & Roebuck) in Chicago, was as big on a national scale listening ... See full summary »

Director:

Hugh Bennett

Writers:

Lee Loeb (story and screenplay), Hal Fimberg (story and screenplay)

Stars:

Jean Heather, Charles Quigley, Robert Benchley

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean Heather	...	Betty
Charles Quigley	...	Johnny Burke
Robert Benchley	...	J.B. Mitcham
Mabel Paige	...	Mrs. Garvey
Charles Dingle	...	Mr. Garvey
Pat Buttram	...	Pat Buttram
Joe Kelly	...	Joe Kelly
Myrtle Wiseman	...	Myrtle Wiseman (as Lulubelle)
Scotty Wiseman	...	Scotty Wiseman (as Scotty)
The Dinning Sisters	...	Sister Singing Act
The Hoosier Hotshots	...	The Hoosier Hotshots
Frank Kettering	...	Frank - Bass Fiddle
Paul Trietsch	...	Hezzie - Guitar
Charles Ward	...	Gabe - Clarinet & Tenor
Ken Trietsch	...	Ken - Guitar Player

Storyline

Made at the time when the National Barn Dance program, on radio station WLS (for World's Largest Store and owned by Sears & Roebuck) in Chicago, was as big on a national scale listening audience as "The Grand Ole Opry" out of Nashville. The film highlights the leading acts then performing on the program; comedian Pat Buttram (Pat Buttram), announcer Joe Kelly (Joe Kelly),(before his Quiz Kids stint), Lulubelle & Scotty (Scotty Wiseman and wife Myrtle Wiseman)), the Dinning Sisters trio, Arkie the Arkansas Wood Chooper (Luther W. Ossenbrink) and the Hoosier Hot Shots quartet, whose musical abilities and creativity were vastly underrated. The piffle of a story begins in the early days of radio (Calvin Coolidge was President) but otherwise seems to take place in 1944, which made things easier on the Art and Set directors. Agent John Berke (Charles Quigley) thinks advertising executive Mitcham (Robert Benchley) wants to put together a program of hillbilly performers---a term used until ...

---

Plot Keywords:

more than one actor shares first name with character | more than one actor shares last name with character | more than one actor shares first and last name with character | polka music | double feature film | 

---

Taglines:

Grab your partners, folks, and come to the National Barn Dance!

---

Genres:

Comedy | Music | Romance

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 September 1944 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

76 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since. However, because of legal complications, this particular title was not included in the original television package and may not have ever been televised.

---

Soundtracks

When Paw Was Courtin' Maw
Music by Leonard Joy
Lyrics by Jack Manus
Performed by The Hoosier Hotshots

User Reviews

Good silly fun.

As a boy of 10, I found this movie great fun when it opened in 1944 at the Lyric Theater in Spearman, Texas. The movie didn't have much plot, as I remember, just lots of music and homespun humor. The main thing was that it had all my little sister's and my favorites--like Pat Buttram, the Hoosier Hotshots, and best of all, Lulubelle and Scotty--from the "National Barn Dance" radio program. Our older sister--a teenager in 1944--thought this WLS-Chicago radio show was corny. I guess it was--and the movie, too--but we were always glad when big sis had a date on Saturday night so that we could hear Lulubelle and Scotty instead of having to listen to "Your Hit Parade." After we saw the "National Barn Dance" movie, the Saturday night battle over what to listen to raged even more violently than it had before.