The Merry Monahans

The Merry Monahans

🎞️ Movie 91 min US
โ˜… 6.7 /10 1944

On top of the world or out on their ear...They're the merriest, maddest, lovin'est gang that ever hoofed and spoofed their way to the Big Time!

The Merry Monahans is one of the higher-budgeted Universal musicals of the 1940s, even though the storyline is strictly grade-B material. During the first two decades of the 20th century the film concerns a family vaudeville troupe headed by patriarch Pete Monahan (Jack Oakie). Because of his love affair with the bottle, Pete manages to get himself and his family blacklisted from every major vaude house in the country. Though Pete's kids Jimmy (Donald O'Connor) and Patsy (Peggy Ryan) love their dad, they're forced to break away from the act and go off on their own to survive. Eventually, the whole gang is reunited in a shamelessly lachrymose musical finale. Producer-scripters Michael Fessier and Ernest Pagano, whose other works include such offbeat comedies as San Diego I Love You, Frontier Gal and That's the Spirit, manage to keep the proceedings relatively cliché-free, though it's an uphill climb.

Cast

Donald O'Connor
Donald O'Connor
Jimmy Monahan
Peggy Ryan
Peggy Ryan
Patsy Monahan
Jack Oakie
Jack Oakie
Pete Monahan
Ann Blyth
Ann Blyth
Sheila DeRoyce
Rosemary DeCamp
Rosemary DeCamp
Lillian Miles, aka Lillian DeRoyce
John Miljan
John Miljan
Arnold Pembroke, Has-Been Matinee Idol
Gavin Muir
Gavin Muir
Weldon Laydon, Broadway Talent Scout
Isabel Jewell
Isabel Jewell
Rose, aka Rose Monahan,unscrupulous Chorus Girl
Ian Wolfe
Ian Wolfe
Clerk
Robert Homans
Robert Homans
Policeman
๐Ÿ‘ค
Charles Van Enger
Cinematographer