A Sweater, a Sarong, and a Peek-a-Boo Bang

Still trying to get some more posts up here... but meanwhile, here's a number from Star Spangled Rhythm, Paramount's entry in the "all-star revue movies for the troops with lame linking storyline" sub-genre. Paramount's lineup of stars at this point wasn't as impressive overall as WB or MGM, the other studios that did this kind of movie, but they had more singing/dancing stars than WB (which used mostly non-singing stars to sing in its entry, Thank Your Lucky Stars).

In this number, we get Paramount contractee Paulette Goddard, Dorothy Lamour and Veronica Lake -- three very attractive women who were mostly used as decoration in Paramount movies, though Goddard did eventually get a good role in 1945's Kitty -- singing a funny Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer song lamenting their sex-symbol status. Well, Goddard and Lamour sing; most of Lake's singing is dubbed.

The number also includes a bizarre interlude with three character actors in drag: Sterling Holloway, Walter Catlett, and Arthur Treacher. (Catlett and Holloway had done voices for Disney features, and Treacher would later appear in Disney's Mary Poppins.)