One Hundred Men and a Girl
Encyclopedia
One Hundred Men and a Girl is a 1937 musical comedy film, written by Charles Kenyon
, Bruce Manning
and James Mulhauser from a story by Hanns Kräly
and directed by Henry Koster
. It was the first of two motion pictures featuring the famed orchestra leader Leopold Stokowski
, and is also the film for which Deanna Durbin
is best remembered as an actress and a singer in film.
), a trombone
player, is only one of a large group of unemployed musicians. He tries unsuccessfully to gain an interview and audition with Leopold Stokowski
, but not to disappoint his daughter, Patricia (Patsy) (Deanna Durbin
), he tells her that he has managed to get the job with Stokowski's orchestra. Patsy soon learns the truth, and also learns that her father, desperate for rent money, has used some of the cash in a Lady's evening bag he has found, to pay his debts.
The irrepressible and wilful Patsy seeks an interview with Mrs Frost, whose bag it was, and admits her father's actions. Mrs Frost (Alice Brady
), a society matron and wife of rich radio station owner John R Frost (Eugene Pallette
), lightheartedly offers to sponsor an orchestra of unemployed musicians. Taking her at her word, Patsy and her father recruit 100 musicians, rent a garage space and start to rehearse. Realising that Patsy took her seriously, Mrs Frost flees to Europe.
Mr Frost tells John and his friends that he will not sponsor them, as they had supposed, unless they can attract a well-recognised guest conductor to give them a 'name' and launch them on their opening night.
Patsy, undaunted, sets out to recruit none other than Leopold Stokowski
to be that conductor. Stokowski at first definitely refuses — though when Patsy sings as the orchestra is rehearsing Mozart
's Alleluia from 'Exultate Jubilate', he strongly suggests that she seek professional voice training and eventual representation.
By mistake, Patsy conveys the story to a newspaper music critic that Stokowski will conduct an orchestra of unemployed musicians, and that John R. Frost would broadcast the concert on the radio. When the story breaks, Frost protests his embarrassment to his friends, but they suggest valuable publicity would result. Frost immediately signs the one-hundred-man orchestra to a contract, though Patsy tries to tell them that Stokowski has not agreed.
Stokowski is astonished and offended at the news, but Patsy enters Stokowski's palatial house surreptitiously, along with the entire orchestra. She apologises to him, and insists that he listen to the players. The conductor is so moved by their performance of Franz Liszt
's Hungarian Rhapsody that he postpones a European tour and agrees to the engagement.
The concert is a rousing success for everyone, especially when Patsy, called upon to make a speech, instead agrees to sing the number titled "Brindisi" from Giuseppe Verdi
's opera La Traviata
.
was, at the time of the film's release, co-conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra
with Eugene Ormandy
. Political and artistic differences with the orchestra's board had already led Stokowski to allow Ormandy to assume a greater leadership role at the orchestra, and eventually would lead Stokowski to break with the orchestra entirely. This might explain why the city in which the film is set, and by extension Stokowski's "regular" orchestra, is never positively identified in the film. The music was recorded in multi-channel stereophonic sound
but released in monaural sound; three years later Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra appeared in the first feature film to be presented in stereo, Fantasia
.
. In addition, Charles Previn
, in his role as head of the music department for Universal Pictures
, won the Academy Award for Original Music Score
. (No specific composer credit was ever specified.) Previn's scoring consisted of using two original songs (by Sam Coslow and Friedrich Hollaender) and a carefully chosen selection of music from classical symphonic works and operas. The other three awards for which this film was nominated were Best Film Editing
, Best Sound Mixing
(Homer G. Tasker
), and Best Original Story.
Charles Kenyon
Charles Kenyon was an American screenwriter, who wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for 114 films between 1915 and 1946...
, Bruce Manning
Bruce Manning
Bruce Manning was a Hollywood filmmaker who entered the movie business following the publication of several novels that he co-wrote with wife Gwen Bristow. Their first novel together, 1930's The Invisible Host, was adapted to the screen in 1934 as The Ninth Guest...
and James Mulhauser from a story by Hanns Kräly
Hanns Kräly
Hanns Kräly , credited in the United States as Hans Kraly, was a German actor and screenwriter. His main collaborations were with director Ernst Lubitsch, and they worked together on 30 films between 1915 and 1929....
and directed by Henry Koster
Henry Koster
Henry Koster was born Hermann Kosterlitz in Berlin, Germany. He became a film director and later moved to Hollywood. Koster's father, a salesman, left home when Henry was a young man...
. It was the first of two motion pictures featuring the famed orchestra leader Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
, and is also the film for which Deanna Durbin
Deanna Durbin
Deanna Durbin is a Canadian-born, Southern California-raised retired singer and actress, who appeared in a number of musical films in the 1930s and 1940s singing standards as well as operatic arias....
is best remembered as an actress and a singer in film.
Plot
John Cardwell (Adolphe MenjouAdolphe Menjou
Adolphe Jean Menjou was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies, appearing in such films as The Sheik, A Woman of Paris, Morocco, and A Star is Born...
), a trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
player, is only one of a large group of unemployed musicians. He tries unsuccessfully to gain an interview and audition with Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
, but not to disappoint his daughter, Patricia (Patsy) (Deanna Durbin
Deanna Durbin
Deanna Durbin is a Canadian-born, Southern California-raised retired singer and actress, who appeared in a number of musical films in the 1930s and 1940s singing standards as well as operatic arias....
), he tells her that he has managed to get the job with Stokowski's orchestra. Patsy soon learns the truth, and also learns that her father, desperate for rent money, has used some of the cash in a Lady's evening bag he has found, to pay his debts.
The irrepressible and wilful Patsy seeks an interview with Mrs Frost, whose bag it was, and admits her father's actions. Mrs Frost (Alice Brady
Alice Brady
Alice Brady was an American actress who began her career in the silent film era and survived the transition into talkies. She worked up until six months before her death from cancer in 1939...
), a society matron and wife of rich radio station owner John R Frost (Eugene Pallette
Eugene Pallette
Eugene William Pallette was an American actor. He appeared in over 240 silent era and sound era motion pictures between 1913 and 1946....
), lightheartedly offers to sponsor an orchestra of unemployed musicians. Taking her at her word, Patsy and her father recruit 100 musicians, rent a garage space and start to rehearse. Realising that Patsy took her seriously, Mrs Frost flees to Europe.
Mr Frost tells John and his friends that he will not sponsor them, as they had supposed, unless they can attract a well-recognised guest conductor to give them a 'name' and launch them on their opening night.
Patsy, undaunted, sets out to recruit none other than Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
to be that conductor. Stokowski at first definitely refuses — though when Patsy sings as the orchestra is rehearsing Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's Alleluia from 'Exultate Jubilate', he strongly suggests that she seek professional voice training and eventual representation.
By mistake, Patsy conveys the story to a newspaper music critic that Stokowski will conduct an orchestra of unemployed musicians, and that John R. Frost would broadcast the concert on the radio. When the story breaks, Frost protests his embarrassment to his friends, but they suggest valuable publicity would result. Frost immediately signs the one-hundred-man orchestra to a contract, though Patsy tries to tell them that Stokowski has not agreed.
Stokowski is astonished and offended at the news, but Patsy enters Stokowski's palatial house surreptitiously, along with the entire orchestra. She apologises to him, and insists that he listen to the players. The conductor is so moved by their performance of Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
's Hungarian Rhapsody that he postpones a European tour and agrees to the engagement.
The concert is a rousing success for everyone, especially when Patsy, called upon to make a speech, instead agrees to sing the number titled "Brindisi" from Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's opera La Traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
.
Background and production
Leopold StokowskiLeopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
was, at the time of the film's release, co-conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...
with Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy was a Hungarian-born conductor and violinist.-Early life:Born Jenő Blau in Budapest, Hungary, Ormandy began studying violin at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music at the age of five...
. Political and artistic differences with the orchestra's board had already led Stokowski to allow Ormandy to assume a greater leadership role at the orchestra, and eventually would lead Stokowski to break with the orchestra entirely. This might explain why the city in which the film is set, and by extension Stokowski's "regular" orchestra, is never positively identified in the film. The music was recorded in multi-channel stereophonic sound
Stereophonic sound
The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective...
but released in monaural sound; three years later Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra appeared in the first feature film to be presented in stereo, Fantasia
Fantasia (film)
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
.
Cast
- Deanna DurbinDeanna DurbinDeanna Durbin is a Canadian-born, Southern California-raised retired singer and actress, who appeared in a number of musical films in the 1930s and 1940s singing standards as well as operatic arias....
as Patricia "Patsy" Cardwell - Adolphe MenjouAdolphe MenjouAdolphe Jean Menjou was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies, appearing in such films as The Sheik, A Woman of Paris, Morocco, and A Star is Born...
as John Cardwell - Leopold StokowskiLeopold StokowskiLeopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
portraying himself - Eugene PalletteEugene PalletteEugene William Pallette was an American actor. He appeared in over 240 silent era and sound era motion pictures between 1913 and 1946....
as Mr. John R. Frost, the eventual sponsor of the "One Hundred Men" - Alice BradyAlice BradyAlice Brady was an American actress who began her career in the silent film era and survived the transition into talkies. She worked up until six months before her death from cancer in 1939...
as his wife - Alma KrugerAlma Kruger-Career:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Kruger had a long career on stage before appearing in films. From 1907 to 1935, she starred in many theatre plays on Broadway, mostly in Shakespearean plays such as Hamlet , Twelfth Night , Taming of the Shrew , and The Merchant of Venice .She appeared in...
as Mrs. Tyler, John Cardwell's landlady - Mischa AuerMischa AuerMischa Auer was a Russian-born American actor.-Early life:Auer was born Mikhail Semyonovich Unskovsky in St. Petersburg, Russia...
as Michael Borodoff, a flutist and one of John Cardwell's neighbors - Billy GilbertBilly GilbertBilly Gilbert was an American comedian and actor known for his comic sneeze routines. He appeared in over 200 feature films, short subjects and television shows starting in 1929. He is not to be confused with silent film actor Billy Gilbert Billy Gilbert (September 12, 1894 – September 23,...
as the owner of the garage where the "One Hundred Men" rehearse - Jed Prouty as Tommy Bitters, a man engaged in a good-natured war of pranks with John R. Frost. (Frost suspects Bitters of planting the Stokowski story in the newspaper until Patsy confesses her role to Stokowski.)
- Jack SmartJ. Scott SmartJ. Scott Smart, also known as Jack Smart , was an American radio, film and stage actor during the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s....
as Marshall, Leopold Stokowski's doorkeeper - Frank JenksFrank JenksFrank Jenks acid-voiced supporting actor, began in vaudeville and went on to a long career in movies and television, mostly in comedy. He was one of the more familiar faces and voices of the Hollywood Studio era. For almost ten years beginning in the early 1920s, Jenks was a song and dance man...
as a taxi driver who keeps a running tab for Patsy and later calls it an "investment" in her singing voice
Reception
The film opened to highly favorable critical reviews and is remembered as a hit. Of all the elements of the film, Deanna Durbin's ability to sing and act drew the highest praise.Awards and nominations
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best PictureAcademy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
. In addition, Charles Previn
Charles Previn
Charles Previn was an American film composer who was highly active at Universal in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s...
, in his role as head of the music department for Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
, won the Academy Award for Original Music Score
Academy Award for Original Music Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
. (No specific composer credit was ever specified.) Previn's scoring consisted of using two original songs (by Sam Coslow and Friedrich Hollaender) and a carefully chosen selection of music from classical symphonic works and operas. The other three awards for which this film was nominated were Best Film Editing
Academy Award for Film Editing
The Academy Award for Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since 1981, every film selected as Best Picture has also been nominated for the Film Editing...
, Best Sound Mixing
Academy Award for Sound
The Academy Award for Sound Mixing is an Academy Award that recognizes the finest or most euphonic sound mixing or recording, and is generally awarded to the production sound mixers and re-recording mixers of the winning film. Compare this award to the Academy Award for Sound Editing...
(Homer G. Tasker
Homer G. Tasker
Homer G. Tasker was an American sound engineer. He was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Sound Recording.-Selected filmography:* Three Smart Girls * One Hundred Men and a Girl...
), and Best Original Story.