Starlift
Encyclopedia
Starlift is an American
musical
film released by Warner Brothers in 1951
, starring Janice Rule
, Dick Wesson
, Ron Hagerthy
and Ruth Roman
. The film was directed by Roy Del Ruth and written by Karl Lamb and John D. Klorer. Made during the beginning of the Korean War
, it centers on an Air Force flyer's wish to meet a movie star, and her fellow stars' efforts to perform for injured men at the air force base.
It features many of Warner Brothers top stars, including Doris Day
, Gordon MacRae
, James Cagney
, Gene Nelson
, Jane Wyman
, Virginia Mayo
and Phil Harris
, in cameo appearances as themselves.
) and Mike Nolan (Dick Wesson
) attempt to meet Nell Wayne (Janice Rule
), a (fictitious) film star performing in a star-studded musical in San Francisco. Rick and Nell were both from the same small town
, but had never met. Mike attempts to convince both the staff and cast members at the theater that Rick and Nell are best friends and are extremely close. Ruth Roman
takes pity on them and takes them to meet Nell. However, the men first meet with Doris Day
and Gordon MacRae
, who are rehearsing the song "You're Gonna Lose Your Gal."
When they find that Nell isn't there, and that if she were, she would reveal that she didn't know the boys, Mike claims that they are both shipping out to the Korean front that night. This makes Ruth and Doris feel guilty, and they invite the boys to lunch. When Nell does arrive, not knowing him, she attempts to make their visit brief. Doris and Ruth had already guessed that the two didn't know each other, but still let him meet Nell.
Waiting for Nell had made the boys late for their bus to return to base so Doris, Ruth, and Nell offer to drive them back to Travis Air Force base, all the while wearing fur coats and ball gowns for that night's movie premiere. Instead of being shipped to the front lines in Korea however, the boys operate routine transport flights to Honolulu, Hawaii. While at the base they go to the transport terminal, where many of the soldiers are waiting for their flights to be called. Doris gets on stage to dance and sing "S'Wonderful" while Nell and Ruth go out to the runway to kiss Rick goodbye. Nell gives Rick a good-luck charm from her charm bracelet. As they watch the plane take off, their driver, the colonel, suggests that they greet some wounded soldiers at the hospital, where Doris sings a medley of "You Oughta be in Pictures" & "You Do Something To Me."
After making their appearance at the Air Force Base, the three ladies return to San Francisco to perform in the show ("What Is This Thing Called Love?
"). When a plane with wounded soldiers arrives with Rick and Mike in it, unwounded, and fresh from Honolulu, Nell is furious for Rick lying to her about going to the Korean front lines. However, she keeps up the love act for gossip columnist Louella Parsons which allows the "Operation Starlift" celebrities to perform at Travis Air Force base. The next morning they sing and dance while the planes leave ("Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)
").
That night the cast performs for the base ("God's Green Acres of Home," "It's Magic
"). The next day the Warner Bros. president arranges for several other Warner Bros. actors to perform at the base that night. While visiting her parents Nell finds that Rick's parents are at her home...and so is Rick. After dinner the Waynes take the Williams out for a movie leaving Nell and Rick in the house alone together. They quarrel and Rick gives Nell back the charm from her bracelet. The next morning when the Williams arrive, Nell finds that Rick was sent overseas ahead of schedule. She rushes to the base but his flight had already left.
Meanwhile, the Starlift, the plane containing the movie stars, had arrived, containing Virginia Mayo and Phil Harris ("I May Be Wrong (But I Think You're Wonderful)
", "Noche Caribe (Caribbean Night)"). Phil Harris purposely loses $750 to a soldier while playing Gin Rummy before performing "Look Out, Stranger, I'm a Texas Ranger."
Rick's plane arrives but he runs away from the hangar where Nell is waiting. While writing a letter to be given to him, Nell sees Rick enter the cafeteria and runs in after him. Without him realizing it she takes over for the waitress and makes him the chocolate malt he orders, just the way she did back in Youngstown, where her family had a malt shop. They drink the malt together, and they forgive each other. The next day, when Rick is finally shipped out, Nell is there to kiss him goodbye.
. Ruth Roman was the forerunner of the project, which also saw such stars as Jane Russell
, Shirley Temple
, Shelley Winters
, Alan Ladd
, Jack Benny
, Danny Kaye
, Claudette Colbert
, Keenan Wynn
, Donald O'Connor
, Janet Leigh
, Debbie Reynolds
, Bob Hope
and many others. The flights flew the entertainers from Burbank every Saturday and returned them the following day. Shows performed in the Passenger Terminal Building (for departing servicemen) would usually last between two and three hours. They would then give performances for the men in the hospital auditorium. Time Magazine reported that Operation Starlift ended in November 1951, when the program ran out of funds. Revived in November 1999, the USO
operated its own Operation Starlift, which included Salma Hayek
, Dennis Haskins
, Danica McKellar
, Garrett Morris
and Sheeri Rappaport
, among others.
, Gary Cooper
, Virginia Gibson
, Phil Harris
, Frank Lovejoy
, Lucille Norman
, Louella Parsons
, Randolph Scott
, Jane Wyman
and Patrice Wymore
. The comedy team of Tommy Noonan
and Peter Marshall
made their film debut in Starlift, also performing during the show segment.
said that the "acts are unspeakably slapdash and the romance is painful beyond words," and the "performances given by Miss Rule and Ron Hagerthy as the flier are as sappy as they could possibly be, and Dick Wesson as a pushy pal of the flier is downright insufferable."
In its own 1951 review of the film, Time Magazine stated that the film's Operation Starlift "now supplies a backdrop for a spotty variety show, loosely glued together by the romance of a Hollywood star and an Air Force corporal from her home town."
(1949), Tea for Two
(1950), April in Paris
(1952) and The Tunnel of Love
(1958).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
musical
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
film released by Warner Brothers in 1951
1951 in film
The year 1951 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Sweden - May Britt is scouted by Italian film-makers Carlo Ponti and Mario Soldati-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...
, starring Janice Rule
Janice Rule
-Early life and career:Born in Norwood, Ohio, her career included stage, screen and television work. Rule studied ballet and began dancing in Chicago nightclubs in her teens. She soon attracted attention in Hollywood and made her film debut in 1951...
, Dick Wesson
Dick Wesson
Dick Wesson was an American movie and television announcer. He is best known as the announcer for The Wonderful World of Disney from 1954-1979.-Career:...
, Ron Hagerthy
Ron Hagerthy
Ronald F. "Ron" Hagerthy is a former American actor known primarily for his guest-starring and supporting roles on television westerns. In 1952, he portrayed Clipper King in the modern western series, Sky King, with Kirby Grant in the title role of Clipper's uncle, Schuyler "Sky" King, pilot of...
and Ruth Roman
Ruth Roman
Ruth Roman was an American actress. One of her most memorable roles was in the Alfred Hitchcock 1951 thriller Strangers on a Train....
. The film was directed by Roy Del Ruth and written by Karl Lamb and John D. Klorer. Made during the beginning of the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, it centers on an Air Force flyer's wish to meet a movie star, and her fellow stars' efforts to perform for injured men at the air force base.
It features many of Warner Brothers top stars, including Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
, Gordon MacRae
Gordon MacRae
Gordon MacRae was an American actor and singer, best known for his appearances in the film versions of two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Oklahoma! and Carousel and films with Doris Day like Starlift.-Early life:Born Albert Gordon MacRae in East Orange, New Jersey, MacRae graduated from...
, James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
, Gene Nelson
Gene Nelson
Gene Nelson was an American dancer, actor, screenwriter, and director.-Biography:Born Leander Eugene Berg in Astoria, Oregon, he moved to Seattle when he was one year old. He was inspired to become a dancer by watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films when he was a child...
, Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman was an American singer, dancer, and character actress of film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...
, Virginia Mayo
Virginia Mayo
Virginia Mayo was an American film actress.After a short career in vaudeville, Mayo progressed to films and during the 1940s established herself as a supporting player in such films as The Best Years of Our Lives and White Heat .Mayo remained an A-list actress into the mid-'50s, but then went...
and Phil Harris
Phil Harris
Harris and Faye married in 1941; it was a second marriage for both and lasted 54 years, until Harris's death. Harris engaged in a fistfight at the Trocadero nightclub in 1938 with RKO studio mogul Bob Stevens; the cause was reported to be over Faye after Stevens and Faye had ended a romantic...
, in cameo appearances as themselves.
Plot
Air Force flyers Rick Williams (Ron HagerthyRon Hagerthy
Ronald F. "Ron" Hagerthy is a former American actor known primarily for his guest-starring and supporting roles on television westerns. In 1952, he portrayed Clipper King in the modern western series, Sky King, with Kirby Grant in the title role of Clipper's uncle, Schuyler "Sky" King, pilot of...
) and Mike Nolan (Dick Wesson
Dick Wesson (actor)
Dick Wesson was a prolific character actor, comedian, comedy writer, and producer...
) attempt to meet Nell Wayne (Janice Rule
Janice Rule
-Early life and career:Born in Norwood, Ohio, her career included stage, screen and television work. Rule studied ballet and began dancing in Chicago nightclubs in her teens. She soon attracted attention in Hollywood and made her film debut in 1951...
), a (fictitious) film star performing in a star-studded musical in San Francisco. Rick and Nell were both from the same small town
Youngstown
Youngstown may refer to:A place*Canada**Britannia Youngstown, Edmonton, Alberta**Youngstown, Alberta*United States**Youngstown, Florida**Youngstown, Indiana**Youngstown, New York**Youngstown, Ohio***Youngstown State University...
, but had never met. Mike attempts to convince both the staff and cast members at the theater that Rick and Nell are best friends and are extremely close. Ruth Roman
Ruth Roman
Ruth Roman was an American actress. One of her most memorable roles was in the Alfred Hitchcock 1951 thriller Strangers on a Train....
takes pity on them and takes them to meet Nell. However, the men first meet with Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
and Gordon MacRae
Gordon MacRae
Gordon MacRae was an American actor and singer, best known for his appearances in the film versions of two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Oklahoma! and Carousel and films with Doris Day like Starlift.-Early life:Born Albert Gordon MacRae in East Orange, New Jersey, MacRae graduated from...
, who are rehearsing the song "You're Gonna Lose Your Gal."
When they find that Nell isn't there, and that if she were, she would reveal that she didn't know the boys, Mike claims that they are both shipping out to the Korean front that night. This makes Ruth and Doris feel guilty, and they invite the boys to lunch. When Nell does arrive, not knowing him, she attempts to make their visit brief. Doris and Ruth had already guessed that the two didn't know each other, but still let him meet Nell.
Waiting for Nell had made the boys late for their bus to return to base so Doris, Ruth, and Nell offer to drive them back to Travis Air Force base, all the while wearing fur coats and ball gowns for that night's movie premiere. Instead of being shipped to the front lines in Korea however, the boys operate routine transport flights to Honolulu, Hawaii. While at the base they go to the transport terminal, where many of the soldiers are waiting for their flights to be called. Doris gets on stage to dance and sing "S'Wonderful" while Nell and Ruth go out to the runway to kiss Rick goodbye. Nell gives Rick a good-luck charm from her charm bracelet. As they watch the plane take off, their driver, the colonel, suggests that they greet some wounded soldiers at the hospital, where Doris sings a medley of "You Oughta be in Pictures" & "You Do Something To Me."
After making their appearance at the Air Force Base, the three ladies return to San Francisco to perform in the show ("What Is This Thing Called Love?
What Is This Thing Called Love?
"What Is This Thing Called Love?"is a 1929 popular song written by Cole Porter, for the musical Wake Up and Dream. It was first performed by Elsie Carlisle in March 1929. The song has become a popular jazz standard and one of Porter's most often played compositions.Wake Up and Dream ran for 263...
"). When a plane with wounded soldiers arrives with Rick and Mike in it, unwounded, and fresh from Honolulu, Nell is furious for Rick lying to her about going to the Korean front lines. However, she keeps up the love act for gossip columnist Louella Parsons which allows the "Operation Starlift" celebrities to perform at Travis Air Force base. The next morning they sing and dance while the planes leave ("Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)
Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)
"Liza " is a song composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn. It was introduced in 1929 by Ruby Keeler in Florenz Ziegfeld's musical Show Girl. The stage performances were accompanied by the Duke Ellington Orchestra...
").
It's Magic
"It's Magic" is a popular song.The music was written by Jule Styne, the lyrics by Sammy Cahn. The song was introduced by Doris Day in her film debut, Romance on the High Seas, and was published in 1947....
"). The next day the Warner Bros. president arranges for several other Warner Bros. actors to perform at the base that night. While visiting her parents Nell finds that Rick's parents are at her home...and so is Rick. After dinner the Waynes take the Williams out for a movie leaving Nell and Rick in the house alone together. They quarrel and Rick gives Nell back the charm from her bracelet. The next morning when the Williams arrive, Nell finds that Rick was sent overseas ahead of schedule. She rushes to the base but his flight had already left.
Meanwhile, the Starlift, the plane containing the movie stars, had arrived, containing Virginia Mayo and Phil Harris ("I May Be Wrong (But I Think You're Wonderful)
I May Be Wrong (but I Think You're Wonderful)
"I May Be Wrong " is a popular song.The music was written by Henry Sullivan, the lyrics by Harry Ruskin. The song was published in 1929.Judy Garland recorded the song in 1944....
", "Noche Caribe (Caribbean Night)"). Phil Harris purposely loses $750 to a soldier while playing Gin Rummy before performing "Look Out, Stranger, I'm a Texas Ranger."
Rick's plane arrives but he runs away from the hangar where Nell is waiting. While writing a letter to be given to him, Nell sees Rick enter the cafeteria and runs in after him. Without him realizing it she takes over for the waitress and makes him the chocolate malt he orders, just the way she did back in Youngstown, where her family had a malt shop. They drink the malt together, and they forgive each other. The next day, when Rick is finally shipped out, Nell is there to kiss him goodbye.
Operation Starlift
Beginning in 1950, Operation Starlift was a program created by the Special Service Officers and Hollywood Coordinating Committee to bring movie stars of the time to Travis Air Force Base in order to entertain the wounded coming in from the Korean WarKorean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. Ruth Roman was the forerunner of the project, which also saw such stars as Jane Russell
Jane Russell
Jane Russell was an American film actress and was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s....
, Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
, Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006...
, Alan Ladd
Alan Ladd
-Early life:Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh Ladd and Alan Ladd, Sr. He was of English ancestry. His father died when he was four, and his mother relocated to Oklahoma City where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter...
, Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
, Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
, Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert was a French-born American-based actress of stage and film.Born in Paris, France and raised in New York City, Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the 1920s, progressing to film with the advent of talking pictures...
, Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn
Keenan Wynn was an American character actor. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade, and though he rarely had a lead role, he got prominent billing in most of his film and TV parts....
, Donald O'Connor
Donald O'Connor
Donald David Dixon Ronald O’Connor was an American dancer, singer, and actor who came to fame in a series of movies in which he co-starred alternately with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule...
, Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....
, Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds is an American actress, singer, and dancer.She was initially signed at age 16 by Warner Bros., but her career got off to a slow start. When her contract was not renewed, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gave her a small, but significant part in the film Three Little Words , then signed her to...
, Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
and many others. The flights flew the entertainers from Burbank every Saturday and returned them the following day. Shows performed in the Passenger Terminal Building (for departing servicemen) would usually last between two and three hours. They would then give performances for the men in the hospital auditorium. Time Magazine reported that Operation Starlift ended in November 1951, when the program ran out of funds. Revived in November 1999, the USO
United Service Organizations
The United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...
operated its own Operation Starlift, which included Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek
Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez de Pinault is a Mexican film actress, director and producer. She received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her role as Frida Kahlo in the film Frida.-Early life:...
, Dennis Haskins
Dennis Haskins
Dennis Haskins is an American actor known for his role as principal Richard Belding in the teen sitcom Saved by the Bell, which ran from 1989 to 1993 on NBC. He then went on to star in Saved by the Bell: The New Class, which aired from 1993 to 2000...
, Danica McKellar
Danica McKellar
Danica Mae McKellar is an American actress, academic, and education advocate. She is best known for her role as Winnie Cooper in the television show The Wonder Years, and later as author of the three The New York Times bestsellers, Math Doesn't Suck, Kiss My Math, and Hot X: Algebra Exposed, which...
, Garrett Morris
Garrett Morris
Garrett Gonzalez Morris is an American comedian and actor from New Orleans. He was part of the original cast of the sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live, appearing from 1975 to 1980.-Early life and career:...
and Sheeri Rappaport
Sheeri Rappaport
Sheeri Rappaport is an American actress. She currently portrays lab technician Mandy Webster on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.Rappaport made her television debut with a guest role on Clarissa Explains It All...
, among others.
Musical numbers
- "You're Gonna Lose Your Gal" - Doris Day and Gordon MacRae
- "S'Wonderful" - Doris Day
- "You Oughta Be in Pictures / You Do Something To Me" - Doris Day
- "What Is This Thing Called Love?What Is This Thing Called Love?"What Is This Thing Called Love?"is a 1929 popular song written by Cole Porter, for the musical Wake Up and Dream. It was first performed by Elsie Carlisle in March 1929. The song has become a popular jazz standard and one of Porter's most often played compositions.Wake Up and Dream ran for 263...
" - Lucille Norman and Gordon MacRae - "Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)"Liza " is a song composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn. It was introduced in 1929 by Ruby Keeler in Florenz Ziegfeld's musical Show Girl. The stage performances were accompanied by the Duke Ellington Orchestra...
" - Patrice Wymore - "God's Green Acres of Home" - Gordon MacRae
- "It's MagicIt's Magic"It's Magic" is a popular song.The music was written by Jule Styne, the lyrics by Sammy Cahn. The song was introduced by Doris Day in her film debut, Romance on the High Seas, and was published in 1947....
" - Gene Nelson and Janice Rule with vocal quartet - "I May Be Wrong (but I Think You're Wonderful)I May Be Wrong (but I Think You're Wonderful)"I May Be Wrong " is a popular song.The music was written by Henry Sullivan, the lyrics by Harry Ruskin. The song was published in 1929.Judy Garland recorded the song in 1944....
" - Jane Wyman - "Noche Caribe (Caribbean Night)" - Virginia Mayo
- "Look Out, Stranger, I'm a Texas Ranger" - Phil Harris, Gary Cooper, Virginia Gibson and Frank Lovejoy
Cast
- Ron HagerthyRon HagerthyRonald F. "Ron" Hagerthy is a former American actor known primarily for his guest-starring and supporting roles on television westerns. In 1952, he portrayed Clipper King in the modern western series, Sky King, with Kirby Grant in the title role of Clipper's uncle, Schuyler "Sky" King, pilot of...
- Rick Williams - Dick WessonDick Wesson (actor)Dick Wesson was a prolific character actor, comedian, comedy writer, and producer...
- Mike Nolan - Janice RuleJanice Rule-Early life and career:Born in Norwood, Ohio, her career included stage, screen and television work. Rule studied ballet and began dancing in Chicago nightclubs in her teens. She soon attracted attention in Hollywood and made her film debut in 1951...
- Nell Wayne - Hayden RorkeHayden RorkeWilliam Henry Rorke was an American actor best known for playing Col. Dr. Alfred E. Bellows on the hit 1960s American sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Career:...
- Chaplain - Ruth RomanRuth RomanRuth Roman was an American actress. One of her most memorable roles was in the Alfred Hitchcock 1951 thriller Strangers on a Train....
- Herself - Doris DayDoris DayDoris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
- Herself - Gordon MacRaeGordon MacRaeGordon MacRae was an American actor and singer, best known for his appearances in the film versions of two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Oklahoma! and Carousel and films with Doris Day like Starlift.-Early life:Born Albert Gordon MacRae in East Orange, New Jersey, MacRae graduated from...
- Himself
Guest Stars
Performing as "guest stars" in the film's show segment were: James CagneyJames Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
, Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
, Virginia Gibson
Virginia Gibson
Virginia Gibson is an American dancer, singer and actress of film, television and musical theatre.-Career:...
, Phil Harris
Phil Harris
Harris and Faye married in 1941; it was a second marriage for both and lasted 54 years, until Harris's death. Harris engaged in a fistfight at the Trocadero nightclub in 1938 with RKO studio mogul Bob Stevens; the cause was reported to be over Faye after Stevens and Faye had ended a romantic...
, Frank Lovejoy
Frank Lovejoy
Frank Lovejoy was an American actor in radio, film, and television. He was born Frank Lovejoy Jr. in Bronx, New York, but grew up in New Jersey. His father, Frank Lovejoy Sr., was a furniture salesman from Maine...
, Lucille Norman
Lucille Norman
Lucille Norman was an American singer and film actress of the 1940s and 1950s.Norman was born Lucille Pharaby Boileau in Lincoln, Nebraska, and had entered into a career as a singer by the mid-1930s. She performed as a singer for movie soundtracks, and in 1942 she had her first film role, an...
, Louella Parsons
Louella Parsons
Louella Parsons was the first American news-writer movie columnist in the United States. She was a gossip columnist who, for many years, was an influential arbiter of Hollywood mores, often feared and hated by the individuals, mostly actors, whose careers she could negatively impact via her...
, Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott was an American film actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals , adventure tales, war films, and even a few...
, Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman was an American singer, dancer, and character actress of film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...
and Patrice Wymore
Patrice Wymore
Patrice Wymore is an American television, film, and stage actress of the 1950s and 1960s.-Early life and stage career:...
. The comedy team of Tommy Noonan
Tommy Noonan
Tommy Noonan was a comedy genre film performer, screenwriter and producer. He acted in a number of 'A' and 'B' pictures from the 1940s through the 1960s, and he is best known for his supporting performances as Gus Esmond, Marilyn Monroe's wealthy boyfriend, in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes , and as the...
and Peter Marshall
Peter Marshall
Peter Marshall may refer to:* Peter Marshall , British author whose works include Demanding The Impossible: A History of Anarchism and Europe's Lost Civilization...
made their film debut in Starlift, also performing during the show segment.
Critical reception
In his 1951 review of the film from the New York Times, Bosley CrowtherBosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
said that the "acts are unspeakably slapdash and the romance is painful beyond words," and the "performances given by Miss Rule and Ron Hagerthy as the flier are as sappy as they could possibly be, and Dick Wesson as a pushy pal of the flier is downright insufferable."
In its own 1951 review of the film, Time Magazine stated that the film's Operation Starlift "now supplies a backdrop for a spotty variety show, loosely glued together by the romance of a Hollywood star and an Air Force corporal from her home town."
Home media
On April 7, 2009, Turner Entertainment released Starlift on Region 1 DVD as part of the Doris Day Spotlight Collection. The 5 disc set contains digitally remastered versions of It's a Great FeelingIt's a Great Feeling
It's a Great Feeling is a Warner Bros. feature film starring Doris Day, Jack Carson, and Dennis Morgan in a spoof of what goes on behind-the-scenes in Hollywood movie-making. The screenplay by Jack Rose and Melville Shavelson was based upon a story by I.A.L. Diamond. The film was directed by...
(1949), Tea for Two
Tea for Two (film)
Tea for Two is a 1950 American musical film directed by David Butler. The screenplay by Harry Clork and William Jacobs was inspired by the 1925 stage musical No, No Nanette, although the plot was changed considerably from the original book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel, and the score by Harbach,...
(1950), April in Paris
April in Paris (film)
April in Paris is a 1952 musical film starring Doris Day and Ray Bolger. It was directed by David Butler.-Synopsis:Winthrop Putnam is the Assistant Secretary to the Assistant to the Undersecretary of State, and was formerly Assistant Assistant Secretary to the Assistant to the Undersecretary of State...
(1952) and The Tunnel of Love
The Tunnel of Love
The Tunnel of Love is a 1958 romantic comedy film based on the Broadway hit by Peter De Vries and Joseph Fields. The film follows a married suburban couple who for reasons unknown, are unable to conceive a child and soon endure endless red tape on a path of adopting a child. The film is the first...
(1958).