Strike Up the Band

TCM ran a centenary salute for Mickey Rooney back in September which gave me the chance to record a couple of movies I hadn't blogged about here before. One of them is Strike Up the Band.

Mickey Rooney plays Jimmy Connors, not the ill-mannered tennis player but a high school senior who plays the drums in the school band. However, Jimmy has ideas about playing in a jazz band, that being the hot new style of the day. He gets a bunch of his classmates together, and they start practicing after school, although there's some consternation amongst the parents who think this might just be taking time away from their kids' studies.

Among the folks involved in the band are Mary Holden (Judy Garland), who is the singer for the band, and Willie (Larry Nunn), whom we only mention because he's going to come up later in the movie in a key if mawkish plot point. They put on a dance to raise money for the school, which proves to be successful, and gives Jimmy bigger ideas.

Jimmy's big ideas are going to be furthered when he's brought into contact with rich girl Barbara Morgan (June Preisser, basically reprising the same sort of character she played in Babes in Arms). Jimmy falls for Barbara which could be a problem with Mary, and also offers to be the band for a big party Barbara's parents are putting on, something that could make more money for the band.

The band has also put on another show after learning about a big contest Paul Whiteman (playing himself) is putting on for high school-aged bands. The only thing is, Whiteman is based out of Chicago, and Jimmy and his friends are out east (I think Long Island but I'm not certain the movie specifically gives the location of the fictional high school), and are going to need $200 to get the money for train fare to Chicago for the contest.

They're in luck, however. The Morgans aren't going to hire Jimmy and his band because they already have one for the party -- Paul Whiteman and his band! Jimmy and his friends show up at the party and, during one of the Whiteman band's breaks, do something unimaginable: they pick up the Whiteman band's instruments and start playing! Now, I'd think that if a professional musician found a bunch of well-meaning amateurs taking their instruments like this, the pros would be absolutely pissed. But instead, Whiteman is impressed, and after Whiteman hears Jimmy's sob story about not having the last $50 he needs to get the band to Chicago for the radio contest, Whiteman personally fronts Jimmy that money.

Ah, but there's another catch. Remember Willie? The second show the band put on was not just a concert, but a musical comedy show. Part of that show had Willie in a harness that gave him a serious arm injury. Willie needs an operation stat, but the orthopedic surgeon who has the most qualification to perform it is out in Chicago, and the plane there is going to take the $200 that the band needs to get to Chicago for the contest.

Of course, you know that the conflict is going to be resolved and Jimmy and Marry are going to wind up together in the last scene, which is actually a big concert of all of the bands in the contest, whom you'd think might have a bit of trouble being in sync seeing as they haven't practiced together before. But this is an MGM musical, so minor plot points like that can be ignored.

To be honest, I didn't mind the new tunes to be particularly memorable, but of course I'm also not the biggest fan of musicals. Anybody who is a fan of musicals, or of Judy Garland, is going to really like Strike Up the Band. Garland and Rooney bring a lot of energy to the movie, and even if the plot is hokey and predictable, their enthusiasm overcomes it. This was made for audiences who knew what they wanted and not something daring, and there's nothing wrong with that.

The last I checked, Strike Up the Band has been released on both DVD and Blu-ray courtesy of the Warner Archive collection.