Sally, Irene, and Mary

Pleasant musical in no frills package
By 1938, Alice Faye was big news at the boxoffice and "Sally, Irene and Mary" was one in a series of lightweight musical comedies which built her to stardom. This one capitalised on her recent marriage to Tony Martin of the smooth tenor. Their rapport, particularly singing the duet "I could use a Dream" is obvious. The film traces the exploits of 3 manicurists who are trying to break into showbusiness as vocalists. The other two are Joan Davis, of the broad comedy, and Marjorie Weaver, being singled out for stardom but never making the big time. Daryl F. Zanuck, head of the studio, had a very successful formula with these musicals, filling them with comedians and specialty acts. In this one, Jimmy Durante has an amusing role, Fred Allen, famous in radio, has a prominent part, Louise Hovick (Gypsy Rose Lee) is on board for some acid comedy, the Brian Sisters appear in the swing number "Who Stole the Jam" and Gregory Ratoff steals every scene in which he appears. The musical highlight...

Alice Faye is wonderful but Jimmy Durante steals the show
I bought this DVD because I'm a big fan of Alice Faye and because so few of her films from the middle 1930s are available on DVD or VHS. I was not disappointed with the film and I'm thrilled to see this one available on DVD. Thank you, 20th Century Fox for finally seeing that there is a market for these films!

I have had CDs and record albums featuring the songs from this film for years and it's nice to finally hear them in the context of the film! The big surprise for me was the delightful number by Jimmy Durante, which was not included on any CD I have. As usual, he's a scene stealer and pretty much leaves the rest of the cast in the dust whenever he's in the mix.

As part of the Fox Cinema Archives series, this DVD is completely bare bones: no chapters, no trailer, no extras of any kind - just the movie.

Alice, Joan and Marjorie Weaver are manicurists who dream of their chance singing in a Broadway review. Through a series of mishaps and Jimmy...

Singing, dancing... and Fred Allen!
First off, I have to confess I am not big on musicals. I got this film because I am a fan of Fred Allen, and you don't get many chances to see him on your TV screen!

The story is pretty standard for the genre. If you like good old singing and dancing, there is a lot here for you.

Fred Allen does a good job as the manager of Sally, Irene, and Mary, aspiring performers who are down to their last can of beans. Gregory Ratoff plays a rich foreigner who "wants a honeymoon", and keeps changing his mind on who to have it with! Jimmy Durante has a rather small role as a street sweeper, who ends up working with Allen, and has one singing number.

Of course, Alice Faye and Tony Martin do most of the singing.

A light film, not spectacular, but still entertaining. In my highly biased opinion, Fred Allen is the best thing in it!

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