MAD ABOUT MUSIC

MOVIE INFORMATION:
Universal Studios - 1938
1 Hour, 38 Minutes
Black & White

MAIN CREDITS:
Producer…Joe Pasternak
Director…Norman Taurog
Screenplay…Bruce Manning
Music…Charles Previn

MAIN CHARACTERS:
Gloria Harkinson…Deanna Durbin
Richard Todd…Herbert Marshall
Tripps...Arthur Treacher
Gwen Taylor…Gail Patrick
Dusty Turner…William Frawley
Olga…Marcia Mae Jones
Felice…Helen Parrish
Tommy Gray…Jackie Moran
Pierre…Christian Rub
Annette Fusenot…Elisabeth Risdon
Louise Fusenot…Nana Bryant

MOVIE SYNOPSIS:
Gloria’s Harkinson’s mother, Gwen Taylor is a successful movie actress. In order to keep her image as a Hollywood glamour queen, her manager, Dusty Turner insists that she keep secret the fact that she has a 14 year old daughter. Gloria attends a girl’s boarding school in Switzerland and misses her mother very much. She can’t tell the truth about her mother to anyone at school and her father died when she was just an infant. So Gloria invents an exciting explorer father. She reads out the letters she has received from him to her schoolmates, but in reality, she has written the letters herself with the help of Pierre. Felice, one of the girls in school, has serious doubts about Gloria’s father being a real person and tries to expose the fraud which cause Gloria to attack her. During her punishment time, Gloria tells Olga that her father is arriving in town, but actually she just wants to meet up with Tommy Gray at the confectionary store. Olga is so excited about Gloria’s father that she tells the whole school which forces Gloria to ask Richard Todd, a man who has just arrived at the railway station, to act as her father. He eventually agrees to the plan and also convinces Felice that he in fact is Gloria’s father. Richard has to go Paris and Gloria notices in a newspaper that Gwen Taylor will also be in Paris at the same time. Gloria sneaks away from school and gets on the same Paris bound train as Richard. She arrives at the hotel where her mother is staying, but Dusty convinces Gloria not to see her mother because of the damage it would cause her career. In tears, she returns to Richard who takes her to a movie where he discovers that Gwen Taylor is really Gloria’s mother. At a press conference, Gwen announces to the world that she has a 14 year old daughter and Richard reunites them. Much to the joy of Gloria, Richard and Gwen fall in love and all live happily ever after.

THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: 27 February 1938.

I Love To Whistle written by Jimmy McHugh & Harold Adamson is the opening song and theme of MAD ABOUT MUSIC.



CLICK HERE

Here is a wonderful comment by film historian Roger Dooley (1920-1993): "The sight of Deanna and her schoolmates bicycling through a Swiss countryside while Deanna sings I Love To Whistle is one of the high spots of enjoyment from films of the late 1930s. Of course, one could also say that about Deanna herself!"

Gloria Harkinson (Deanna Durbin) checks on Felice (Helen Parrish) after she falls from her bike:



Helen Parrish was one of Deanna's best friends. The scene at the beginning of the movie when Felice falls off her bike and then tells Gloria that she hates her wasn't easy to perform because of their friendship. Actually, right after that scene was shot, when the cameras weren't rolling, they hugged each other to acknowledge that it was only a movie and not real life!

CLICK HERE

Olga (Marcia Mae Jones) tells Gloria that Felice has been spreading aweful lies.



CLICK HERE

At the chapel, Olga gets in trouble for looking at the boys and Gloria is caught chewing gum.



Deanna Durbin must of done over a dozen takes from various angles and each time she was given a fresh piece of gum to chew! In real life, Deanna loved to chew gum.

Tommy Gray (Jackie Moran) finally gets enough courage to ask Gloria for a date.



Jackie Moran asked Deanna Durbin for her autograph about a year before becoming her first onscreen romantic interest in MAD ABOUT MUSIC.

CLICK HERE

Gloria chooses Richard Todd (Herbert Marshall) as her pretend father:



CLICK HERE

Gloria sings Chapel Bells written by Jimmy McHugh & Harold Adamson while Richard plays the piano.



CLICK HERE

Cappy Barra Harmonica Ensemble perform I Love To Whistle.



CLICK HERE

Gloria sings on the train bound for Paris to get the attention of Richard.

Gwen Taylor (Gail Patrick) finally gets to see Gloria thanks to Richard.



Gail's character had to act really emotional because she hadn't seen her daughter for many years, but it wasn't easy considering she was just staring at the camera crew. So Deanna came to the rescue by standing where Gail could see her. Deanna looked so sweet that Gail began to cry and that was a take!

CLICK HERE

A Serenade To The Stars written by Jimmy McHugh & Harold Adamson is beautifully sung by Gloria and a great way to end MAD ABOUT MUSIC.

Here is a photo of Deanna with her sister and mother during a break in the filming of MAD ABOUT MUSIC:

Herbert Marshall and Joe Pasternak help Deanna Durbin celebrate her 16th birthday at Universal Studios during a break in the filming of MAD ABOUT MUSIC:

It was very hard for the girls to part after 10 weeks of making MAD ABOUT MUSIC. They really enjoyed the whole experience. After filming, the girls sat at a long table in the dinning room at Universal Studios and began to sing Auld Lang Syne. Norman Taurog jokingly said that the girls were plastered on milk as they sobbed and sang a toast to Deanna - She's A Jolly Good Fellow. One of the girls went to Deanna and told her in a sobbing voice how wonderful it was to work with her and happy the girls had been. Emotion got the better of the girl and she fled in tears. Deanna also enjoyed making the picture, but she knew it had to come to an end. :cry: :cry: :cry:

The director of the movie, Norman Taurog had pet names for Deanna. He called her "Durby" and "Shorty" among other things! Deanna would call him "Butch."

Deanna Durbin with Joe Pasternak and Norman Taurog:



CLICK HERE

There are a number of mistakes found in MAD ABOUT MUSIC as follows:

When Pierre drives Gloria to the station, the shadow of leaves on the awning of the carriage is made by the same branch throughout.

During the carriage trip from the station to the hotel, the large suitcase between Pierre and Tripps changes position.

One of the teachers addresses Olga as "Olga Nelson." Since we are told that Olga is Swedish, her surname cannot be Nelson.

On the marble plaque in the entrance to the Savoy Hotel, the V in "Savoy" is the wrong way round, with the thicker stroke on the right.

When Gloria and Richard go to the movies in Paris, the sign says EXIT instead of the French SORTIE.

MEMORABLE LINES:

Gloria: "Oh, you're English? That's nice."
Richard: "Yes we like it."

In Spain, MAD ABOUT MUSIC was called LITTLE STORY TELLER.

Also, Deanna was spelt Diana, because a Spanish "i" has the same pronunciation as the English "e."

This is a photo of Deanna Durbin rehearsing with the Vienna Boys Choir:



The choir boys seen in the movie were actually members of Saint Luke's Church of Long Beach, California. However, the voices heard are those of the famous Vienna Boys Choir who were in Hollywood just long enough to record their voices for the soundtrack. The Saint Luke's boys allowed their faces to be used without their voices. Also, the director told Deanna to "think of Benny Goodman and get a little swing to it!"

CLICK HERE

One of the schoolgirls was played by a beautiful girl called Georgiana Belzer who was the half-sister of the movie star, Loretta Young!



Georgiana passed away on the 13th of November, 2007.

This is a photo of Music Director Charles Previn working with Deanna Durbin as she records I Love To Whistle:




And here is a photo of the actual blackboard that Deanna Durbin viewed as she recorded I Love To Whistle:

Deanna Durbin on the set of MAD ABOUT MUSIC ready to ride and whistle.

In one of the scenes, Deanna had been working in the "rain" all morning and because she had to dry her hair she was late for her lunch break. She was so hungry she said she could eat EVERYTHING in the kitchen, but instead, she just ate her usual meal which was tomato juice, green salad, steak, vegetables, and ice-cream.

On the set of MAD ABOUT MUSIC, Deanna Durbin would enjoy the company of her fellow actors between scenes. The remarkable thing about Deanna was that she felt just as comfortable with the adults as she did with the girls of her own age. Every afternoon she would have tea with Herbert Marshall. As they drank their tea, they would discuss the latest plays and books. Deanna would also play Tit Tat Toe (Tic Tac Toe) and Hot Hands (Red Hands) with the girls. All those activities helped Deanna relax which was important considering she had a demanding work load.



CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE

This a promotional photo of Deanna Durbin and Jackie Moran with the Cappy Barra Harmonica Ensemble:

We all know that Deanna Durbin had the habit of biting her nails when she got nervous, but she also had another real life habit when she was young. If she told an untruth, she would cross her fingers or any other body parts to indicate to herself that she didn't mean what she was saying. In MAD ABOUT MUSIC, that manerism was part of the story, but in her earlier movies, Deanna would also cross herself because the scripts required her to tell fibs. In real life, Deanna was well known for her honesty.

Joe Pasternak got himself into trouble because he tried to help a friend. For months a Swiss man he knew had been coming to see him asking for a job. During the filming of MAD ABOUT MUSIC, there is a scene when Christian Rub is supposed to yodel, but he couldn't. Pasternak's Swiss friend was an expert yodeler, so the man was put to work by yodeling into a microphone. He was paid only $25 for the job which took about a month. After the successful run of the movie, the man sued Pasternak and Universal for $50,000 claiming they had stolen his yodel. Groucho Marx on hearing the story commented: "Wouldn't he settle for a good canyon?"



CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE

Deanna Durbin enjoying a lunch break with Helen Parrish and Marcia Mae Jones during the production of MAD ABOUT MUSIC:

Deanna Durbin fans waiting to see MAD ABOUT MUSIC:

Screen Romances magazine presented Universal Studios an Award of Merit for MAD ABOUT MUSIC:

Deanna Durbin with Jackie Moran:

Sid Grauman enjoyed meeting Deanna Durbin during the production of MAD ABOUT MUSIC:

For the premiere of MAD ABOUT MUSIC, Deanna Durbin placed her hands and footprints in wet cement in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre:



CLICK HERE

This is the 1938 trailer for MAD ABOUT MUSIC:

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS:
Best Writing Original Story
Best Art Direction
Best Music Scoring
Best Cinematography