This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1942.
Susan Hayward was an American actress best known for her film portrayals of women that were based on true stories.
Mame is a musical with a book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. Originally titled My Best Girl, it is based on the 1955 novel Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis and the 1956 Broadway play of the same name by Lawrence and Lee. A period piece set in New York City and spanning the Great Depression and World War II, it focuses on eccentric bohemian Mame Dennis, whose famous motto is "Life is a banquet and most poor sons of bitches are starving to death." Her fabulous life with her wealthy friends is interrupted when the young son of her late brother arrives to live with her. They cope with the Depression in a series of adventures.
George Robert Crosby was an American jazz singer and bandleader, best known for his group the Bob-Cats, which formed around 1935. The Bob-Cats were a New Orleans Dixieland-style jazz octet. He was the younger brother of famed singer and actor Bing Crosby. On TV, Bob Crosby guest-starred in The Gisele MacKenzie Show. He was also a regular cast member of The Jack Benny Program, on both radio and television, taking over the role of bandleader after Phil Harris' departure. Crosby hosted his own afternoon TV variety show on CBS, The Bob Crosby Show (1953–1957). Crosby received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for television and radio.
Road to Rio is a 1947 American semimusical comedy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. Written by Edmund Beloin and Jack Rose, the film is about two inept vaudevillians who stow away on a Brazilian-bound ocean liner and foil a plot by a sinister hypnotist to marry off her niece to a greedy fortune hunter. Road to Rio was the fifth of the "Road to …" series.
Judy Canova, born Juliette Canova, was an American comedienne, actress, singer and radio personality who appeared on Broadway and in films. She hosted her own self-titled network radio program, a popular series broadcast from 1943 to 1955.
Moon Over Miami is a 1941 American musical comedy film directed by Walter Lang with Betty Grable and Don Ameche in leading roles and co-starring Robert Cummings, Carole Landis, Jack Haley and Charlotte Greenwood. It was adapted from the play by Stephen Powys. This was previously adapted into a 1938 film titled Three Blind Mice directed by William A. Seiter and starring Loretta Young, Joel McCrea and David Niven
Gerardo Luigi Colonna, better known as Jerry Colonna, was an American musician, actor, comedian, singer, songwriter and trombonist who played the zaniest of Bob Hope's sidekicks in Hope's popular radio shows and films of the 1940s and 1950s. He also voiced the March Hare in Walt Disney's 1951 animated feature film Alice in Wonderland.
Cy Feuer was an American theatre producer, director, composer, musician, and half of the celebrated producing duo Feuer and Martin. He won three competitive Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, and a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award. He was also nominated for Academy Awards as the producer of Storm Over Bengal and Cabaret.
Road to Singapore is a 1940 American semi-musical comedy film directed by Victor Schertzinger and starring Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour and Bob Hope. Based on a story by Harry Hervey, the film is about two playboys trying to forget previous romances in British Singapore, where they meet a beautiful woman. Distributed by Paramount Pictures, the film marked the debut of the long-running and popular "Road to ..." series of pictures spotlighting the trio, seven in all. The supporting cast features Charles Coburn, Anthony Quinn, and Jerry Colonna.
Sis Hopkins is a 1919 comedy film directed by Clarence G. Badger and starring Mabel Normand. The supporting cast features John Bowers and Sam De Grasse. The plot involves an unsophisticated and eccentric country girl who comes to the city to stay with wealthy relatives. Initially they underestimate her because she behaves so differently.
Blonde Inspiration is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Busby Berkeley and written by Marion Parsonnet. The film stars John Shelton, Virginia Grey, Albert Dekker, Charles Butterworth, and Donald Meek. The film was released on February 7, 1941, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
True to the Army is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Albert S. Rogell, written by Art Arthur, Bradford Ropes, Edmund L. Hartmann and Val Burton, and starring Judy Canova, Allan Jones, Ann Miller, Jerry Colonna, Clarence Kolb, Edward Pawley and William Wright. It was released on March 21, 1942, by Paramount Pictures.
Ice-Capades is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Joseph Santley and starring James Ellison, Phil Silvers, and Barbara Jo Allen. Its score, composed by Cy Feuer, was nominated for the Best Scoring of a Musical Picture. The film's sets were designed by the art director John Victor Mackay. It marked the screen debuts for the ice skaters Belita and Vera Ralston, both of whom went on to star in a number of films at Monogram and Republic respectively.
You're the One is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Ralph Murphy and written by Gene Markey. The film stars Bonnie Baker, Orrin Tucker, Albert Dekker, Edward Everett Horton, Lillian Cornell, Renie Riano and Jerry Colonna. The film was released on February 19, 1941, by Paramount Pictures.
Three Sons o' Guns is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Benjamin Stoloff, written by Fred Niblo, Jr., and starring Wayne Morris, Marjorie Rambeau, Irene Rich, Tom Brown, William T. Orr, Susan Peters and Moroni Olsen. It was released by Warner Bros. on August 2, 1941.
Thrill of a Lifetime is a 1937 American comedy film directed by George Archainbaud produced by Fanchon, and written by Seena Owen, Grant Garett and Paul Gerard Smith. The film stars James V. Kern, Charles Adler, George Kelly, Billy Mann—at the time a musical-comedy act called the Yacht Club Boys—along with Judy Canova, Ben Blue and Eleanore Whitney.
Puddin' Head is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Joseph Santley and written by Jack Townley and Milt Gross. The film stars Judy Canova, Francis Lederer, Raymond Walburn, Slim Summerville, Astrid Allwyn, Eddie Foy Jr., Alma Kruger, Hugh O'Connell and Chick Chandler. It was released on June 25, 1941 by Republic Pictures.
Secret Evidence is a 1941 American drama film irected by William Nigh and starring Marjorie Reynolds, Charles Quigley, and Kenneth Harlan. Made and distributed as a second feature by Producers Releasing Corporation, the film was released on January 31, 1941.
Swing It Soldier is a 1941 American musical comedy film directed by Harold Young and starring Ken Murray, Frances Langford, Don Wilson, Blanche Stewart, Elvia Allman, Hanley Stafford, Susan Miller, Irving Lee and Iris Adrian. The screenplay was written by Dorcas Cochran and Arthur V. Jones. The film was released on November 7, 1941, by Universal Pictures.
