Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)

Two impresarios (Edward Everett Horton, S.Z. Sakall) are putting on an all star benefit for charity. They want Dinah Shore for their show but she's under contract to an obnoxious Eddie Cantor who won't let her do the show unless he's part of it. Meanwhile, a struggling singer (Dennis Morgan) and songwriter (Joan Leslie) look to the show to jumpstart their careers. Directed by David Butler (CALAMITY JANE), this is just a barely there plot to accommodate a slew of special performances by Warners contract players. In the 1940s, it wasn't unusual for a studio to do a project like this using their roster of stars. MGM did it with THOUSANDS CHEER, Paramount did it with STAR SPANGLED RHYTHM and Warners would do it again the following year with HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN. The silly plot allows us to see Humphrey Bogart parodying himself, Bette Davis do the jitterbug, John Garfield sing, Errol Flynn doing a British music hall number and Hattie McDaniel looking glamorous singing Ice Cold Katie instead playing a domestic. Two numbers stood out for me: Ann Sheridan singing Love Isn't Born which indicates Warners missed out by not putting her in musicals and a dance number with Alexis Smith (who knew she could dance?) who would have to wait until FOLLIES to showcase her musical talent.  With Olivia De Havilland, Ida Lupino, Jack Carson and Spike Jones.