Love Letters to Old Hollywood

For years now, one of my favorite underrated films has been Lady Be Good , a remarkably fun musical starring * takes a deep breath * Ann Sothern, Eleanor Powell, Robert Young, Red Skelton, Virginia O'Brien, Lionel Barrymore, John Carroll, Tom Conway, and one of classic film's cutest dogs, a beagle-fox terrier mix named Buttons. Despite this stellar cast, Lady Be Good isn't nearly as well known as it should be, which is something that this review will hopefully fix. Nothing makes me happier than a frothy MGM musical, and this film is exactly the kind of tonic I need when I'm looking for a pick-me-up. We open on a courthouse where a divorce trial is underway. On the stand is Dixie Donegan (Sothern), a lyricist whose soon-to-be ex is also her songwriting partner. She tells Judge Murdock (Barrymore) how she and Eddie Crane (Young) met while she was waiting tables and he was very much the struggling artist. They began dating, and one night after a particularly hopeless ses...