| Thank Your Lucky Stars | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | David Butler |
| Produced by | Mark Hellinger |
| Written by | Norman Panama (screenplay) Melvin Frank (screenplay) |
| Starring | Eddie Cantor Joan Leslie Dennis Morgan Humphrey Bogart Bette Davis Olivia de Havilland Errol Flynn John Garfield |
| Music by | Heinz Roemheld |
| Cinematography | Arthur Edeson |
| Editing by | Irene Morra |
| Distributed by | Warner Brothers |
| Release date(s) | 1943 |
| Running time | 124 min. |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943) is a film made by Warner Brothers as a World War II fundraiser. It was directed by David Butler and starred Eddie Cantor, Dennis Morgan, Joan Leslie, Edward Everett Horton and S. Z. Sakall.[1][2]
The film was a musical with a slim plot, involving theater producers (Horton and Sakall) staging a wartime charity program, only to have the production taken over by their egotistical star (Eddie Cantor, playing himself). Meanwhile, an aspiring singer (Morgan) and his songwriter girlfriend (Leslie) conspire to get into the charity program by replacing Cantor with their look-alike friend, tour bus driver Joe Simpson (also played by Cantor, in a dual role).
Many of Warner Brothers stars performed in musical numbers, including several who were not known as singers. The film features the only screen musical numbers ever done by Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, and Ida Lupino. Each of the cast members was paid a $50,000 fee for their appearance which was then donated to the Hollywood Canteen. [3]
The film was popular with audiences, and the critic James Agee called it "the loudest and most vulgar of the current musicals. It is also the most fun." [4] Ticket sales combined with the donated salaries of the performers raised more than two million dollars for the Hollywood Canteen. [5]
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