Classic Ladies & Lyrics

 Fellow lovers of classic films may love this post. I'm highlighting ladies who made movies and made me swoon with the way they could deliver a song. Treat your ears and listen.

Shirley Ross sang "Thanks For the Memories" with Bob Hope in Paramount's THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1938. They played a divorced couple who later realize they're still in love with each other. It won the Oscar for Best Song and become Hope's signature tune. Ross had a lovely voice and an understated way with a song. Her delivery was like a whiff of a sublime perfume. She worked with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby in movies but Paramount seriously under-utilized her singing and acting skills in the 1930s. Here she is singing "It Never Entered My Mind."

Lena Horne made her Hollywood studio acting debut in Vincente Minnelli's 1943 MGM adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, CABIN IN THE SKY. She appeared in other MGM musicals and, in 1943, the studio loaned her to 20th Century Fox so she could star in that studio's musical, STORMY WEATHER. MGM gave her the glamorous treatment in musical numbers. However, it denied the future civil rights activist the opportunity to act opposite the studio's White music stars such of Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and Gene Kelly. Lena Horne starred in Broadway shows, was a Tony nominee for Best Actress in a Musical for 1957's JAMAICA. Her one-woman Broadway show in the 1980s brought her a special Tony Award. Today, there is a Broadway theater named in her honor. Here, Lena sings "Out of Nowhere" recorded in 1941

Betty Hutton was a singer with a band. She got featured work in Broadway shows and then headed for Hollywood. She became one of Paramount's biggest stars of the 1940s with her bouncy musical comedy talent. She had the lead female role in Cecil B. DeMille's THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, a circus epic that won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1952. That movie has significance in Steven Spielberg's THE FABELMANS. Known for her ability to belt out a tune, Betty's softer moments -- singing and acting -- were most effective. She proved that in Paramount's INCENDIARY BLONDE, a bittersweet 1945 biopic of famed 1920s nightclub owner/entertainer Texas Guinan. Hutton had a hit record with the standard she sang in that film, "It Had To Be You."

Peggy Lee was a singer with Benny Goodman's band. She went on to become a top solo singer and songwriter. She played the abused, alcoholic 1920s jazz singer in 1955's PETE KELLY'S BLUES and earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her performance. That same years, moviegoers heard the songs she co-wrote for Disney's classic animated feature, LADY AND THE TRAMP. Here's Peggy in PETE KELLY'S BLUES.

Thanks for listening.