GOOD NEWS

Good News
MGM, 1947, Color, 93 minutes, ****
Released December, 1947

Raccoon coats, "Oh, you kid," ukuleles, "Varsity Drag"...it's college life in the '20s as seen by Betty Comden and Adolph Green ("Singin' in the Rain"). June Allyson and Joan McCracken are the campus coeds after grid star Peter Lawford. Songs include "French Lesson," "Best Things in Life Are Free" and "Pass That Peace Pipe."

Highlights include Tommy's French lesson, followed by June Allyson's "The Best Things in Life Are Free"; Cora and Connie's "play" to fool Pat; and, of course, the finale number "The Varsity Drag". Good fun throughout.

Produced by: Arthur Freed
Associate Producer: Roger Edens
Directed by: Charles Walters
Screen Play by: Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Based on the Musical Comedy by: Lawrence Schwab, Lew Brown, Frank Mandel, B.G. DeSylva, Ray Henderson
Musical Direction: Lennie Hayton
Songs by: B.G. DeSylva, Lew Brown and Ray Henderson
Additional Material: Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Roger Edens
Song: "Pass That Peace Pipe" (by) Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane and Roger Edens
Vocal Arrangements: Kay Thompson
Art Directors: Cedric Gibbons and Edward Carfagno
Set Decorations: Edwin B. Willis
Associate: Paul B. Chamberlain
Women's Costumes by: Helen Rose
Men's Costumes by: Valles
Hair Styles Designed by: Sydney Guilaroff
Make-Up Created by: Jack Dawn
Recording Director: Douglas Shearer
Director of Photography: Charles Schoenbaum
Color by Technicolor
Technicolor Color Director: Natalie Kalmus
Associate: Henri Jaffa
Film Editor: Albert Akst

Awards: Nominated for Best Song Academy Award ("Pass That Peace Pipe")

Cast: June Allyson [Connie Lane], Peter Lawford [Tommy Marlowe], Patricia Marshall [Pat McClellan], Joan McCracken [Babe Doolittle], Ray McDonald [Bobby Turner], Mel Torme [Danny], Robert Strickland [Peter Van Dyne, III], Donald MacBride [Coach Johnson], Tom Dugan [Pooch], Clinton Sundberg [Prof. Burton Kehnyon], Loren Tindall [Beef], Connie Gilchrist [Cora, the Cook], Morris Ankrum [Dean Griswold], Georgia Lee [Flo], Jane Green [Mrs. Drexel], Additional Cast: Anne Taylor [Daisy], Mary Stuart, Janet Winkler [College Girls], Wheaton Chambers [Doctor], Sarah Edwards [Miss Pritchard]

Musical Program: [0:00] Overture: Good News / The Best Things in Life Are Free (sung by Chorus behind titles); [0:02] Tait Song (sung and danced by Joan McCracken and Chorus); [0:07] Be a Ladies Man (sung and danced by Peter Lawford, Ray McDonald, Mel Torme, Lon Tindal, Tom Dugan); [0:21] Lucky in Love (sung by Patricia Marshall, Joan McCracken, Mel Torme, June Allyson, Peter Lawford and Chorus); [0:28] The French Lesson (sung by June Allyson and Peter Lawford); [0:32] The Best Things in Life Are Free (sung by June Allyson); [0:42] Pass That Peace Pipe (sung by Joan McCracken and Chorus, Danced by Joan McCracken and Ensemble); [0:56] Just Imagine (sung by June Allyson); [1:04] The Best Things in Life Are Free (reprised by Mel Torme, then reprised in French by Peter Lawford); [1:28] Finale: The Varsity Drag (sung by June Allyson, Peter Lawford and Chorus, danced by Cast and Chorus)