Swing Out the Blues explained

Swing Out the Blues
Director:	Malcolm St. Clair
Producer:	Sam White
Screenplay:	Dorcas Cochran
Story:	Doris Malloy
Starring:	Bob Haymes Lynn Merrick Janis Carter
Music:	M. W. Stoloff
Cinematography:	Arthur Martinelli
Editing:	Jerome Thoms
Studio:	Columbia Pictures
Runtime:	73 minutes
Country:	United States
Language:	English

Swing Out the Blues is a 1944 American romantic comedy film directed by Malcolm St. Clair and starring Bob Haymes, Lynn Merrick, and Janis Carter. It was released on May 22, 1938.^[1]

Plot

Rich Cleveland and the Vagabonds are a swing band in financial difficulties. Rich, the lead singer, (Bob Haymes) marries wealthy socialite Lynn Merrick (Penelope Carstairs). The threat that Rich and Lynn will abandon the band forms the conflict in the comic narrative.^[2]

Cast

• Bob Haymes as Rich Cleveland
• Lynn Merrick as Penelope Carstairs
• Janis Carter as Dena Marshall
• Tim Ryan as Judge Dudley Gordon
• Joyce Compton as Kitty Grogan
• Arthur Q. Bryan as Larry Stringfellow
• Kathleen Howard as Aunt Amanda
• John Eldredge as Gregg Talbot
• Dick Elliott as Malcolm P. Carstairs
• Lotte Stein as The duchess
• Tor Johnson as weightlifter

Production

Director St. Clair, a veteran of the silent film era, included a lengthy “film-within-a-film” that parodies the early Mack Sennett comedies and appears “in the guise of a home movie.”^[3]

References

• Dwyer, Ruth Anne. 1996. Malcolm St. Clair: His Films, 1915-1948. Filmmakers Series, No. 38. The Scarecrow Press, Lanham, MD & London.

Notes and References

1. Dwyer, 1996 p. 237-238: Filmography
2. Dwyer, 1996 p. 237-238: Filmography, film synopsis.
3. Dwyer, 1996 p. 151, p. 238: Filmography, plot summary: “There is a funny lengthy silent sequence in the guise of a home movie.”