Beat The Band (1947)

• Director
  • John H. Auer
• Writers
  • Lawrence Kimble(screenplay)
  • Clarence Kimble(adaptation)
  • Arthur A. Ross(adaptation)
• Stars
  • Frances Langford
  • Ralph Edwards
  • Phillip Terry

  The Broadway musical Beat the Band was boiled down to B-picture terms in this RKO Radio programmer. The plot concerns Damon (Philip Terry), a bandleader who finds himself financially embarrassed when he returns from WW2. In order to earn enough money to reassemble his orchestra, Damon poses as a famed Italian voice teacher. His first pupil is would-be songstress Ann (Frances Langford), whose family fortune figures prominently in Damon's comeback scheme. Ralph Edwards, emcee of the then-popular radio series "Truth or Consquences," provides comic relief as Damon's crooked business manager. The musical highlights include a "hot" arrangement performed in a boiler room by the Gene Krupa Orchestra.