The 11th Annual Favourite TV Show Episode Blogathon is Coming!

This is a reminder that the 11th Annual Favourite TV Show Episode Blogathon is next weekend, starting on Friday, March 21. For those of you unfamiliar with the blogathon, you can read all about it here.

The 85th Anniversary of Road to Singapore (1940)

It was 85 years ago today that Road to Singapore, starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour, premiered in New York City. It was the first of the seven "Road to..." movies, each of which starred Bing Crosby and Bob Hope and most of which starred Dorothy Lamour. While Bing Crosby and Bob Hope played different characters in each movie, the characters were all pretty much the same. They were generally con men who wanted to make a lot of money, and often found themselves getting in trouble doing so. Dorothy Lamour played the love interest in most of the films. The films were known for satirizing various movie genres, as well as their frequent pop culture references.

While Road to Singapore (1940) was the first movie in which Bing Crosby and Bob Hope appeared as a team, they had worked together before. In December 1932 Bob Hope was the master of ceremony at a show held for two weeks at the Capitol Theatre in New York City. Among the performers at the show was Bing Crosby. Bob Hope and Crosby came up with various comedy bits that proved to be a hit with the audience. Bob Hope would later be a guest on Bing Crosby's radio show The Kraft Music Hall. Still later, when Bing Crosby hosted a special Hollywood night at  Del Mar, he and Bob Hope performed some of the bits that they had done at the Capitol many years before. Both men were signed to Paramount, so it was natural that the production chief of Paramount, William Le Barron, who suggested that the two make a movie together.

Given all of this, it might seem like a surprise that Road to Singapore was not originally intended as a movie starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. The origins of Road to Singapore are obscure, but it apparently originated as a script for Mr. Crosby entitled Follow the Sun. Follow the Sun was redone as a vehicle for George Burns and Gracie Allen called Road to Mandalay. Burns & Allen turned the film down, whereupon it was rewritten for Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie. The two of them allegedly turned it down, although neither of them could remember doing so. It was after the script was reworked one more time and renamed Road to Singapore that it was offered to Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

Road to Singapore starred Bing Crosby and Bob Hope as ne'er-do-wells Josh Mallon (Bing Crosby) and Ace Lannigan (Bob Hope). Romantic complications in their lives lead the two men to flee for Singapore. As it turns out, before they can reach Singapore their money runs about the time they reach the fictional island  of Kaigoon. They they meet Mima (Dorothy Lamour), with whom they both fall in love.

Although "the Road to..." movies are often referred to as the "Hope-Crosby pictures," they would perhaps be better termed the "Hope-Crosby-Lamour" movies. Even in Road to Singapore, Dorothy Lamour was more than a romantic interest. She was effectively the third member of the team. She became even more a part of the team in the later "Road to..." movies. Dorothy Lamour learned on her first day on the set of Road to Singapore that it was useless to pay any attention to the script, as Bob Hope and Bing Crosby simply extemporised as they saw fit. Fortunately, Dorothy Lamour was a talented actress who was able to keep up with them.

Although today Bob Hope may be the most recognizable name of the three leads, he was billed third on Road to Singapore, beneath Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. It would be the only "Road..." movie on which he received third billing. With Bob Hope's film career taking off, afterwards the billing would always be "Bing Crosby," "Bob Hope", and "Dorothy Lamour".

Road to Singapore proved to be a success. It received generally positive reviews from critics. It also proved to be a hit at the box office. In the end it would make $1.6 million. Quite naturally, the success of Road to Singapore led to a sequel, Road to Zanzibar (1941), which lead to further installments in the series.

Of course, it was Road to Singapore that established the format for the future "Road to... movies." Each of the movies was a musical comedy, with Bing, Dorothy, and even Bob singing various songs. The songs in Road to Singapore included ""The Moon and the Willow Tree (sung by Dorothy Lamour in the film)," "Sweet Potato Piper (sung by Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, and Bob Hope in the movie)," and "Too Romantic (sung by Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour in the film)." Bing Crosby recorded "The Moon and the Willow Tree,' "Sweet Potato Piper," and "Too Romantic" for Decca Records, with both "Too Romantic" and "Sweet Potato Piper" proving to be hits.

Road to Singapore (1940) also established the many in-jokes and pop culture references that populate the movies in the series. The "patty-cake" routine, which Crosby and Hope use as a distraction to the villains, also originated in Road to Singapore. Road to Singapore also established the personalities of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope's characters. Bob Hope's character was high-strung and filled with bravado, even though he was a naturally born coward. Bing Crosby's character was more calm an collective, the smooth one of the two, and it was he who generally came up with their various schemes. Although both were ladies men, it was Bing's characters who usually got the girl. And, of course, both Bob and Bing's characters were con men.

Like the other "Road to..." movies, to a degree Road to Singapore has not aged well. Racist and sexist attitudes that were prevalent during the era are to found in the film. At the same time it is clear that Road to Singapore was not meant to be taken seriously, and they weren't meant to be mean-spirited or hurtful. It must be kept in mind that Road to Singapore and the other "Road to..." movies were very much products of their time.

Road to Singapore would have a lasting influence beyond setting the pace for the other "Road to..." movies. Years before the term metafiction was even coined, Road to Singapore and the other "Road to..." movies were meta. Being metafictional, Road to Snigapore would have an influence on everything from The Monkees to Moonlighting to Airplane! (1980). Over the years there have been many homages to the film, from theatrical cartons like the Popeye short "We're on the Way to Rio" to the Danny Thomas Show episode "The Road to Lebanon" to a segment of Mel Brooks's film History of the World, Part I (1981). Road to Singapore (1940) occupies a place in film history that few comedies do.

"Time Has Come Today" by The Chamber Brothers

Since Sunday I have felt tired every single day. Of course, I know the cause. It is the change to Daylight Saving Time that took place Sunday. For me it's not simply a case of losing an hour of sleep, but the entire shift of the clock hands forward by an hour disrupts my sleep and my entire routine. Oh, I will eventually adapt to it, but I will never be as competent, whole, or happy as I am when we are on Standard Time. I really wish we would do away with Daylight Saving Time entirely and remain on Standard Time all year around.

Anyway, since I feel wore out, I will leave you with a song about time, "Time Has Come Today" by The Chambers Brothers. I do have to warn you, this is the eleven-plus minute album version.

Jan Shepard Passes On

Jan Shepard, who appeared in the Elvis Presley movies King Creole (1958) and Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966), died on January 17 2025 at the age of 96.

Jan Shepard was born Joanna Sorbello on March 19 1928 in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. She acted in plays when she attended Quakertown High School. She was also a cheerleader, a drum majorette, and the valedictorian of her class. She moved to Los Angeles in 1949. She joined the Ben Bard Players. a theatre company that had been founded by actor and comedian Ben Bard. She later trained at the Pasadena Playhouse. To make a living she worked as a secretary at n I. Magnin department store. She shared an apartment with Amanda Blake, who would later become famous as Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke.

Jan Shepard made her television debut on an episode of Fireside Theatre in 1952. In the Fifties she appeared on the shows Death Valley Days, I Married Joan, Big Town, Ford Television Theatre, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, Captain Midnight, The Adventures of Kit Carson,The Loretta Young Show, My Little Margie, Public Defender, Stage 7, TV Reader's Digest, The Man Behind the Badge, The Lone Ranger, Tales of the Texas Rangers, Private Secretary, Screen Directors Playhouse, It's a Great Life, Waterfront, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Crossroads, The Man Called X, Sergeant Preston of Yukon, Circus Boy, Science Fiction Theatre, Code 3, Official Detective, The Gray Ghost, The Californians, Target, Trackdown, Highway Patrol, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, Richard Diamond Private Detective, Wichita Town, The Man and the Challenge, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Tombstone Territory,. Philip Marlowe, Grand Jury, and U.S. Marshal. She had a recurring role as Nurse Betty on the syndicated show Dr.Christian. She made her movie debut in Sabre Jet in 1959.  In the Fifties she appeared in the moves Burden of Truth (1957), King Creole (1958), and Attack of the Giant Leeches (1958).

In the Sixties Jan Shepard was a regular on the soap opera The Clear Horizon appeared in the movies Third of a Man (1962), Della (1965), and Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966). She appeared on the TV shows Dante, Rawhide, Bat Masterson, Gunslinger, Assignment: Underwater, Stagecoach West. Lock Up, The Brothers Brannagan, Cain's Hundred, Bus Stop, Lawman, King of Diamonds,  Laramie, The Lloyd Bridges Show, G.E. True, Kraft Suspense Theatre, Perry Mason, Convoy, The Long Hot Summer, Bonanza, A Man Called Shenandoah, Teh Road West, Gunsmoke, Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, Ironside, Mannix, The F.B.I., The High Chaparral, Land of the Giants, The Virginian, Then Came Bronson, Marcus Welby M.D., and This is the Life. She appeared in the TV movie The Doomsday Flight.

In the Seventies she appeared in the shows Longstreet and The Rookies. She appeared in the TV movie That Certain Summer.

While Jan Shepard played Elvis's sister in King Creole, I have to think she may be best known for her work in television. She appeared on Perry Mason four times along, from playing a politician's wife accursed of murder in "The Case of the Paper Bullets" to a race car driver's wife in "The Case of the Runaway Racer." She appeared in multiple Western TV shows, including three appearances on Rawhide. In the TV Westerns she played everything a woman working with a band of renegades in the Bat Masterson episode "Bullwhacker's Bounty' to the fiancee of a drover addicted to morphine in the Rawhide episode "Incident at the Top of the World" to a woman coerced into lying about a murder in the Laramie episode "The Jailbreakers." Jan Shepard was certainly versatile.