“Three Little Words” - MGM 1950

This gem of a musical stars Fred Astaire, Red Skelton, Vera-Ellen, and Arlene Dahl. It’s a loose yet breezy biography of Bert Kalmer and Harry Ruby, songwriters who are not household names today but they wrote some of the 20th Century’s greatest songs. “I Wanna Be Loved By You” is their most famous (thanks to Betty Boop and Marilyn Monroe, among others).

“Three Little Words” isn’t usually on the best-of lists of MGM musicals but it should be. It never takes itself too seriously. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable film with a nice chemistry between Astaire and Skelton. The plot moves swiftly and never gets bogged down yet still provides time for fantastic musical numbers. This is due to the performances of the stars. They’re all spot-on.

“Thinking of You” is a lovely ballad, sung by Vera-Ellen (via her voice double India Adams) just prior to this dance. I think this dance is as close in brilliance and execution as “Dancing in the Dark” (dance by Astaire and Cyd Charisse) in 1953’s “The Band Wagon” (also an MGM musical). It’s simply exquisite.

It fascinates me how MGM was able to design costumes for their dancers that flow so beautifully with the movement of their leading ladies and the music.

Earlier in the film, an MGM newcomer by the name of Debbie Reynolds almost steals the movie with her take on “I Wanna Be Loved By You” playing the part of the songs originator, Helen Kane. Kane provided the vocal for Debbie to lip sync to.

“Three Little Words” was produced by Jack Cummings and directed by Richard Thorpe. Although it’s not as flashy as the world class musicals produced by Arthur Freed and his famous “Freed Unit” (an entire unit at MGM devoted to producing world class musicals), the film gave those musicals a run for their money, was a hit, and turned a bigger profit than most.

The choreography was by Hermes Pan. Musical direction was provided by Andre Previn. The wonderful orchestrations are credited to Leo Arnaud but others provided orchestrations as well, including my favorite: Conrad Salinger. The orchestrations for this song have his unique sound to them. Simply great!

Trivia: In 1951 Astaire won the very first Golden Globe award for “Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy” for his work in the film.

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