MEET THE PEOPLE

CREDITS

1944, 100 minutes, B&W.
Producer, E.Y. Harburg; Director, Charles Reisner; Screenplay, S.M. Herzig and Fred Saidy; Cinematography, Robert Surtees; Choreography, Sammy Lee, Charles Walters and Jack Donohue; Music Direction, Lennie Hayton.

CAST

Julie Hampton, Lucille Ball; William "Swanee" Swanson, Dick Powell; Woodpecker Peg, Virginia O'Brien; The Commander, Bert Lahr; Mr. Smith, Rags Ragland; Annie, June Allyson; Uncle Felix, Steve Geray; Buck, Phil Regan; Mr. Peetwick, Howard Freeman; Steffi, Betty Jaynes; John Swanson, John Craven; Miriam, Miriam LaVelle; Monte Rowland, Morris Ankrum.
As Themselves:
Mata and Hari, The King Sisters, Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra, Spike Jones and His City Slickers.

SONGS

Say That We're Sweethearts Again by Earl Brent; Meet the People; In Times Like These; Schickelgruber by Ralph Freed and Sammy Fain; I Like to Recognize the Tune by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart; It's Smart to Be People by E.Y. Harburg and Burton Lane.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

"Ball played a Broadway luminary who accepts a job as a welder in a Delaware shipyard in order to 'meet the people' and to prove to playwright Powell, who has dismissed her from her show as being a snooty bitch, that she isn't too proud to undertake some of life's more menial tasks. Point made and duly taken, she becomes queen of the yard and wins Powell's undying love."
- Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical

NOTES

"Meet the People started life as a small-scale revue in Los Angeles in 1940, failed to make the grade on Broadway, and finished its days as an undistinguished musical for MGM. . ."
- Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical

"Thin propaganda musical which wastes a fair amount of talent."
- Leslie Halliwell, Halliwell's Film Guide

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