St. Louis Blues (retitled as Best of the Blues) is a 1939 American musical film directed by Raoul Walsh and set on a Mississippi River showboat. Though the song "St. Louis Blues" is performed, the film's plot is not based on the song. Artists appearing in the film include jazz singer Maxine Sullivan and composer/singer/actor Hoagy Carmichael. The film stars Dorothy Lamour, Lloyd Nolan, Tito Guízar, Jerome Cowan and Mary Parker.
Lamour sings "I Go for That" by Matt Malneck Jr. and Frank LoesserUniversity of New Hampshire Library - Milne Special Collections and Archives - Alvah Sulloway Sheet Music Collection (MC 127) [Popular Sheet Music, I-K] in the film, and it became a hit recording.
Plot A Broadway performer befriends a showboat skipper and they stage a musical revue. Competition from a carnival owner soon becomes a threat to their dreams.
Cast
Dorothy Lamour as Norma Malone Lloyd Nolan as Dave Geurney Tito Guízar as Rafael San Ramos Jerome Cowan as Ivan DeBrett Jessie Ralph as Aunt Tibbie William Frawley as Maj. Martingale Mary Parker as Punkins Maxine Sullivan as Ida Cliff Nazarro as Shorty Victor Kilian as Sheriff Burdick Walter Soderling as Mr. Hovey The King's Men as Themselves Virginia Howell as Mrs. Hovey Matty Malneck as Himself (Orchestra Leader) Emory Parnell as Policeman White
George Raft was offered the lead role, but he refused and was replaced by Nolan.
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