In the musical comedy Let's Make Music (1941), Elisabeth Risdon plays Malvina Adams, a small town high school music teacher on the brink of turning sixty. Malvina feels the generation gap deepening between her and the young students who are more interested in popular swing music than learning about Chopin. In an effort to connect with them, Malvina composes a peppy new school song called "Fight On for Newton High." When the famous big band leader Bob Crosby (playing himself) hears it and turns the song into an overnight hit, he invites Malvina and her pretty young niece Abby (Jean Rogers) to New York for the adventure of a lifetime.

Let's Make Music was one of several films during the 1940s and 50s that featured Bob Crosby (Bing's younger brother) and his orchestra. The lively musical numbers include "You Forgot About Me," "Central Park" and Crosby's crowd pleasing hit "The Big Noise from Winnetka."

Director Leslie Goodwins, who is little known today, was a prolific B-movie craftsman who spent most of his Hollywood years at RKO studios. In addition to helming several entries in the popular "Mexican Spitfire" comedy series starring Lupe Velez, Goodwins also directed such familiar genre fare as The Mummy's Curse (1944) and Fireman Save My Child (1954) with Spike Jones.

Producer: Howard Benedict
Director: Leslie Goodwins
Screenplay: Nathanael West
Cinematography: Jack Mackenzie
Art Direction: Van Nest Polglase
Film Editing: Desmond Marquette
Cast: Bob Crosby (Himself), Jean Rogers (Abby Adams), Elisabeth Risdon (Malvina Adams), Joseph Buloff (Joe Bellah), Joyce Compton (Betty), Bennie Bartlett (Tommy), Louis Jean Heydt (Mr. Stevens), Bill Goodwin (Himself - Crosby's Announcer), Frank Orth (Mr. Botts), Grant Withers (Headwaiter)
BW-84m.

by Andrea Passafiume