Callaway Went Thataway

We’ve just met Fred MacMurray as TV ad-man Mike Frye, who introduces Dorothy McGuire as his partner, and through exposition we find out that the old movie singing cowboy they’ve turned into a TV star is missing, Jesse White as his old agent, in Callaway Went Thataway, 1951.

Unable to find washed-up singing cowboy Callaway, who they’ve made a TV star using his old movie serials, Hollywood advertising partners Mike and Deb (Fred MacMurray, Dorothy McGuire) track down the real cowboy (Howard Keel, who also plays Callaway), who wrote to complain because he’s a dead-ringer for the guy, in MGM’s Callaway Went Thataway, 1951.

Now in Hollywood, reluctantly convinced to pretend he’s the missing old-time singing cowboy who’s become a TV star, Howard Keel as Shep, impersonating “Smoky Callaway,” escorted by his de facto agents (Fred MacMurray, Dorothy McGuire) blunders with MGM celebrities (Elizabeth Taylor, Clark Gable) at Mocambo, then with the sponsor and wife (Fay Roope, Natalie Schaefer) in Callaway Went Thataway, 1951.

Opening as it becomes apparent that Howard Keel is on TV, the dapper singing cowboy (the girl he rescues is not credited), known as “Smoky Callaway,” with more gags about sponsorship coming, in the Norman Panama/Melvin Frank MGM comedy, generally seen as a spoof on Hopalong Cassidy, Callaway Went Thataway, 1951, starring Fred MacMurray and Dorothy McGuire.

A real cowboy (Howard Keel) signs on to impersonate a faded western star for public appearances.