Pass that peace pipe

Almost against my better judgment, I like the 40's MGM musical GOOD NEWS; it's a cute little college musical with Peter Lawford, looking quite young and handsome, and June Allyson, cute but at 30, too old to be playing a college student, even a senior. It closes with an energetic version of "The Varsity Drag" and there's a nice novelty song called "The French Lesson," but the main reason I own it on DVD is for Joan McCracken, a Broadway singer and actress whose career hit its peak in the 40's. Aside from performing one number in the variety movie Hollywood Canteen, this is her only film role. She's a delight here, especially in her big dance number, "Pass That Peace Pipe": "Pass that peace pipe/And bury that hatchet/Like the Choctaws, Chickasawas, Chattahoochees, Chippewas dooooooooo." It's basically a novelty song, but once it gets in your head, it's there for weeks.


McCracken is inevitably described as "pixieish," and she was, but she also had, based on the evidence of her small supporting role in this movie, sex appeal and an inner core of determination. I always wondered why she never made it in movies, but it was difficult to find anything out about her. I was surprised when I read a biography of Bob Fosse to find out that she had been married to him at one time, but that was about all I knew of her. A couple of summers ago, in one of those happy accidents I love, I ran across a book about McCracken, "The Girl Who Fell Down" by Lisa Jo Sagolla. (The title refers to the tiny role in the original cast of "Oklahoma! that brought her to fame.) I bought it immediately, but then it vanished into that Black Hole of Possessions into which so many of my books (not to mention CDs and DVDs) wind up. Luckily, in doing some spring cleaning recently, I found it, having forgotten I even had it, and devoured it in a couple of nights.

The book, published by a university press, is not as gossipy as one might like, though there are a few juicy bits about her first marriage to writer Jack Dunphy, who later became Truman Capote's life partner. Sagolla is a dance critic and historian, and spends a lot of time describing McCracken's dance numbers, but she also did a prodigious amount of research and has certainly turned up more about McCracken's life than I'd assumed could be found. Her downfall was her poor physical condition; she had diabetes most of her life, and suffered from a weak heart as well (probably tied to her diabetes). But she also made some career choices that didn't turn out so well for her, especially in Hollywood--though it does seem as if she was not terribly interested in doing movies. Sagolla reports a rumor that McCracken was asked to play Judy Garland's sister in "Meet Me In St. Louis," and I bet she would have been great (certainly better than the bland Lucille Bremer, the one weak spot in that wonderful movie), but she turned it down. If only she'd taken the part. If only she'd taken better care of herself and had a longer life and career. Now if anyone out there knows some information about Ray McDonald, another wonderful dancer (who dances with McCracken in Good News) who never quite hit the big time and also suffered an untimely death, please write a book about him to put on the shelves with this one, which I highly recommend to fans of classic-era movie musicals.