Theater producers try to stage a wartime charity extravaganza, “Cavalcade of Stars”, only to have the production taken over by the egotistical “fussbudget” Eddie Cantor. Meanwhile, an aspiring singer and his songwriter girlfriend conspire to get into the charity program by replacing Cantor with their look-alike friend, tour bus driver Joe Simpson. Many of Warner Brothers's stars performed in musical numbers, including several who were not known as singers. The show features the only screen musical performances by Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, and Ida Lupino.
"Ridin' for a Fall" sung by Dennis Morgan and Joan Leslie with Spike Jones and his band.
"We're Staying Home Tonight...Doing the Patriotic Thing” sung by Eddie Cantor to a captive audience of his household staff and the hapless producers of the benefit.
"I'm Goin' North" sung and danced by Jack Carson and Alan Hale, Sr. as a couple of old-time vaudevillians meeting in a train station; both are bucking the trend toward all things Southern. After several costume changes, they end up in a blizzard, dripping with icicles.
"Love Isn't Born, It's Made" sung by Ann Sheridan with Joyce Reynolds and a chorus of girls, in a sorority bedroom.
"No You, No Me" sung by Dennis Morgan and Joan Leslie in a cafe, to a number from a table-side jukebox.
"The Dreamer" sung by Dinah Shore, as a farm girl singing to her love; she wants to dream “until you're home once more”.
"How Sweet You Are" sung by Dinah Shore, as a girl farewelling her love—in 1861–with a large chorus of waltzing couples.
"That's What You Jolly Well Get" sung and danced by Errol Flynn, as a mustachioed Cockney seaman boasting to a pub full of cronies about his battles with the Nazis over the past four years.
"They're Either Too Young or Too Old" sung by Bette Davis, in a nightclub set populated by men whose appearances fit the song. A brief and strenuous jitterbug performance by Davis and real-life dance contest winner Conrad Weidel sends her out to her car. At the end of the number, she replaces the last phrase with blowing a kiss to the audience. Written by Frank Loesser and Arthur Schwartz
"The Dreamer", a jazzed-up reprise sung by Olivia de Havilland, Ida Lupino and George Tobias singing scat and costumed as jitterbugging teens; Tobias wears a toned-down zoot suit.
"Good Night, Good Neighbor", a romantic take of the Good Neighbor Policy, opens with Dennis Morgan escorting Miss Latin America home to the Pan American Club for Women, singing to her and a chorus of residents. The scene segues to the elegant Club Chiquita where Alexis Smith dances with and .
Final Medley—as the Finale of “Cavalcade of Stars”, on a celestial set—with brief reprises or revisions of:
*"Good Night, Good Neighbor", while Alexis Smith and her partners dance on a cloud in the background.
*"They're Either Too Young or Too Old"
*"Ice Cold Katie"
*"Thank Your Lucky Stars"
Production
Filming for Thank Your Lucky Stars began on October 1, 1942. Producer Mark Hellinger and director David Butler both made cameo appearances in the film. The film utilized sets which had been built for the Warner Bros. films The Green Pastures and Wonder Bar. Thank Your Lucky Stars was the film debut of both Dinah Shore and Spike Jones and his City Slickers. Each of the cast members was paid a $50,000 fee for their appearance which was then donated to the Hollywood Canteen. Bette Davis recalled Wiedell—who had really won a jitterbug contest—was frightened at the thought of hurting her. "...forget about who I am...let your instincts come to the fore, and just do it!" she said. Olivia de Havilland said that she added the over-the-top gum chewing to the act in order to help with the lip-synching. This was Dinah Shore's screen debut, and she was a huge hit with the critics. The finale was filmed with many of the cast on stage together, but everyone is there when the curtain comes down, thanks to special effects that place five acts— Errol Flynn, Ann Sheridan, Bette Davis, Carson and Hale; and the trio of de Havilland, Lupino and Tobias— over their glitter-covered stars.
Reception
Thank Your Lucky Stars was popular with audiences, and the critic James Agee called it "the loudest and most vulgar of the current musicals. It is also the most fun." Ticket sales combined with the donated salaries of the performers raised more than two million dollars for the Hollywood Canteen. The film earned $2,503,000 domestically and $1,118,000 foreign. At the time, Variety described it as a “triumph for Eddie Cantor”. The New York Times' Bosley Crowther, on the other hand, observed that “ the gag that the true Mr. Cantor would, if he could, gum up the show is so realistically repeated that fiction becomes painful fact.” Putting aside the plot device, “you have a conventional all-star show which has the suspicious flavor of an 'amateur night' at the studio. But at least it is lively and genial... For the sake of variety, the Warners might have worked in a little more dance and a little more femininity. Too many people sing. And too few beautiful girls display their talents. It is also too much of a show. But, in straight omnibus entertainment that's what you have to expect.” Leonard Maltin gives the picture three out of four stars, noting: “Very lame plot... frames all-star Warner Bros. show, with Davis singing "They're Either Too Young or Too Old, Flynn delightfully performing "That's What You Jolly Well Get, other staid stars breaking loose.”
