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| Tommy Sands and Nick Adams |
SING BOY SING (1958). Producer/Director: Henry Ephron.
Colorized.
Singer Virgil Walker (Tommy Sands) is becoming a big star with the teenybopper set and his manager, Joseph Sharkey (Edmond O'Brien of
The Bigamist), is doing his best to run his career -- and his life. Sharkey is especially concerned that Virgil's revivalist grandfather (John McIntire) will be a bad influence on him, as the old man thinks Virgil's singing and shaking makes him a "sinner." Sharkey's employee, Arnold (Jerry Paris of
The Glass Wall), does his best to run interference, but Sharkey really can't tolerate former delivery boy C.K. (Nick Adams), whom a lonely Virgil puts on his payroll and turns into a buddy. When the grandfather has a heart attack, Sharkey tries to prevent Virgil from going home, but the whole gang, including C.K. gets on a plane ...
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| Edmond O'Brien and Jerry Paris |
It would be easy to assume that
Sing Boy Sing is the story of Elvis Presley and manager Colonel Tom Parker, except that Tommy Sands was also a client of Parker's and many of these rags to riches show biz stories have similar elements.
Sing Boy Sing is entertaining and its mostly due to the performances. As an actor Sands is better than a singer, and I found his vocal style -- at least in this flick -- to be severely off-putting. O'Brien and Paris are both excellent, and Nick Adams nearly walks off with the movie in his colorful turn as the amiable, Hillbilly-like C.K. Although top-billed with Sands, Lili Gentle makes little impression as his sort-of girlfriend in her brief scenes with him; she made one more movie then retired. (Gentle made a much better impression in the previous year's
Young and Dangerous.)
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| Tommy Sands as Virgil |
Regis Toomey of
Burke's Law shows up as Rev. Easton, and Josephine Hutchinson is another cast stand-out as Virgil's aunt, who has a great speech talking of how her father pretty much ruined her life with all his talk of "sin" and won't allow the same thing to happen to Virgil. There are several song numbers in the movie, but they are all pretty much forgettable.
Sing Boy Sing was not a "B" movie but a Twentieth-century Fox release in CinemaScope (albeit in black and white).
Verdict: Despite its flaws and an uneven lead performance, this is an entertaining flick. ***.
