Hi, Good Lookin’!

Girl (Harriet Hilliard) and boy (Kirby Grant) try to hit the big time in radio. Dynamo: Eddie Quillan. Peggy: Betty Kean. Archie: Roscoe Karns. Joe: Fuzzy Knight. Phyllis: Vivian Austin. Ozzie Nelson orchestra, Jack Teagarden orchestra. Directed by Edward Lilley., At least 30 percent of Universal’s “vest-pocket” musicals of the 1940s included the word “Hi” in the title. Such was the case of 1944’s Hi, Good-Lookin’, an agreeable vehicle for songstress Harriet Hilliard and her bandleader husband Ozzie Nelson. The barely existant plot finds aspiring singer Kelly Clark (Hilliard) falling in love with incognito radio star King Castle (played by future Sky King star Kirby Grant). As a punch line, Castle, working under an assumed name, is hired as his own summer replacement, with Kelly in tow. Eddie Quillan provides chuckles as talent agent Dynamo Carson (who evidently doesn’t lack for self confidence), while the Delta Rhythm Boys show up for a mellow rendition of “Paper Doll.”