Though he is best known for his musicals, Vincente Minnelli was quite a successful director of studio comedies. He made seven of them in his career and most were profitable for MGM.

The best-known is 1950’s Father of the Bride, starring Spencer Tracy and an 18-year-old Elizabeth Taylor. That heartwarming family comedy did so well that a sequel was immediately greenlit, shot on the same sets with the same cast, and released to theaters within a year. That one, Father’s Little Dividend, found Tracy and his wife (played by Joan Bennett) becoming grandparents.

In 1954, Minnelli brought small-screen duo Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz to theaters with The Long, Long Trailer, a story about a newlywed couple who forgo a new house for a mobile home.

Designing Woman (1957) is a throwback screwball comedy starring Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall. Great actors both, they aren’t the best fit for this material, which cries out for Cary Grant and Irene Dunne.

The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (1963) depicts a young Ron Howard (billed as Ronny) trying to find a new wife for his widowed father (Glenn Ford). The movie spawned a television series that ran from 1969-1972. The following year, Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds starred in Goodbye Charlie, about a womanizing man who is reincarnated into the body of a beautiful woman. That movie was remade in 1991 by Blake Edwards as Switch.

My favorite Minnelli comedy is The Reluctant Debutante (1958), in which an American teen played by Sandra Dee is forced to come out in the rich British society of her father (Rex Harrison) and stepmother (Kay Kendall). It’s a delight.

Today’s clip comes from a movie that tilts a little more toward comedy than musical, 1943’s I Dood It. It’s a showcase for the physical comedy of Red Skelton and Eleanor Powell and it’s hit-or-miss. One of its highlights is a musical interlude toward the end of the film featuring Lena Horne and Hazel Scott.

Here’s Scott’s performance is a true showstopper. Scott was a prodigiously talented musician and a staunch civil rights advocate. She was one of the first Black women to land prominent roles in Hollywood films, and the first to star in her own TV show. Discovering talents like her is one of my favorite parts of these movie marathons.