boblipton Did Ralph Meeker do his own singing in this movie? He had been a music major in college, so it's possible, and rendered more likely to my twisty mind because his singing voice is nothing at all like his speaking voice. Anyway, this movie starts off in 1906, with Betty Hutton as Blossom Seeley about to debut, but the San Francisco Earthquake intervenes. After a brief interlude in which a temperamental star tries to steal "Toddling the Todalo", she becomes a great star herself and in a couple of minutes and one medley, we get to the armistice and Mr. Meeker; another half hour and they get married, but he isn't standing for being "Mr. Seeley", so he has to be a big success on his own, making everyone miserable.Like many another biopic the amount of truth in this picture is debatable. The point is to hear those good old songs, which had fallen out of favor, and they're well performed, with some nice choreography. More than that, this was an attempt to recast Betty Hutton's screen image. She had come into the movies fourteen years earlier as a jitterbug wailing "Dipsy Doodle", but for the past seven years, Paramount had taken notice of the fact that she was over 21. She's definitely an adult in this movie, and quite lovely and talented, but this was the last movie on her Paramount contract.

weezeralfalfa WARNING: This film includes a musical number done in blackface. If that offends you, avoid this film or shut your eyes during this performance.This musical romance is practically the only Hollywood film I know of(aside from "With a Song in my Heart) where the music is virtually non-stop from beginning to end, occasionally interrupted by segments of the drama, which is mainly about the growing relationship between performers Blossom Seeley(Betty Hutton),and Benny Fields(Ralph Meeker). This film was meant as a tribute to these two popular entertainers during their early careers, beginning with the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Betty sings solo or with Ralph for most of the songs, with Ralph getting the occasional solo. According to other reviewers, his singing was dubbed, perhaps also his piano playing?For those put off by Betty's frequent mugging and "overacting" in many of her films, you can be assured that she keeps this to a minimum here, perhaps in deference to the singing style of Blossom. Henry Slate and Sid Tomack represent a couple of performing partners of Benny when Blossom discovers him. They join Blossom's team for a short while, with their comical musical performances. Jack Benny briefly appears, his main function being to announce the marriage of Blossom and Benny Fields. Later, these 2 get a "Good luck" telegram from Jack, sent COD. That's in keeping with Jack's public image of being extraordinarily stingy.When Betty(Blossom) complains about Benny's periodic disappearing act because he wants to show he can make it on his own, confident Billie Bird quips that her problem with her husband was that he wouldn't run away.Many of the songs were only briefly sung. However, the blackface production was rather lengthy...The film ends with Betty and Ralph singing the title song, previously composed by the Gershwins.See it in color at YouTube.

bkoganbing For Betty Hutton's last film with Paramount and her next to last appearance on the big screen altogether she plays the fourth and last of four real people she was cast in her career as. Betty plays Blossom Seeley vaudeville and musical comedy star who was still performing when this film was made. Betty's other real life characters on screen were Annie Oakley, Pearl White, and Texas Guinan. However unlike Seeley, the other three women were deceased when films about them were made.Not only was Seeley still around, but so was her husband Benny Fields who was in ill health pretty much at that time. And one guy who is not mentioned at all in the film is Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Rube Marquard. He was Blossom Seeley's second husband, she had two of them before she met Fields. That part of the story is not told, but her first husband was a gentleman named George Kane whom she left for Marquard. The notoriety of baseball and show business was equivalent to Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe in that time and Alex Rodriguez and Madonna in the present day. Marquard used to appear with her in vaudeville and he outlived both Blossom and Benny living to the ripe old age of 93 and dying in 1980.But that was all in the past when most of this film's action takes place. Blossom is a big star who decides to expand the act by hiring a trio to perform with her that includes, Ralph Meeker, Sid Tomack, and Henry Slate. But Meeker wants to make it a duo.Meeker's part as Benny Fields is poorly written and should have been played by a singer. It would have been great had Betty Hutton got Frank Sinatra as she wanted. Meeker's part is written as a heel, but Fields and Seeley were an established team still known in 1952. Sounds like the writers and director couldn't figure out how Meeker should come across. The unknown singer they got for Meeker sounded reasonably like Benny Fields.And Blossom Seeley's style was as brassy as Betty Hutton's was so her casting was no stretch. In fact Betty and her numbers are the best thing about Somebody Loves Me. Starting with the title song, the score is made up of period standards plus three new songs by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.There is a short that Warner Brothers made of the two of them right around the time they were introducing The Jazz Singer. It's the only record of their act around and I did do a review of it. I remember as a lad watching the Ed Sullivan Show and seeing Blossom Seeley performing well into the Sixties. I appreciate now that I saw one of vaudeville's last remaining stars still performing in her seventies. You can also see Blossom in the Russ Columbo film, Broadway Through A Keyhole where she has a supporting role.Though Rube Marquard was edited out of Blossom's life for this movie, probably at his request, and Ralph Meeker is miscast, Somebody Loves Me is definitely a film that Betty Hutton's fans will enjoy.

constanceg58 Somebody Loves Me is a terrific vehicle for Betty Hutton, who in turn elevates an undistinguished script by being simply sensational in each musical number of the film. She is gorgeous in this movie, and her singing was never better, especially the title song plus 'Way Down Yonder in New Orleans", "San Fransisco Bay", "Rose Garden" and "Dixie Dream".As everyone knows, Betty Hutton has no peer in belting out a song, but she also has the most amazing ability to sing a torch song or a ballad in such a way as to break your heart. She was always under-appreciated--probably because her films didn't benefit from the big budgets that MGM put into their musicals--but if you watch 'Somebody Loves Me', I think you'll agree that no one was better in making entertaining musicals.God bless her soul.