Swing Out the Blues

Swing Out the Blues is a 1944 American romantic comedy film directed by Malcolm St. Clair and starring Bob Haymes, Lynn Merrick, and Janis Carter. It was released on May 22, 1938.

Plot

Rich Cleveland and the Vagabonds are a swing band in financial difficulties. Rich, the lead singer, marries wealthy socialite Lynn Merrick. The threat that Rich and Lynn will abandon the band forms the conflict in the comic narrative.

Cast

Bob Haymes as Rich Cleveland
Lynn Merrick as Penelope Carstairs
Janis Carter as Dena Marshall
Tim Ryan as Judge Dudley Gordon
Joyce Compton as Kitty Grogan
Arthur Q. Bryan as Larry Stringfellow
Kathleen Howard as Aunt Amanda
John Eldredge as Gregg Talbot
Dick Elliott as Malcolm P. Carstairs
Lotte Stein as The duchess
Tor Johnson as weightlifter

Production

Director St. Clair, a veteran of the silent film era, included a lengthy “film-within-a-film” that parodies the early Mack Sennett comedies and appears “in the guise of a home movie.”