Las Vegas Nights (1941)
Director:
Ralph Murphy
Writers:
Ernest Pagano (original screenplay), Harry Clork (original screenplay), Eddie Welch
Stars:
Constance Moore, Bert Wheeler, Phil Regan, Tommy Dorsey, Lillian Cornell, Virginia Dale, Hank Ladd, Betty Brewer
For his first feature-film appearance in two years, comedian Bert Wheeler (of Wheeler & Woolsey fame) teamed up with bandleader Phil Regan. The story gets under way when a quartet of vaudevillians-Bill Stevens (Regan), Stu Grant (Wheeler) and Norma and Mildred Jennings (Constance Moore, Lillian Cornell) show up in Vegas with nary a cent between them. Norma manages to win big at a gambling joint, whereupon the money is put in Stu's care. Alas, Stu makes a beeline to the gaming tables, where he manages to lose all. The winsome foursome is saved from utter ruin by a real estate operator who happens to be the father of one of the protagonists.This is the film that introduced Frank Sinatra, here appearing as the uncredited vocalist for the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.