Out of This World

Out of This World is a 1945 American romantic comedy film directed by Hal Walker and starring Eddie Bracken, Veronica Lake and Diana Lynn. The picture was a satire on the Frank Sinatra "bobby soxer" cult. Plot Betty Miller and her Sirens are a struggling all-female band who play at a benefit for an orphanage. The following act is shy Western Union messenger Herbie Fenton, who stuns Betty with his amazing singing voice, performing "Out of This World". In the audience are Bing Crosby's four sons, even though they are not orphans (due to "Dad and his horses"); they recognize the voice right away. Dorothy Dodge, secretary to the orphanage's main benefactor, faints during his performance. A photo of Herbie holding Dorothy up is published in Life magazine. The next day, Betty gets a much-needed job offer in New York, but it stipulates she must bring her male singer: Herbie. She talks him into signing an exclusive contract for fifty dollars per week, an easy task as he is smitten with her. They do not have enough for train fare to New York, but Dorothy gives Betty the money ... in exchange for 25% of Herbie. Then the hotel manager wants his bill paid, so the girls have to sell more shares of the contract. On the train, Betty is horrified to discover they have sold another 100% of Herbie. Betty can only hope that Herbie flops, but she doesn't know that Dorothy hires bobby soxers to scream and swoon at his performance. Later, Betty confides to Herbie that she wants to marry either someone handsome or one with $100,000, explaining that her mother married a vaudeville actor and she wants the security her mother never had. On The Crawford Glamour Hour radio show, Herbie sings "I'd Rather Be Me", and the bobby soxers do their job so well that J. C. Crawford, the show's sponsor, pressures Betty into signing a contract ($750 a week for the orchestra and $1000 for Herbie), reminding her that he has an exclusive option on her band.