In 1941 one of the most commercially successful and artistically enduring comedies of all time was released:
Ball of Fire. The story was set against a mansion in which a bunch of old professors (with exception of one young chap) are collaborating to write an encyclopedia. The problems arise when they reach the "slang entry" of the project, and learn that their knowledge for writing that section is so narrow that a volunteer is needed to leave the secluded mansion and map the changes in the language of the street.
Only seven years passed since the completion of the
Ball, producers thought that the very successful idea can be used again, and this time the professors should search for a new word, JAZZ!
The same director who made
Ball of Fire, Howard Hawks, was hired again for the job. Unlike ignorant professors of the story, Hawks had a great understanding of American modern popular music and had even incorporated them into his film whenever necessary. (For that matter, see Hoagy Carmichael's glowing presence in
To Have and have Not.)
The script, written and rewritten by an army of writers, based on an original idea by Billy Wilder and Thomas Monroe, was considered too messy to be credited to anyone, therefore the whole weight was put on jazz and jazz musicians -- and rightly so.
Aside from principle stars, Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo, the studio hired Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet, Lionel Hampton, Mel Powell, Louie Bellson and many more to carry on the jazz weight of the film which fell out of balance with rather poorly narrated romantic story and gangster sub-plot.
Hawks' main achievement was tuning to whole ensemble into a celebration of unappreciated art of jazz, as if in the process he was reflecting on his status in Hollywood as a misunderstood director.
