Cha-Cha-Cha Boom
                     
Director: Fred Sears
Year: 1956
Rating: 5.5
Here is another film that has no reason to exist other than showcasing some musical talent. Back in the fifties these types of films were pretty common though usually for rock and roll groups that had become big.  There was obviously no YouTube or much TV, so for most people this was the only way they would ever get to see these artists and it was great promotion for the acts. Now I think of them as keepers of memories. The three groups and ancillary acts here are far from rock as the main focus is on Latin music along with a few mainstream singers as well. The big star is Pérez Prado, the Cuban bandleader who was called the King of the Mambo. I can't exactly recall why but a few decades back I went through a Pérez Prado phase and bought a bunch of his albums. Great stuff and I can't dance a single step of the mambo.



The film also has the Mary Kay Trio performing three songs - I came across them a while back in the film Bop Girl Goes Calypso and liked her a lot. I did here as well. She and her two partners do a great version of Lonesome Road. Finally, there are two songs from Helen Grayco who I don't know at all but they are fine. She was married to Spike Jones for sixteen years till his death. All together there are about fifteen songs - many instrumentals - in a 78-minute film.



But they do pretend to have a plot. Bill (Stephen Dunne) signs up new acts for a record company whose boss is a dick. His girlfriend (Alix Talton) has the same job for a rival record company and this causes some friction. When Bill can't sign an act and gets yelled at, he decides to quit and form his own company. Great. Where do you start? He decides in Cuba and travels to Cuba where he meets the dancer Nita (Sylvia Lewis) who is a tall drink of Kool-aid or as one character says "a slinky tomato". She is great and had me fooled thinking she was Latin - but born in York, Pa. to Hungarian parents She became a well-respected choreographer and steals every scene she is in. She takes him to see Prado in the back woods and Bill signs him up and brings him to NYC to hopefully wow some investors. Prado was already a big star in Latin music by this film and conducts a few good songs. Made on the cheap, all in a studio with a cast their mothers wouldn't know - but I liked the music. Makes me want to go back and listen to my Prado cds.