Varsity Show on AllMovie

If you're wondering which Warners musical featured the songs "Old King Cole" and "Have You Got Any Castles?," we refer you to Varsity Show. Dick Powell stars as a musical producer, called back to his alma mater to stage the annual college variety show. Uptight dean Walter Catlett is dead set against Powell's "scandalous" form of entertainment. The college kids conspire with Powell to stage their show in an empty Broadway theatre during the off-season. Turns out that Powell has Busby Berkeley under contract; well, he doesn't really, but it is Berkeley who stages the "big show" finale, in a spectacular fashion that would be impossible for any stage, college or professional. Among the costars of Varsity Show are Rosemary Lane as the ingenue, Ted Healy (in his last screen appearance) as comic relief, and Our Gang's "Spanky," here billed more formally under his real name, George McFarland.