BETTY HUTTON

Now largely forgotten, Betty Hutton was about as big a star as there was in the 1950's. She was in dozens of big Hollywood films and made a nice living singing on over 50 soundtracks. She even had her own TV show 1959-60 when her movie career was flagging. I have selected her best films for this article.
Her first appearance of note was as Trudy Kockenlocker (!) in The Miracle Of Morgan’s Creek (1943). This bit of whimsy from Hollywood requires an enormous suspension of belief, not unusual for films of that time. Trudy gets drunk with a soldier, marries him and wakes up with him gone and her pregnant. She can’t remember his name and he took the marriage license with him. Her high school sweetheart agrees to go through a fake marriage so the baby will not be illegitimate but he screws up the ceremony and goes to jail. After that it gets complicated, winding up with her delivering sextuplets. And actually, you CAN make this stuff up!
Though you have probably never heard of her, Pearl White was a huge silent movie star. Betty Hutton was chosen to play her in The Perils Of Pauline (1947). The film sort of follows Pearl White’s career, including singing. A famous stunt included being tied to the railroad tracks by the villain. Another involved a hot air balloon ride into a thunderstorm. Of course there’s a happy ending- this is the 40's!
Ms. Hutton could sing up a storm and got to do a bunch of songs in the rambunctious Annie Get Your Gun (1950). It’s the musical story of sharpshooter Annie Oakley ( yes,a real person) and has gorgeous technicolor footage and loads of good songs. I Can Do Anything Better Than You ,You Can’t Get A Man With A Gun, and There’s No Business Like Show Business are highlights. All of these are by the redoubtable Irving Berlin. Ethel Merman played Annie on Broadway but was not thought to be pretty enough for the screen version. 
The Greatest Show On Earth (1952) was a huge deal when it came out. It was produced and directed by the great Cecil B. DeMille and it won him an Oscar for direction and the movie a statue for Best Film. Betty Hutton plays Holly, a trapeze artist and the circus’ feature attraction. Charlton Heston is Brad, the show’s head guy. He antagonizes Holly by bringing in The Great Sebastian, another flyer played by Cornell Wilde. James Stewart plays Bubbles the Clown, who is never seen without his makeup, even between shows. You might guess there’s a reason for this. The running time of 152 minutes is somewhat off-putting, but there is plenty going on and very little down time. 
Ms. Hutton’s last movie is the tepid Spring Reunion (1957) in which she finds romance at a 15-year high school reunion. It was supposed to be her comeback film. It wasn’t.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. The first one is rather dear as it had to be remastered. All are actually okay for kids.