Buck Benny Rides Again (1940)

At the time this movie was released, comedian Jack Benny had long been a star on the radio.  Part of the plot incorporates a running joke from the radio show, a "feud" between Benny and another comedian, Fred Allen.  Due to a fender bender that Benny's butler, Rochester (Eddie Anderson) gets into, Benny has to use another car to get to the radio station to work.  He spots an attractive woman named Joan (Ellen Drew), and follows her.  She happens to be going to the station, too.  She and her sisters have a singing act, and they audition to get work.

Benny tries to get a date with Joan, but she doesn't want to be bothered.  When he hears that she and her sisters are going out west to take a job, Benny goes out there too.  His friend Andy Devine owns a ranch, and Benny convinces Devine to let him use it in order to pretend to Joan that Benny is a real live cowboy.  The ruse works for a minute until some real outlaws (Ward Bond and Morris Ankrum) who've been causing Devine problems show up. 

This is an amusing parody of westerns, populated by the cast of Benny's radio show.  In addition to Eddie Anderson and Andy Devine, Phil Harris and Dennis Day appear.  Don Wilson, Benny's announcer, appears during the funny opening credits.  Typical of comedies back during this time period, there are musical and dance sequences.  Some of the best ones feature Anderson.  I had seen him in Cabin In The Sky, but I didn't know that Anderson was also known as a dancer.  Veteran character actor Charles Lane plays a publicist working for Fred Allen (Allen is only heard, but not seen in the movie).