Review: The Fabulous Dorseys (1947)
Hailing from the glory days of the "Big Band Musical," The Fabulous Dorseys recounts the meteoric rise of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, two brothers who soared to the heights of stardom together, then publicly split, only to achieve even higher fame individually. Modern audiences might be surprised to learn that The Dorseys sold something in the neighborhood of 110 million albums, making them household names and some of the most successful musicians not just in their era, but also of the last 100 years. Comparisons to Taylor Swift are not unfounded. EVERYONE knew The Dorseys, and their music and off-stage exploits were common knowledge. The real story of The Dorseys is tailor-made for the movies, and only needed to be slightly fictionalized to smooth some of the rough edges. Tommy and Jimmy grew up in a small town, learned their instruments as children and quickly rebelled against the traditional constraints of "proper music," leaning into jazz and dance beats with a di...