| budget = $1,037,000{{Citation | title = The Eddie Mannix Ledger | publisher = Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study | place = Los Angeles}}.

| gross = $2,507,000

}}

Ship Ahoy is a 1942 American musical-comedy film directed by Edward Buzzell and starring Eleanor Powell and Red Skelton. It was produced by MGM.

Plot

Tallulah Winters is a dancing star who is hired to perform on an ocean liner. Before she leaves, she is recruited by what she believes is a branch of the American government and asked to smuggle a prototype explosive mine out of the country. In fact, she is unknowingly working for Nazi agents who have stolen the mine. Meanwhile, Merton Kibble, a writer of pulp fiction adventure stories suffering from severe writer's block, is on the same ship, and soon he finds himself embroiled in Tallulah's real-life adventure.

The brief finale takes place in front of a Navy recruiting station, surrounded by a chorus of sailors. The guys and their girls—and Dorsey's orchestra —are all in uniform, singing "Last Call for Love".

Cast

Eleanor Powell as Tallulah Winters
Red Skelton as Merton K. Kibble
Bert Lahr as "Skip" Owens
Virginia O'Brien as Fran Evans
William Post Jr. as H. U. Bennett
James Cross as "Stump"
Eddie Hartman as "Stumpy"
Stuart Crawford as Art Higgins
John Emery as Dr. Farno
Bernard Nedell as Pietro Polesi
Tommy Dorsey as himself
Frank Sinatra as himself
Buddy Rich as himself
Ziggy Elman as himself
Moroni Olsen as Inspector Davis
George Watts as Hotel detective
Ralph Dunn as Flammer
William Tannen as Grimes

Production

Frank Sinatra's uncredited performance by as a singer with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra was an important early step in establishing his film career..Santopietro, Tom. Sinatra in Hollywood: The Film Career of a Screen Icon. United States, St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2009.

The movie includes a number in which Powell's character, communicates with US agent in the audience by tapping out a message in morse code.{{Cite web |title=Ship Ahoy |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/3404/ship-ahoy |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=Turner Classic Movies |language=en}}

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's promotional efforts included a war bonds tour with members of the cast."[https://archive.org/details/variety146-1942-04/page/n70/mode/1up 'SHIP AHOY' GIRLS TO SELL WAR BONDS]", Variety. April 8, 1942. 8.

The film was to be called I{{'}}ll Take Manila but was renamed after the Japanese captured the Philippines. The setting was changed to Puerto Rico and the song “I'll Take Manila" became "I'll Take Tallulah".

Skelton and Powell next paired up in 1943's I Dood It. In that film, they appeared with Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy's brother.

Reception

The film got strong reviews which helped it succeed at the box office.Gehring, Wes. Red Skelton: The Mask Behind the Mask. Indiana Historical Society Press, 2013. 150f.

In his June 26, 1942 review in The New York Times, Bosley Crowther lightly praised the “moderate and tuneful little cruise…Metro has stretched the whole thing out about half again as long as it should be, with the consequence that it sags and labors rather heavily in spots. But it skips along right merrily when Miss Powell is doing her turns, especially in a lively rhythm number to a tune called "I'll Take Tallulah." “ {{Cite news |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |date=1942-06-26 |title=' Ship Ahoy,' a Mild Summer Musical Film, at Capitol -- 'Mexican Spitfire at Sea,' at the Palace |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1942/06/26/archives/ship-ahoy-a-mild-summer-musical-film-at-capitol-mexican-spitfire-at.html |access-date=2023-11-24 |issn=0362-4331}} Variety panned the film, "The names on the marquee will mean a fair amount of business for this musical, though the asinine story and treatment, plodding direction and some rather poor performances would ordinarily scuttle a film like 'Ship Ahoy? If ever a picture in recent years looked as though it was shot off the director's cuff, this is it."Scho. "[https://archive.org/details/variety146-1942-04/page/n175/mode/1up Film Reviews: SHIP AHOY]." Variety, vol. 146, no. 7. April 22, 1942. 8, 18.

According to MGM records the film earned $1,831,000 at the US and Canadian box office and $676,000 elsewhere, making the studio a profit of $1,470,000.[https://archive.org/stream/variety149-1943-01#page/n57/mode/1up "101 Pix Gross in Millions" Variety 6 Jan 1943 p 58]