B MUSICALS AT THE FILM FORUM. Think of it as the Bruce Goldstein challenge: Goldstein crams more than 45 obscure musicals into a three week series, leaving it to the rest of us to try to identify the ones we most want to see. [Flash: The series will be covered on WNYC's Soundcheck at 2 pm today.]

One way to figure it out is to comb through the series for the talent: Frank Loesser, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Douglas Sirk--they're all represented. Buffs will want to set aside the Sunday, April 15 Vitaphone Varieties program featuring rare short subjects paired with the rediscovered Song of Love (1929), notable for a rare film appearance by Belle Baker as well as the debut of Eve Arden (billed as Eunice Quedens). Thursday, April 12 is a triple bill including the Marilyn Monroe movie Ladies of the Chorus and Minstrel Man, with Joseph H. Lewis (Mr. "Always Steal from the Best") directing Benny Fields and John Raitt. If you want a triple dose of the nearly forgotten hillbilly craze, try the Monday, April 9 Judy Canova mini-festival featuring Joan of Ozark, Sis Hopkins, and Hit the Way.

But over here at Blog About Town, I've run the material through IMDB looking for the top-ranked movies. A bunch haven't received ratings yet, but here are some of the IMDB ratings-based highlights. (Note that the single highest-ranked movie is Mister Big, showing on the April 16 program.)

Tuesday April 10
7.9 Start Cheering (Broderick Crawford, Jimmy Durante, Three Stooges)
7.2 Hips, Hips, Hooray (Pre-Code with Thelma Todd and Ruth Etting)
6.7 Crazy House (pictured, top; Tarantino favorite with Count Basie, Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce)
7.3 AVERAGE

Monday April 9 (Andrews Sisters)
7.9 Give Out, Sisters (with Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan)
7.1 Buck Privates (with Abbott & Costello)
6.6 Argentine Nights (with the Ritz Brothers)
7.2 AVERAGE

Saturday March 31
7.4 Sweater Girl (Eddie Bracken, with music by Jule Styne and Frank Loesser)
6.8 Double or Nothing (Bing Crosby, Martha Raye, William Frawley, Andy Devine)
7.1 AVERAGE

Monday April 16 (Donald O'Connor-ama, with Peggy Ryan and Gloria Jean)
8.6 Mister Big
7.5 The Merry Monahans
4.2 Get Hep to Love
6.8 AVERAGE

Sunday April 1
7.0 Torch Singer (pre-Code Claudette Colbert)
6.5 Sitting Pretty (Jack Haley, Jack Oakie, Ginger Rogers, Thelma Todd)
6.75 AVERAGE

Wednesday April 4
7.0 Moonlight and Pretzels (pictured, right)
6.5 Melody Cruise (Phil Harris, Charles Ruggles)
6.75 AVERAGE

Friday April 13
7.0 King of Burlesque (Alice Faye, Fats Waller)
6.1 Hooray for Love (Ann Sothern, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Fats Waller)
6.55 AVERAGE

Also of note: San Antonio Rose (IMDB 7.2 with Eve Arden, Shemp Howard, and Lon Chaney, Jr.) on the Monday, April 2 triple bill and Eadie Was a Lady (IMDB 7.0) on the Ann Miller triple bill (also featuring Duke Ellington, Count Basie, the Mills Brothers, and Frank Sinatra) in Reveille with Beverly on Tuesday, April 3.

Here are stills (courtesy Film Forum/Photofest) from Ladies of the Chorus, Hit the Hay, and Reveille with Beverly.

"ALWAYS STEAL FROM THE BEST." After a screening of Joseph H. Lewis's great B noir The Big Combo (1955), an audience member asked Lewis about similarities between one section of the movie and Casablanca (1939). Lewis's reply: "Always steal from the best!"

I don't remember if he even bothered to attribute the quip to anyone else.

I recently learned of another possible instance of stealing from the best: The Curious Case of Ben Schott and Anne Fadiman. The allegation: Schott lifted parts of Fadiman's charming Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader for a New York Times Book Review essay. As far as I know, Schott has denied any wrongdoing.

However, Schott could still resort to the "I only steal from the best" alibi, because Fadiman (right, at a 2005 book signing at the New York Public Library) is, simply put, a wonderful writer. Ex Libris, a set of autobiographical and bibiliophiliac essays, is a perfect book for book lovers. And The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is an exemplary work of narrative nonfiction, relating an immigrant family's experience with the United States health system. It's a perfect book group book.

Coming soon from Fadiman (in May or June 2007): At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays. I think this collection will include an excellent, previously published, piece on ice cream.

PS: If the Lewis anecdote sounds familiar, it might be because I've stolen it from myself.

PPS: You can get The Big Combo, Ex Libris, and The Spirit Catches You... at bargain prices.

Photo: David Marc Fischer