"Merman returned to Broadway for another Porter musical, but despite the presence of Jimmy Durante and Bob Hope in the cast, "Red, Hot and Blue" closed after less than six months.Back in Hollywood, Merman was featured in "Happy Landing", one of the top 10 box-office hits of 1938 comedy with Sonja Henie, Cesar Romero and Don Ameche; another the box-office hit "Alexander's Ragtime Band", a pastiche of Irving Berlin songs interpolated into a plot that vaguely paralleled the composer's life; and "Straight Place and Show", a critical and commercial flop starring the Ritz Brothers.