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. She returned to the stage in "Stars in Your Eyes", which struggled to survive while the public flocked to the 1939 New York World's Fair instead, and finally closed short of four months. Merman followed this with two more Porter musicals. "DuBarry Was a Lady", with Bert Lahr and Betty Grable, ran for a year, and "Panama Hattie", with Betty Hutton (whose musical numbers were cut from the show on opening night at Merman's insistence), June Allyson, and Arthur Treacher, fared even better, lasting slightly more than 14 months.