Broadway Melody of 1940

All you want to know about Broadway Melody of 1940

Broadway Melody of 1940

dvd cover
Directed by Norman Taurog
Produced by Jack Cummings
Written by Story:
Jack McGowan
Dore Schary
Screenplay:
Leon Gordon
George Oppenheimer
Uncredited:
Walter DeLeon
Vincent Lawrence
Albert Mannheimer
Eddie Moran
Thomas Phipps
Sid Silvers
Preston Sturges
Starring Fred Astaire
Eleanor Powell
George Murphy
Frank Morgan
Music by Cole Porter
Roger Edens
Walter Ruick
Cinematography Oliver T. Marsh
Joseph Ruttenberg
Editing by Blanche Sewell
Distributed by MGM
Release date(s) February 9, 1940 (US)
Running time 102 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Preceded by Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937)
IMDb profile

Broadway Melody of 1940 is a 1940 MGM movie musical starring Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell and George Murphy. It was directed by Norman Taurog and features music by Cole Porter, including "Begin the Beguine".

The film was the fourth and final entry in MGM's "Broadway Melody" series of films, and is notable for being the only on-screen pairing of Astaire and Powell, who were considered the finest movie musical dancers of their time.


Contents

Plot

Johnny Brett (Fred Astaire) and King Shaw (George Murphy) are a dance team so down on their luck they're working in a dance hall, while Clare Bennett (Eleanor Powell) is a big Broadway) star. Due to a case of mistaken identity, Shaw gets offered the chance to be Clare's dancing partner in a new Broadway show, when it was really Johnny's dancing that befuddled producer Bob Casey Frank Morgan saw and wanted. The partnership breaks up, but Johnny sticks around to help out Shaw, who lets his newfound success go to his head. Clare eventually realizes that Johnny is the real deal, not Shaw, and she falls in love with him. When Shaw gets drunk on opening night, Johnny steps in and saves the show with a brilliant performance.[1][2]

Cast


Cast notes:

  • Mel Blanc appears, uncredited, as a panhandler.
Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell dance to Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine"
Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell dance to Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine"

Musical numbers

  • "Please Don't Monkey with Broadway" - words and music by Cole Porter, sung and danced by Fred Astaire and George Murphy
  • "All Ashore" - words and music by Roger Edens, sung by Eleanor Powell, one of the few times she was ever shown singing with her own voice rather than being overdubbed.
  • "Between You Me" - words and music by Cole Porter, sung by George Murphy, danced by Murphy and Elanor Powell
  • "Jukebox Dance" - words and music by Walter Ruick, danced by Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire, their first duet. Powell later said this number was her favorite out of all her filmed dances.[3]
  • "I Concentrate on You" - words and music by Cole Porter, sung by Douglas McPhail, danced by Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire
  • "Begin the Beguine" - words and music by Cole Porter, sung by Carmen D'Antonio (dubbed by Lois Hardnett) and The Music Maids, danced by Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell, including a lengthy passage in which they tap dance with no musical accompaniment. This segment was later a highlight of the 1974 documentary That's Entertainment!.

Production

Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell in rehearsal for Broadway Melody of 1940
Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell in rehearsal for Broadway Melody of 1940

Broadway Melody of 1940 was based on a story by Jack McGowan and Dore Schary. Schary would go on to be head of production (1948) and then president (1951) of MGM until 1956. The film was originally planned to be shot in Technicolor, but because of the unsettled state of Europe due to World War II, MGM decided to stick to back and white.[6]

The film was the fourth and final entry in MGM's loosely-connected Broadway Melody series, which began with the original The Broadway Melody released in 1929, and was followed by Broadway Melody of 1936 and Broadway Melody of 1938. The films were unconnected except for the use of the song "Broadway Melody" (the 1940 entry did not feature the number, although a bit of it can be heard over the film's opening credits), and the fact that Powell starred in the 1936, 1938 and 1940 entries, playing different roles in each. A fifth Broadway Melody film was planned for release in the early 1940s, pairing Eleanor Powell with Gene Kelly, but production was canceled at the rehearsal stage. Another production was to have been called Broadway Melody of 1944 but was instead renamed Broadway Rhythm. The 1940 entry is considered Powell's last major successful film, as she would go on to appear in a succession of only moderate hits before retiring from the screen several years later. It has the distinction of being the first non-documentary film featuring Powell to be released on DVD.

Fred Astaire had just left RKO, and Broadway Melody... was his first film, as well as his film for MGM since his small part in 1933's Dancing Lady Astaire was reportedly slightly intimidated by Powell, as she was considered one of the few female dancers capable of out-performing Astaire. According to Powell in her introduction to the book The MGM Story, the feeling was somewhat mutual. Powell recalled finally saying to Astaire, "Look, we can't go on like this. I'm Ellie; you're Fred. We're just two hoofers," after which, they got along well, and reheased so much they word out their pianist.[3]

Broadway Melody of 1940 was in production from early September until late November 1939. The set for the "Begin the Beguine" number cost $120,000 to construct. It utilized a sixty foot multi-paneled mirror mounted on a revolving track to change backgrounds.[6]

The movie is alluded to in satirist Tom Lehrer's song "George Murphy", about the dancer becoming a United States Senator:

Think of all the musicals we have in store,
Imagine: Broadway Melody of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Notes

  1. ^ TCM Full synopsis
  2. ^ Brenner, Paul Description (Allmovie)
  3. ^ a b Fristoe, Roger "Broadway Melody of 1940" (TCM article)
  4. ^ TCM Music
  5. ^ IMDB Soundtracks
  6. ^ a b TCM Notes

External links


v • d • e
The films of Eleanor Powell
Feature Films
Queen High (1930) • George White's 1935 Scandals (1935) • Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935) • Born to Dance (1936) • Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937) • Rosalie (1937) • Honolulu (1939) • Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940) • Lady Be Good (1941) • Ship Ahoy (1942) • I Dood It (1943) • Thousands Cheer - cameo (1943) • Sensations of 1945 (1944) • The Great Morgan - cameo (1946) • Duchess of Idaho - cameo (1950)
Short Films
No Contest! (1934) • Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 12 (1936) • Screen Snapshots: Famous Hollywood Mothers (1947) • Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Holiday (1948) • Have Faith in Our Children (1955)
Television series
The Faith of Our Children (1953-1955)
v • d • e
Preston Sturges
Broadway

The Guinea Pig (writer & prod,1929) · Strictly Dishonorable (writer,1929) · Recapture (writer,1930) · The Well of Romance (musical:book & lyrics,1930) · Child of Manhattan (writer,1932)
1930s

The Big Pond (dialogue,1930) · La grande mare (dialogue,1930) · Fast and Loose (add'l dialogue,1930) · Strictly Dishonorable (prev. play,1931) · They Just Had to Get Married (uncredited,1932) · Child of Manhattan (prev. play,1933) · The Power and the Glory (writer & dialogue dir,1933) · The Invisible Man (unc contract writer,1933) · Twentieth Century (uncredited,1934) · Thirty-Day Princess (writer,1934) · We Live Again (adapter,1934) · Imitation of Life (unc. contract writer,1934) · The Good Fairy (writer,1935) · Diamond Jim (writer,1935) · Next Time We Love (uncredited,1936) · Love Before Breakfast (uncredited,1936) · One Rainy Afternoon (lyrics,1936) · Hotel Haywire (writer,1937) · Easy Living (writer,1937) · College Swing (unc. contract writer,1938) · Port of Seven Seas (writer,1938) · If I Were King (writer,1938) · Never Say Die (writer,1939)
1940s

Remember the Night (writer,1940) · Broadway Melody of 1940 (uncredited,1940) · The Great McGinty (writer & dir,1940) · Christmas in July (writer & dir,1940) · The Lady Eve (writer & dir,1941) · New York Town (uncredited,1941) · Sullivan's Travels (writer, dir & prod,1941) · Safeguarding Military Information (writer,1942) · I Married a Witch (unc. prod,1942) · The Palm Beach Story (writer & dir,1942) · Star Spangled Rhythm (actor,1942) · The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (writer, dir, prod, lyrics,1944) · Hail the Conquering Hero (writer, dir, prod, music, lyrics,1944) · The Great Moment (writer, dir & unc. prod,1944) · I'll Be Yours (writer,1947) · The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (writer, dir & unc. prod,1947) · Unfaithfully Yours (writer, dir & prod,1948) · The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (writer, dir & prod,1949)
1950s

Vendetta (unc. writer & unc. dir,1950) · Strictly Dishonorable (prev. play,1951) · The French, They Are a Funny Race (writer & dir,1955) · The Birds and the Bees (prev. screenplay,1956) · Paris Holiday (actor,1958) · Rock-A-Bye Baby (prev. screenplay,1958)
Broadway
& posthumous

Make a Wish (musical:book,1951) · Carnival in Flanders (musical:book & dir.,1953) · Unfaithfully Yours (prev. screenplay,1984)
Actors
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_Melody_of_1940"

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