Babes on Broadway (1941)

Director:

Busby Berkeley

Writers:

Fred F. Finklehoffe (story)
Fred F. Finklehoffe (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

January 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

Youth Has It's Fling !

Plot:

Tommy Williams desperately wants to get to Broadway, but as he is only singing in a spaghetti house for tips he is a long way off...

Plot Keywords:

Broadway | Singer | Orphan | Minstrel Show | Dancer

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Mickey Rooney	...	Tommy 'Tom' Williams
Judy Garland	...	Penny Morris
Fay Bainter	...	Miss 'Jonesy' Jones
Virginia Weidler	...	Barbara Josephine 'Jo' Conway
Ray McDonald	...	Ray Lambert
Richard Quine	...	Morton 'Hammy' Hammond
Donald Meek	...	Mr. Stone
Alexander Woollcott	...	Himself - Town Cryer Radio Show
Luis Alberni	...	Nick
James Gleason	...	Thornton Reed, Theatrical Producer
Emma Dunn	...	Mrs. Williams
Frederick Burton	...	Mr. Theodore Morris
Cliff Clark	...	Inspector Moriarity
William Post Jr.	...	Woollcott's Announcer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
St. Luke's Episcopal Church Choristers
The Debutantes
The Music Maids
The Notables
The Peter Brothers
Stafford Quartet
Carl Stockdale	...	Man (scenes deleted)
Stop Look and Listen Trio
The Uptowners

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #7803)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The role of Barbara Jo was intended for Shirley Temple but after the failure of Kathleen (1941), MGM canceled the rest of her three-picture deal.

Quotes:

Tommy 'Tom' Williams: I was a failure yesterday, now look at me today!
Penny Morris: You mean you even looked worse yesterday?

Movie Connections:

Featured in That's Dancing! (1985)

Soundtrack:

Chin Up, Cheerio, Carry On

Great if you can skip from point to point

I recommend this movie if you can get it on laser disc. That format will allow you to jump from one musical number to another with the push of a button, while avoiding a story-line that drags, drags, drags.

Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney do their best--and their best is pretty darn good--but they are served well only by (most of) the musical numbers. Most of their spoken scenes are from hunger. Granted, the couple of musical numbers that don't work really don't work, but the ones that do really do. In addition, Mickey Rooney has calmed down from his distemper-filled early years, and Judy Garland gives a performance that shows why she inherited Mary Pickford's title of "America's Sweetheart."