Strike Up the Band (1940)

Jimmy Connors and his girl-friend want to take part in Paul Whiteman's highschool's band contest, but they cannot afford the fare. But per chance the meet Paul Whiteman in person and are ... See full summary »

Director:

Busby Berkeley

Writers:

John Monks Jr. (screen play), Fred F. Finklehoffe (screen play),

Stars:

Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Paul Whiteman and Orchestra

Won 1 Oscar. Another 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mickey Rooney	...	Jimmy Connors
Judy Garland	...	Mary Holden
Paul Whiteman and Orchestra	...	Performers
June Preisser	...	Barbara Frances Morgan
William Tracy	...	Phillip Turner
Larry Nunn	...	Willie Brewster
Paul Whiteman	...	Paul Whiteman
Margaret Early	...	Annie
Ann Shoemaker	...	Mrs. Connors
Francis Pierlot	...	Mr. Judd
Virginia Brissac	...	Mrs. May Holden
George Lessey	...	Mr. Morgan
Enid Bennett	...	Mrs. Morgan
Howard C. Hickman	...	Doctor (as Howard Hickman)
Sarah Edwards	...	Miss Hodges

Storyline

Jimmy Connors and his girl-friend want to take part in Paul Whiteman's highschool's band contest, but they cannot afford the fare. But per chance the meet Paul Whiteman in person and are able to convince him, that their band is good enought, so he lents sem the money. But then one of their friends becomes seriously ill and had to be carried in a hospital per plane, they had to use Whiteman's money for this.

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Plot Keywords:

contest | broken arm | chicago illinois | birthday | high school band | 

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Taglines:

The merriest pair on the screen in a great new musical show!

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Genres:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 September 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

Armonías de juventud

Box Office

Budget:

$838,661 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Loew's

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A tearjerker dating back to 1913, "The Curse of an Aching Heart" (music by Al Piantadosi, lyrics by Henry Fink), intended for Judy Garland in the "Nell of New Rochelle" sequence, was cut from the release print. Miss Garland's prerecording is featured on "Mickey & Judy," a CD box set from Rhino.

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Goofs

Jimmy Conners claims to have gone to Chicago for the World Series three years before. The World Series is always played at the home stadiums of the competing teams and the 1937 series was between the New York Yankees and the New York Giants. The 1938 World Series was indeed between the Chicago Cubs and the New York Yankees, but that would have been only two years before the film was released.

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Quotes

Paul Whiteman: Take that boy on the street. Teach him to blow a horn and he'll never blow a safe.

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Connections

Referenced in Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001)

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Soundtracks

"Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl"
(1909) (uncredited)
Music by A. Baldwin Sloane
Lyrics by Edgar Smith
Sung by Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney and chorus in the 'Nell of New Rochelle' sequence

User Reviews

"From Adam & Eve to Scarlett & Rhett"

After the success of Babes In Arms for MGM, Arthur Freed became the hottest producer on the lot and was granted his own famous Freed Unit to produce the best of the MGM musicals for the next 20 years almost. According to Hugh Fordin's book on Arthur Freed the next scheduled property was Good News, but that got shelved for several years when Louis B. Mayer decided that a patriotic type theme was in order and after all MGM had bought the screen rights to the Gershwin musical Strike Up The Band. Freed agreed, but in the Hollywood tradition only the title and the title song were retained for the screen.

That was enough because the Mickey and Judy formula was by now established with Babes In Arms. Here the two are a pair of talented musical kids and Mickey is the drummer in his high school band. But he's got other things on his mind besides doing John Philip Sousa. Even Sousa did more than Sousa when he was leading a band. Mickey is filled with the new jive rhythms of the day and he'd like to use the other kids in the school orchestra to form a real band. He's got Garland in mind for the vocals and the object is to get an audition from Paul Whiteman.

Whiteman in his day may have appropriated for himself the title of King Of Jazz, but certainly no one did more to popularize the new American art form among white audiences. His orchestra was the training ground for many of later big band leaders. Leaders like Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey and Glenn Miller all who were sidemen with Whiteman and who kids like Mickey and Judy and the rest of the cast were listening to.

If Strike Up The Band isn't exactly let's put on a show, it still is let's put on a concert and Mickey and Judy do have some shtick to perform, their Gay Nineties spoof is quite good. Also the fantasy sequence of the 'fruit orchestra' doing Our Love Affair is also nicely done, it looks very much like Ray Harryhausen's claymation figures, but he wasn't involved with Strike Up The Band.

Strike Up The Band won one Academy Award for sound and was nominated for two others. Roger Edens and Arthur Freed wrote Our Love Affair which was nominated for Best Song, but lost to When You Wish Upon A Star. And Edens and Georgie Stoll were nominated for Best Musical Scoring.

Busby Berkeley directed the film and in the finale shows his fine hand for spectacle. Here's where the patriotism that Louis B. Mayer was seeking came out. Remember this was 1940 and a lot of people were very afraid the USA was going into another World War. The finale with the title song was the kind of rousing patriotic spectacle that Hollywood would be doing in every studio after December 7, 1941.

With Strike Up The Band Arthur Freed proved he was no flash in the pan as a producer. After 70 years the film holds up well and the talents of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland reign eternal.