Babes on Broadway (1941)

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. He meets Penny Morris, herself no mean singer, and through... See full summary »

Director:

Busby Berkeley

Writers:

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

Stars:

Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Fay Bainter

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Mickey Rooney	...	Tommy Williams
Judy Garland	...	Penny Morris
Fay Bainter	...	Miss Jones
Virginia Weidler	...	Barbara Jo
Ray McDonald	...	Ray Lambert
Richard Quine	...	Morton Hammond
Donald Meek	...	Mr. Stone
Alexander Woollcott	...	Himself
Luis Alberni	...	Nick
James Gleason	...	Thornton Reed
Emma Dunn	...	Mrs. Williams
Frederick Burton	...	Mr. Morris
Cliff Clark	...	Inspector Moriarity
William Post Jr.	...	Announcer
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Carl Stockdale	...	Man (scenes deleted)

Storyline

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. He meets Penny Morris, herself no mean singer, and through her gets the idea to promote a show to send orphaned children on a country holiday. But he is only using the kids to get on himself, which Penny soon realises. With his romance off, an engagement in Philadelphia he can't get to, and, indeed, war in Europe, life can be difficult.

---

Plot Keywords:

orphan | singer | audition | new york city | mother son relationship | 

---

Taglines:

Youth Has It's Fling !

---

Genres:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

January 1942 (USA)

Also Known As:

Vi på Broadway

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$940,068 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A third "Babes" picture for Garland and Rooney, director Busby Berkeley, and producer Arthur Freed entitled 'Babes in Hollywood' was shelved after Freed decided to produce the long awaited Girl Crazy instead and give Garland a leading lady role in For Me and My Gal. 'Babes in Hollywood' was intended to be an update of "Merton of the Movies", filmed in Technicolor with cameo appearances by MGM's stable of stars. 'Harry Warren' and Leo Robin were hired to compose the score (which then included "A Journey to a Star", "Polka Dot Polka", and "No Love No Nothin") with additional songs by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. Sid Silvers was hired to write the script, which never got past the outline stage. After the project was shelved, 20th Century Fox hired Berkeley, Warren, and Robin for The Gang's All Here. The songwriters used their songs written for the scrapped film at MGM and Berkeley's elaborate "Polka Dot Polka" finale with neon hula-hoops (originally meant for 'Babes in Hollywood') was staged with all-out abandon.

---

Goofs

During the "Hoe Down" number, both Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland's voices are heard singing, but Judy is not singing the words.

---

Quotes

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

---

Connections

Featured in That's Entertainment! (1974)

---

Soundtracks

"La Marseillaise"
(uncredited)
Music by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle (1792)
Played as background music when Judy Garland imitates Sarah Bernhardt

User Reviews

I Like Them Fine, How About You?

Despite the fact the Busby Berkeley finale was a minstrel show, I like Babes on Broadway just fine. If you want to see Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland as a team at their peak, this isn't the film. But I like it fine anyway

Mickey is a member of a trio which also consists of Ray McDonald and Richard Quine singing for their supper at a one armed spaghetti joint owned by Luis Alberni. One of the three customers in the joint one night is Broadway girl Friday, Fay Bainter who loves the act and Mickey especially. She spends the rest of the film trying to get ulcer ridden producer James Gleason to hear him and the rest of the talent Rooney collects for that inevitable show he wants to put on.

Of course one of those talents is Judy Garland, another eager young hopeful and the musical highlight of the film is their singing the famous Vernon Duke song, How About You. It's not one of Berkeley's big production numbers, it's done with Mickey and Judy at a piano in her place, but their infectious enthusiasm will grab you immediately. How About You was later done in the fifties with a really fine arrangement by Rosemary Clooney and Bing Crosby in one of their joint albums.

The other highlight for me is the surreal number done when Judy and Mickey arrive at a long closed theater for their show and are transformed by the spirits of the performers of long ago who headlined in the place. What has to be remembered is that several of these people were actually still alive when Mickey and Judy are imitating them, people like George M. Cohan, Harry Lauder, Blanche Ring. Faye Templeton, Sarah Bernhardt, and Richard Mansfield were long dead or retired by then. Still people in the audience remembered them and Mickey and Judy's reverential treatment to these stage stars of long ago must have struck a chord in movie audiences we can't appreciate today.

The minstrel show finale of course isn't good, yet even that is salvaged somewhat by Judy's singing of Franklin D. Roosevelt Jones. She also recorded it for Decca and the number still plays well today. When Judy does it even in blackface, somehow instead of degrading, it comes out as a tribute, like Fred Astaire in blackface imitating Bill Robinson in Bojangles of Harlem.

My favorite of their joint projects has always been Girl Crazy, still Mickey and Judy are as alive and fresh in Babes on Broadway as ever and it's a great example of matchless chemistry and teamwork.