The Benny Goodman Story (1956)

Bio of swing band leader 'Benny Goodman' from age 10 (1919) to his landmark Carnegie Hall band concert in 1938. Not exactly historically accurate, but great music. Also, guest appearances ... See full summary »

Director:

Valentine Davies

Writer:

Valentine Davies

Stars:

Steve Allen, Donna Reed, Berta Gersten

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve Allen	...	Benny Goodman
Donna Reed	...	Alice Hammond
Berta Gersten	...	Mama Goodman
Barry Truex	...	Benny Goodman (at 16)
Herbert Anderson	...	John Hammond Jr.
Robert F. Simon	...	Papa Dave Goodman
Hy Averback	...	Willard Alexander
Sammy Davis Sr.	...	Fletcher Henderson
Dick Winslow	...	Gil Rodin
Shepard Menken	...	Harry Goodman (as Shep Menken)
Jack Kruschen	...	Murph Podolsky
Wilton Graff	...	John Hammond Sr.
Fred Essler	...	Prof Schoepp
David Kasday	...	Benny Goodman (at 10)
John Erman	...	Harry Goodman (at 16) (as John M. Erman)

Storyline

Bio of swing band leader 'Benny Goodman' from age 10 (1919) to his landmark Carnegie Hall band concert in 1938. Not exactly historically accurate, but great music. Also, guest appearances by many great musicians of the time.

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Plot Keywords:

swing | bandleader | big band | clarinet | character name in title

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Music

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1956 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Die Benny Goodman Story

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Already an accomplished piano player, Steve Allen learned how to play the clarinet for this film.

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Goofs

Newspaper article shown that gives Benny Goodman the idea to audition has a typo - "a large baking account" instead of "banking account." This is probably accurate since the company that sponsored the "Let's Dance" show made biscuits.

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Crazy Credits

Benny Goodman's theme song is played over the appearance of the "Universal International" globe.

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Soundtracks

"Memories of You"
Written by Eubie Blake and Andy Razaf

User Reviews

A fine glimpse--if not of the actual life of Mr Goodman--of giants of the Swing era.

Viewed from the point of view of a jazz fan interested in the history of swing, this movie is a treasure. There are moments all through when some of the true greats in jazz can be at least glimpsed, and some have ongoing parts: Buck Clayton, on trumpet, Teddy Wilson on piano, Gene Krupa, on drums, Lionel Hampton on vibes, Stan Getz on tenor saxophone (he was the farthest to the right on the front row--almost always cut out of the pan-and-scan print shown on TCM, but he has a great solo and closeup in one of the numbers, in the Palomar ballroom section). There are other stars who appear for one scene, but it's fun to see them, even briefly. Ziggy Elman plays his trumpet solo on "And the Angels Sing" glibly verbatim from the famous recording, but rushes, unfortunately. The plot is quite predictable, and there's no clinch at the end, just shining eyes. A must-buy for the jazz sentimentalist--but get the wide-screen version.