My Sister Eileen (1955)

Director:

Richard Quine

Writers:

Ruth McKenney (stories)
Joseph Fields (play) ...

Release Date:

22 September 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

That Joyous New Musical !

Plot:

Ruth and her beautiful sister Eileen come to New York's Greenwich Village looking for "fame, fortune and a 'For Rent' sign on Barrow Street"...

Plot Keywords:

Apartment | Writer | Drugstore | Elevator | Bandstand

Cast

Janet Leigh	...	Eileen Sherwood
Jack Lemmon	...	Robert 'Bob' Baker
Betty Garrett	...	Ruth Sherwood
Bob Fosse	...	Frank Lippincott (as Robert Fosse)
Kurt Kasznar	...	'Papa' Appopolous
Dick York	...	Ted 'Wreck' Loomis (as Richard York)
Lucy Marlow	...	Helen, Wreck's girlfriend
Tommy Rall	...	Chick Clark
Barbara Brown	...	Helen's mother
Horace McMahon	...	Police officer Lonigan
Henry Slate	...	Second drunk
Hal March	...	Pete, first drunk

Also Known As:

The Gay Girls (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Portuguese

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (magnetic prints) | Mono (optical prints)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Columbia/Warner Bros. Ranch - 411 N. Hollywood Way, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

June Haver turned down an offer to play Eileen Sherwood.

Quotes:

Ruth Sherwood: Just what kind of work are you out of, Wreck?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Broadway: The American Musical" (2004)

Soundtrack:

I'm Great

Nice musical, but somewhat mystifying ...

I recently saw this musical, and enjoyed it very much. There is only one thing that puzzles me though. First, a little history of "My Sister Eileen". It originated as a series of short stories by Ruth McKenney that eventually was published as a book in 1938. In 1940 the book was adapted as a non-musical play. In 1942, Columbia produced a film version of the play. In 1953, Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green wrote the music and lyrics for the hit Broadway musical adaptation retitled "Wonderful Town". Then two years later, in 1955, Columbia released this musical version. What puzzles me is that it seems that Columbia completely ignored the hit Broadway show of just two years prior, as if it never existed. It's interesting that they would have Jule Styne and Leo Robin write a completely new score for the film, when the superb Bernstein/Comden & Green score was already there. The Styne/Robin score is very good, but in no way does it compare to "Wonderful Town".