A pretty weak, overlong musical chronicling the Five Donovans, a family vaudeville act who make an uneasy transition to Broadway after vaudeville collapses (as far as I can tell, this is not a biopic, but fiction). Dan Dailey and Ethel Merman are the parents. As adults, the three kids are played by Donald O'Connor, Mitzi Gaynor and Johnnie Ray. Marilyn Monroe joins them, much to Merman's consternation, as O'Connor's love interest, later in the picture. The songs are by Irving Berlin, but the arrangements are awful. Ethel Merman's shrill renditions of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" have been haunting me since I saw this picture. I never want to hear that song again. The film only really comes to life when Monroe is center stage. The costumes and production design are pretty good. Unbelievably, of the three Oscar nominations this received, one was for its screenplay!