Babes on Broadway

BABES ON BROADWAY

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CREDITS

1942, 118 minutes, B&W.
Producer, Arthur Freed; Director, Busby Berkeley; Screeplay, Fred Finklehoffe and Elaine Ryan; Cinematography, Lester White; Choreography, Busby Berkeley.

CAST

Tommy Williams, Mickey Rooney; Penny Morris, Judy Garland; Miss Jones, Fay Bainter; Mary Ann, Virginia Weidler; Ray Lambert, Ray McDonald; Morton Hammond, Richard Quine; Mr. Stone, Donald Meek; Thornton Reed, James Gleason; Mrs. Williams, Emma Dunn; Mr. Morton, Frederick Burton; Inspector Moriarty, Cliff Clark; Alexander Woolcott, Himself; Secretary; Donna Reed.

SONGS

How About You; Babes on Broadway by Ralph Freed and Burton Lane; Chin Up, Cheerio, Carry On; Anything Can Happen in New York by Lane and E.Y. Harburg; Hoe Down by Freed and Roger Edens; Bombshell from Brazil; Blackout On Broadway by Edens; Mama, Yo Quiero by Al Stillman, Jaraca and Vincent Paiva; Franklin D. Roosevelt Jones by Harold Rome; By the Light of the Silvery Moon by Edward Madden and Gus Edwards; Alabamy Bound by Buddy De Sylva, Bud Green and Ray Henderson; Old Folks At Home by Stephen Foster; Waiting for the Robert E. Lee by L. Wolfe Gilbert and Lewis F. Muir; Mary's a Grand Old Name; Yankee Doodle Boy by George M. Cohan; She Is Ma Daisy by Sir Harry Lauder and J.D. Harper; I've Got Rings On My Fingers by F.J. Barnes, R.P. Weston and Maurice Scott.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

"In this one, Mickey, a member of a struggling song-and-dance act, "The Three Balls of Fire," gets the bright notion that the only way beginners can get a break on Broadway is to put on - that's right - their own show (this time for the benefit of a settlement house)."
- Stanley Green, Hollywood Musicals Year By Year

NOTES

"If you took your cue from [the] screenwriters. . .and paid little attention to the plot of Babes on Broadway, it was possible to have a pretty good time. For the show was generously laden with songs, all of them expertly staged by Busby Berkeley. . ."
- Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical

"Enough energy and enthusiasm to make older people wish they were young, and young people glad that they are."
- MFB

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATION:
Best Song - "How About You"

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