Till the Clouds Roll By

Till The Clouds Roll By
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Richard Whorf
Produced by	Arthur Freed
Written by	Guy Bolton
Starring	Judy Garland Frank Sinatra Kathryn Grayson Robert Walker
Cinematography	George J. Folsey
Editing by	Harry Stradling Sr.
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	December 5, 1946 (1946-12-05)
Running time	132 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2,841,000
Box office	$4.5 million (US/ Canada rentals)

Till The Clouds Roll By is a 1946 American musical film made by MGM. The film is a fictionalized biography of composer Jerome Kern (portrayed by Robert Walker) who was originally involved with the production of the film, but died before it was completed.

Production

Till the Clouds Roll By contained a large cast of well-known musical stars of the day who appear in cameo roles performing Kern's songs. The first 15 minutes of the film consist of a condensed adaptation of Act I of Show Boat, with the order of some of the songs shifted - "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" is sung after "Life upon the Wicked Stage", and "Ol' Man River" was used as an Act I Finale, dissimilar to the show. "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" as sung by Lena Horne was filmed, like many of her other musical numbers in MGM films, so that it could be easily eliminated by sensitive Southern distributors.

Perhaps to appeal directly to teen audiences of the day, the film included two versions of "Ol' Man River" - the first a straightforward version sung by African-American actor-singer Caleb Peterson and a black chorus as part of the "Show Boat" medley, and the second a "crooner version" performed by Frank Sinatra (then wildly popular with bobbysoxers), featured as the film's grand finale.

When the film started production in the fall of 1945, Judy Garland was signed as Broadway singer-dancer Marilyn Miller. Garland, who had just returned to California after a long New York honeymoon with her new husband, director Vincente Minnelli, had just discovered that she was pregnant. MGM decided that all of Garland's scenes and musical numbers would be directed, supervised, and completed by Minnelli as soon as possible. During this time, Jerome Kern regularly visited the set and was photographed with Minnelli and Garland while they were filming the musical number Who?. Soon after, Kern returned to New York towards the end of October and tragically died in November, 1945. Garland's work on the film was finished by December, 1945.

Upon its release in December, 1946, Till The Clouds Roll By received mixed reviews, but was a huge box-office success.

Lena Horne sings "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man".

Till the Clouds Roll By is one of several MGM musicals (another being Royal Wedding) that lapsed into public domain on their 29th anniversary due to failure to renew the copyright registration. As such, it is one of the most widely circulated MGM musicals on home video. Warner Home Video gave the film its first fully restored DVD release on April 25, 2006.

Till the Clouds Roll By is also credited as one of the first motion pictures to have a soundtrack album released concurrent with the film arriving in theaters. The soundtrack was produced by MGM Records. The album originally contained four 78-rpm records featuring various artists and songs from the movie and front-cover artwork by Lennie Hayton. Later this album was released on LP. No official authorized version has yet been released on CD, but several unauthorized versions have (Rhino Entertainment currently owns the rights to issue an authorized CD of the soundtrack, under license from Turner Entertainment; in the past, MCA Records and Sony Music Entertainment held such rights). This is due to MGM allowing the film to fall into public domain.

Cast

• June Allyson as Jane Witherspoon (in Leave It to Jane) and Lou Ellen Carter (in Oh, Boy!)
• Lucille Bremer as Sally Hessler
• Judy Garland as Marilyn Miller
• Kathryn Grayson as Magnolia Hawks in Show Boat / Specialty
• Van Heflin as James I. Hessler
• Lena Horne as Julie LaVerne in Show Boat / Specialty
• Van Johnson as Bandleader in Elite Club
• Tony Martin as Gaylord Ravenal in Show Boat / Specialty
• Dinah Shore as Una Trance (in The Girl from Utah) / Specialty
• Frank Sinatra as Finale Specialty
• Robert Walker as Jerome Kern
• Gower Champion as Specialty Dancer in Roberta
• Cyd Charisse as Specialty Dancer in Roberta
• Angela Lansbury as London Specialty, singing "How'd Ya Like to Spoon With Me"
• Ray McDonald as Specialty in Oh, Boy! and Leave It to Jane
• Virginia O'Brien as Ellie Mae in Show Boat / Specialty
• Joan Wells as Sally Hessler as a little girl
• Esther Williams as Cameo appearance
• Harry Hayden as Charles Frohman
• Paul Langton as Oscar Hammerstein II
• Paul Maxey as Victor Herbert

Gallery

• 

  Bruce Cowling

• 

  Judy Garland

• 

  Judy Garland

• 

  Lena Horne

• 

  Angela Lansbury

• 

  Dorothy Patrick

• 

  Dinah Shore

• 

  Frank Sinatra

Songs

• "Cotton Blossom" - MGM Studio Orchestra and Chorus
• "Where's the Mate for Me" - Tony Martin
• "Make Believe" - Kathryn Grayson / Tony Martin
• "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" - Virginia O'Brien / MGM Studio Orchestra and Chorus Girls
• "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" - Lena Horne
• "Ol' Man River" - Caleb Peterson / MGM Studio Orchestra and Chorus
• "Ka-Lu-a" - MGM Studio Orchestra
• "How'd You Like to Spoon with Me" - Angela Lansbury / MGM Studio Orchestra and Chorus
• "They Didn't Believe Me" - Dinah Shore
• "Till the Clouds Roll By" - June Allyson / Ray McDonald / MGM Studio Orchestra and Chorus
• "Leave It to Jane" - MGM Studio Orchestra and Chorus / June Allyson / Ray McDonald
• "Cleopatterer" - June Allyson / Ray McDonald / MGM Studio Orchestra and Chorus
• "Leave It to Jane" (Reprise) - MGM Studio Orchestra and Chorus / June Allyson / Ray McDonald
• "Look for the Silver Lining" - Judy Garland
• "Sunny" - Judy Garland / MGM Studio Orchestra and Chorus
• "Who?" - Judy Garland / MGM Studio Orchestra and Chorus
• "One More Dance" - Lucille Bremer (Dubbed by Trudy Erwin)
• "I Won't Dance" - Van Johnson / Lucille Bremer (dubbed by Trudy Erwin)
• "She Didn't Say Yes" - Lyn Wilde / Lee Wilde
• "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" - Cyd Charisse / Gower Champion
• "The Last Time I Saw Paris" - Dinah Shore
• "The Land Where the Good Songs Go" - Lucille Bremer (dubbed by Trudy Erwin)
• "Long Ago (and Far Away)" - Kathryn Grayson
• "A Fine Romance" - Virginia O'Brien
• "All the Things You Are" - Tony Martin
• "Why Was I Born?" - Lena Horne
• "Yesterdays" - MGM Studio Orchestra and Chorus
• "Ol' Man River" (Reprise/Finale) - Frank Sinatra / MGM Studio Orchestra and Chorus

See also

• List of films in the public domain

External links

• Till the Clouds Roll By is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• Till the Clouds Roll By at the Internet Movie Database
• The Judy Room: "Till The Clouds Roll By" section