Babes in Arms (film)
| Babes in Arms | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Busby Berkeley |
| Written by | Jack McGowan Kay Van Riper Annalee Whitmore |
| Starring | Mickey Rooney Judy Garland |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date | October 13, 1939 |
Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Babes in Arms is the 1939 film version of the 1937 Broadway musical of the same name. The film version stars Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Charles Winninger, Guy Kibbee, June Preisser, Grace Hayes and Betty Jaynes.
Plot
In 1921 Vaudeville performer Joe Moran (Charles Winninger) announces the birth of a son; but after movies talk in 1928, Vaudeville fails. His son Mickey Moran (Mickey Rooney) writes songs, and Patsy Barton (Judy Garland) sings "Good Morning." Mickey sells the song for $100. He gives Patsy his pin and kisses her. Mickey learns that his parents Joe and Florrie (Grace Hayes) are going on the road without the children, and he disagrees. Patsy and Molly Moran (Betty Jaynes) sing "You Are My Lucky Star" and "Broadway Rhythm," but Joe says no to their going. So Mickey proposes the kids put on a show, and Don Brice (Douglas McPhail) sings "Babes in Arms" as they march and make a bonfire. Joe dismisses Mickey.
Martha Steele (Margaret Hamilton) and her son Jeff Steele (Rand Brooks) from military school complain to Judge Black (Guy Kibbee) about the Vaudeville kids, but he won't take them from their homes. In a drugstore Mickey and Patsy meet movie star Baby Rosalie Essex (June Preisser), but Mickey gets in a fight with Jeff. Mickey tells Judge Black that his parents' show flopped. The judge gives Mickey thirty days to pay damages. Don and Molly sing "Where or When" with an orchestra of children. Mickey has a date with Baby and dines in her house. Mickey wants Baby in the show, which needs $287. She offers to pay it. Mickey smokes a cigar and leaves sick.
Mickey tells Patsy that Baby has to play the lead because of the money. Baby shows how limber she is. Mickey directs rehearsal with Baby and Don, imitating Clark Gable and Lionel Barrymore. Patsy sees Mickey kiss Baby. Mickey tries to stop Patsy from leaving. On the train Patsy sings "I Cried for You." Patsy goes to a theater to see her mother (Ann Shoemaker). Patsy says that Mickey is putting on a show to keep the kids out of an institution. Patsy's mother tells Patsy not to quit her show.
Baby's father takes her out of the show, and Mickey asks Patsy to go on. In the show Patsy sings "Daddy Was a Minstrel Man." Mickey and Patsy put on black face and sing a medley with Don. Patsy sings "I'm Just Wild About Harry," but a storm drives the audience away. Mickey learns that his father quit theater and got an elevator job. Mrs. Steele says the children must report and gives Joe the paper. Mickey gets a letter from producer Maddox (Henry Hull), who liked the show and produces it. As hidden Mickey listens, Maddox asks bitter Joe to teach the youngsters in the show. Mickey introduces the show by singing "God's Country," which the company contrasts to fascism. Mickey and Patsy satirize FDR and Eleanor and dance.
Production
The movie was written by Jack McGowan, Kay Van Riper and Annalee Whitmore (uncredited). It was directed by Busby Berkeley and produced by Arthur Freed.[1]
The original Broadway script was revamped to accommodate Hollywood standards. It concerns a group of youngsters trying to put on a show to prove their vaudevillian parents wrong and make it to Broadway.
Most of the Rodgers and Hart songs were cut, except for the title tune, "The Lady Is a Tramp" (used as background music during a dinner scene), and "Where or When". Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown wrote a new song for the film, "Good Morning" (later made famous in Singin' in the Rain). Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg (composer and lyricist for The Wizard of Oz) wrote a new finale, called "God's Country".
Garland and Rooney later sang "I Wish I Were in Love Again" from the Broadway version of the show in the 1948 Rodgers and Hart biopic Words and Music. Garland also sang "Johnny One Note" in the same picture.
The original release of the film included a segment during the finale in which Rooney and Garland lampoon Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt; this was edited from the film during a later reissue and not restored until the 1990s. In 1940, slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges would lampoon the title of the film with Boobs in Arms.
Filming of Babes in Arms began on May 12, 1939, soon after Garland and Hamilton had finished filming The Wizard of Oz, and was completed on July 18, 1939. The film premiered on October 13, 1939.
Musical numbers were recorded in stereophonic sound but released to theaters with conventional monaural sound. Recent home video releases feature some of the original stereo recordings.[2]
Reception
It was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role (Mickey Rooney, who was 19 at the time) and Best Music, Scoring by Roger Edens and Georgie Stoll.
Notes
The parody sequence, "My Day," featuring Mickey Rooney as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Judy Garland as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, was removed from the negative after the president's death on April 12, 1945. The routine, for many years thought to be lost, was rediscovered on 16-millimeter film and now can be viewed on Warner Home Video's DVD, "The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection."
Main cast and characters
 |
Mickey Rooney as Mickey Moran |
 |
Judy Garland as Patsy Barton |
Other cast members
| Charles Winninger | as Joe Moran |
| Guy Kibbee | as Judge John Black |
| June Preisser | as Rosalie Essex |
| Grace Hayes | as Florrie Moran |
| Betty Jaynes | as Molly Moran |
| Douglas McPhail | as Don Brice |
| Rand Brooks | as Jeff Steele |
| Leni Lynn | as Dody Martin |
| Cliff Edwards | in a clip from The Hollywood Revue of 1929 of the song Singin' in the Rain |
| Charles King | in a clip from The Broadway Melody |
| Margaret Hamilton | as Martha Steele |
| Lelah Tyler | as Mrs. Brice |
Worldwide Release Dates
- Brazil: June 18, 1940
- Italy: October 14, 1941
- Japan: May 12, 1951
- Guatemala: September 14, 1958
- South Africa: June 14, 1963
VHS Release
Babes in Arms was released on VHS tape in 1992.
DVD release
Babes in Arms was released on DVD for the first time as part of Warner Bros. 5-disc DVD set The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection on September 25, 2007. The set contains Babes in Arms, Babes on Broadway, Girl Crazy, and Strike Up the Band, as well as a fifth disc containing bonus features on Rooney and Garland.[3]
See also
References
- ^ Higham, Charles; Greenberg, Joel (1968). Hollywood in the Forties. London: A. Zwemmer Limited. p. 172. ISBN 0-302-00477-7.
- ^ "Mickey Rooney Garland Collection Broadway" amazon.com, accessed September 5, 2011
- ^ "The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
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External links
- Babes in Arms at IMDb
- Babes in Arms at AllMovie
- Babes in Arms at the TCM Movie Database
- Babes in Arms at Rotten Tomatoes
- Babes in Arms on Screen Guild Theater: November 9, 1941