On the Avenue
On the Avenue | |
---|---|
DVD cover | |
Directed by |
Roy Del Ruth William J. Scully (assistant) William Seiter (fill-in) |
Produced by |
Gene Markey Darryl F. Zanuck |
Written by |
Irving Berlin (story) Eddie Cherkose Samuel Pokrass |
Screenplay by |
William M. Conselman Gene Markey |
Starring |
Dick Powell Madeleine Carroll Alice Faye The Ritz Brothers George Barbier |
Music by |
Charles Maxwell Cyril J. Mockridge Arthur Lange Herbert W. Spencer |
Cinematography | Lucien Andriot |
Edited by | Allen McNeil |
Distributed by | Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation |
Release dates | February 12, 1937 |
Running time | 89 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1 million[1] |
Box office | $1.3 million[2] |
On the Avenue is a 1937 American musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Dick Powell, Madeleine Carroll, Alice Faye, George Barbier, and The Ritz Brothers. Many of the songs in this film were composed by Irving Berlin.
Plot
Gary Blake (Dick Powell) stars in a new show, On the Avenue, with Mona Merrick (Alice Faye). The show contains a satire on The Richest Girl in the World, Mimi Carraway (Madeleine Carroll). Mimi and her father (George Barbier) are in the audience on opening night and they feel insulted. She goes backstage and tries to get Gary to take the skit out of the show. He refuses and calls her a "bad sport".
Shocked by the remark, Mimi decides to make a date with Gary. They spend the entire evening together and, by morning, have fallen in love. He finally agrees to revise the skit so it can no longer hurt the Carraways. Mona is in love with Gary and is furious when she hears about Gary's date with Mimi. When the Carraways appear to see the revised sketch, she changes it, without Gary's knowledge, making it worse than before. The Carraways decide to file suit against Gary.
To get back at him, Mimi buys the show from the producer and embarrasses Gary by hiring a paid audience to walk out on the show. Word leaks out to the press and Gary is now the laughingstock of New York. Furious, he tears up his contract, refusing to work with Mimi. Soon, Mimi becomes engaged to Arctic explorer Frederick Sims (Alan Mowbray). On her wedding day, Mona arrives and tells Mimi that it was she, not Gary, who changed the skit. She runs out on the wedding and is taken to city hall with Gary to be married.
The movie's action is interspersed with songs from the play, including Berlin's songs "He Ain't Got Rhythm," and "Let's Go Slumming On Park Avenue."
Cast
- Dick Powell as Gary Blake
- Madeleine Carroll as Mimi Caraway
- Alice Faye as Mona Merrick
- The Ritz Brothers as themselves
- George Barbier as Commodore Caraway
- Alan Mowbray as Frederick Sims
- Cora Witherspoon as Aunt Fritz
- Walter Catlett as J.J. Dibble
- Douglas Fowley as Eddie Eads
- Joan Davis as Miss Katz
- Stepin Fetchit as Herman 'Step'
- Sig Ruman as Herr Hanfstangel (as Sig Rumann)
- Billy Gilbert as Joe Papaloupas
Partial sound track
- I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm (1937)
- Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin
- Sung by Dick Powell and Alice Faye in the show[3]
- This Year's Kisses (1937)
- Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin
- Sung by Alice Faye with piano accompaniment at rehearsal
- You're Laughing at Me (19371927)
- Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin
- Sung by Dick Powell with the studio orchestra
- The Girl on the Police Gazette (1937)
- Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin
- Sung by Dick Powell with a barbershop quartet
- Cheek to Cheek (1935)
- Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin
- Partially sung by Harry Ritz in the "He Ain't Got Rhythm" number
- He Ain't Got Rhythm (1937)
- Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin
- Performed by Alice Faye, The Ritz Brothers and chorus in the show
Accolades
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
- 2006: AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals – Nominated[4]
References
- ↑ Solomon p 240
- ↑ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century-Fox: A Corporate and Financial History Rowman & Littlefield, 2002 p 217
- ↑ Ruth, Roy Del (1937-02-12), On the Avenue, retrieved 2016-10-11
- ↑ "AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-08-13.
External links
- On the Avenue at the TCM Movie Database
- On the Avenue at the Internet Movie Database
- On the Avenue at AllMovie