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Sunday, 2 December 2012

Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) - Star of the month... Frank Sinatraarthur freed, betty garrett, busby berkeley, edward arnold, esther williams, frank sinatra, gene kelly, jules munshin, mgm, MGM musical, take me out to the ballgame, TCM, turner classic movies,

"It's fate, baby, it's fate, and it's knocking at our door... It's fate, baby, and that's the reason, you're mine and I am yours." - Betty Garrett (as Shirley Delwyn in 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame')

Frank Sinatra & Gene Kelly sing the title song

'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' is a 1949 musical directed by Busby Berkeley and starring Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams and Gene Kelly with Betty Garrett, Jules Munshin, Edward Arnold and Richard Lane.

Produced by Arthur Freed

Set in 1908, the film tells the story of fictional American League baseball team, the Wolves, and two of its players (who are also vaudevillians), Eddie O'Brien (played by Kelly) and Dennis Ryan (played by Sinatra).

Frank Sinatra serenades Esther Williams

The ballplayers are devastated when the find out, the new owner of the Wolves is a woman, K.C. Higgins (played by Williams). Shorly after both Eddie and Dennis find themselves both falling in love with her. Things get complicated for Dennis when Shirley Delwyn falls in love with him.

Musical program

Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin & Gene Kelly sing
"O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg"

Musical program features:

"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" - Frank Sinatra & Gene Kelly
"Yes, Indeedy" - Frank Sinatra & Gene Kelly (with Jules Munshin)
"O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg" - Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly & Jules Munshin
"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (Reprise) - Esther Williams
"The Right Girl For Me" - Frank Sinatra
"The Right Girl For Me" (Reprise) - Gene Kelly
"It's Fate, Baby, It's Fate" - Betty Garrett & Frank Sinatra
"Strictly U.S.A." - Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Esther Williams, Betty Garrett & Jules Munshin
"The Hat My Father Wore On St. Patrick's Day" - Gene Kelly
"Finale: Strictly U.S.A." - Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Esther Williams & Betty Garrett

Watch some of the musical highlights below...

Song: "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" - Frank Sinatra & Gene Kelly

Song: "It's Fate, Baby, It's Fate" - Betty Garrett & Frank Sinatra

Song: "O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg" - Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly & Jules Munshin

"Strictly USA" - Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Esther Williams & Betty Garrett

Song: "The Hat My Father Wore Upon St. Patrick's Day" - Gene Kelly

Song: "The Right Girl For Me" - Frank Sinatra

Song: "Yes, Indeedy" - Frank Sinatra & Gene Kelly (with Jules Munshin)

Deleted musical sequences

Two songs were filmed but deleted from the final film:

'Boys and Girls Like You And Me'

- Originally written for the Broadway musical "Oklahoma" (1943), it was cut from the final show; it was then supposed to appear in the film 'Meet Me In St. Louis' (1943), but was also cut from that as well;

- Danny was supposed to sing the song to Shirley, the song was filmed however it was deemed too slow for the film and was cut

- The melody from the song was later featured in the TV movie musical 'Cinderella' (1957), with the song finally being sung in the 1996 stage production of 'State Fair'

'Babydoll'

- 'Babydoll' was developed after Gene Kelly prevented an Esther Williams swimming number from being included in the film

- Intended to be a lighthearted song and dance interlude for Gene Kelly and Esther Williams, the song was cut as it was considered to be "out of step" wit the rest of the film

- The song was later used in the film 'The Belle of New York' (1952), and performed by Fred Astaire and Vera-Ellen

- Although most of the footage filmed for the song exists, a small component of footage is missing

Did you know...

This was the second of three "buddy films" Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly made together
Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin and Betty Garrett would all be reunited a year later in "On The Town" (1949)
The idea for the film was conceived by Gene Kelly, who wanted to pay tribute to the early years of baseball
Judy Garland was the original choice to play K.C. Higgins, however she had become unreliable due to her addiction to antidepressants
June Allyson was considered for the role of K.C. Higgins, but fell pregnant
Kathryn Grayson was considered for the role of K.C. Higgins
In Britain, the film was released under the title 'Everybody's Cheering', as baseball is not popular there
The final directed by solely by Busby Berkeley
Baseball player Leo Durocher was originally intended to play the role of Danny Ryan
In her autobiography, Esther Williams described her time on the film as "pure misery", and claimed Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen treated her with contempt, and made nasty jokes about her - Williams believes this was because Kelly was uncomfortable with her being 3 inches taller than him

Award nominations

Writers Guide of America Award nomination for Best Written American Musical

Esther Williams appears briefly in a swimming pool

Closing remarks

In my opinion 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' is a below average MGM musical. The pace of film gets slow from time to time, and there are not nearly enough songs. This aside, the stars are fantastic and the film was very successful upon it's release.

In addition to Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, I am also a big fan of the two actresses in the film: Esther Williams and Betty Garrett.

Esther Williams was one of MGMs biggest money makers, and sadly she does not perform an underwater ballet sequence in this film. We do get to see her briefly in the swimming pool.

Esther Williams, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra & Betty Garrett

perform the finale of "Strictly U.S.A."

Betty Garrett's role in the film is also far too short, as it takes 40 minutes for her character to be introduced. Betty Garrett was a wasted talent and sadly didn't make nearly enough films.

Overall not a bad film, although in my opinion it's inferior to the other two Kelly/Sinatra films "Anchors Aweigh" (1945) and "On the Town" (1949).

Saturday, 17 November 2012

The Harvey Girls (1946) - Star of the month... Angela Lansbury

'The Harvey Girls' is a 1946 MGM musical-western directed by George Sidney and starring Judy Garland, John Hodiak, Angela Lansbury, Virginia O'Brien, Ray Bolger, Marjorie Main, Preston Foster, Chill Wills and Cyd Charisse.

Judy Garland, Virginia O'Brien and Cyd Charisse in 'The Harvey Girls'

Based on the 1942 novel 'The Harvey Girls' by Samuel Hopkins Adams, the film was produced by Arthur Freed.

The film tells the story of Fred Harvey's famous traveling waitresses, The Harvey Girls. A group of Harvey Girls are travelling to the western town of Sandrock on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railway to open a new franchise of Harvey House restaurants. On the train they met Susan Bradley (played by Garland), who is on her way to Sandrock to marry a blind date she has corresponded with via letters. Once the Harvey Girls arrive, they find themselves competing against the dance hall girls at the local saloon, led by Em (played by Lansbury). The rest of the film becomes a case of the saloon girls vs. the Harvey Girls, which eventually leads to an amusing and hilarious cat fight.

Watch the trailer:

Judy Garland & John Hodiak in "The Harvey Girls" (1946)

The Harvey House restaurant chain

The Harvey House restaurant chain was established by Fred Harvey in 1870 to provide good, inexpensive food and lodging in clean, elegant surroundings for travellers to the west. At one point there were 84 Harvey Houses throughout seven states in the US. The waitresses working at the restaurants were famously known as The Harvey Girls.