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Broadway Rhythm

Alternate Title: Up and Down Broadway Director: Roy Del Ruth (Dir) Release Date: 13 Apr 1944 Production Date: 16 Jun--mid-Sep 1943; addl scenes began late Oct 1943 Duration (in mins): 113 or 115 Duration (in reels): 12			Print this page Display Movie Summary

Cast:	George Murphy	(Jonnie Demming)
	Ginny Simms	(Helen Hoyt)
	Charles Winninger	(Sam Demming)
	Gloria DeHaven	(Patsy Demming)
	Nancy Walker	(Trixie Simpson)
	Ben Blue	(Felix Gross)
	Lena Horne	(Fernway de la Fer)
	Eddie "Rochester" Anderson	(Eddie )
	Hazel Scott	(Herself)
	Kenny Bowers	(Ray Kent)
	The Ross Sisters	(Maggie, Aggie, Elmira)
	Dean Murphy	(Hired man)
	Louis Mason	(Farmer [Hexley])
	Bunny Waters	(Bunnie)
	Walter B. Long	(Doug Kelly)
	Tommy Dorsey		and His Orchestra
	Jane Hale	(Dancer)
	Jack Williams	(Dancer in "Brazilian Boogie Woogie" number)
	Mike Fernandez	(Dancer in "Amor" number)
	Alex Nahera	(Dancer in "Amor" number)
	Enrique Valadez	(Dancer in "Amor" number)
	Guadalajara Trio	(Singers in "Amor" number)
	Archie Savage	(Specialty act in "Brazilian Boogie Woogie" number)
	Leonard Bluett	(Specialty act in "Brazilian Boogie Woogie" number)
	Music Maids	(Singers in "Brazilian Boogie Woogie" number)
	Bill Bates	(Singer in "Brazilian Boogie Woogie" number)
	Peggy McCall	(Singer in "Who's Who" number)
	The Sentimentalists	(Singers in "Irresistible You" number)
	Edwards Sisters	(Specialty dance)
	Sara Haden	(Miss Wynn)
	Sidney Blackmer	(Press agent)
	Charles Judels	(Swami)
	Kirk Alyn	(Escort)
	Jack Chefe	(Waiter)
	Arno Frey	(Waiter)
	George Sorel	(Headwaiter)
	Vladimir Rachevsky	(Headwaiter)
	Robert Emmet O'Connor	(Stage manager)
	Dell Henderson	(Doorman)
	Rafael Storm	(Interpreter)
	Eddie Lee	(Chinese waiter)
	Beryl McCutcheon	(Co-ed in drugstore)
	Constance Weiler	(Co-ed in drugstore)
	Marilyn Knowlden	(Co-ed in drugstore)
	Jane Isbell	(Co-ed in drugstore)
	Ruth Tobey	(Co-ed in drugstore)
	Gloria Mackey	(Co-ed in drugstore)
	Beverly Pratt	(Fat girl)
	Drake Thorton	(Autograph seeker)
	Bob Benton	(Autograph seeker)
	Florence Lundeen	(Autograph seeker)
	Mary Ganley	(Autograph seeker)
	Frances Rafferty	(Autograph seeker)
	Mary McLeod	(Autograph seeker)
	Peggy Maley	(Autograph seeker)
	Betty Jane Graham	(Autograph seeker)
	Leon Warwick	(Jungle café doorman)
	Joe Niemeyer	(Penny arcade owner)
	Kay Medford	(Cashier at arcade)
	Art Berry Sr.	(Bartender)

Summary:

Successful Broadway producer and performer Jonnie Demming, the scion of a well-known burlesque family, is preparing his next musical and searching for the perfect leading lady. While scouting for talent at a nightclub, Jonnie, a notorious playboy, spies film actress Helen Hoyt and is immediately attracted to her, but insists to his assistant, Felix Gross, that he would never cast a movie star in his show. Although Helen, whose film career has been faltering, has come to New York to find a Broadway musical in which to star, she feigns only mild interest when Jonnie approaches her. The egotistical Jonnie tells Helen that she is "all wrong" for the show's lead, as he is looking for a "Latin type," and suggests that she audition for the chorus instead. The next day, Jonnie is delighted when an unknown Latin singer named La Polita shows up to audition and, unaware that she is actually Helen in a dark wig, invites her to lunch. Before she meets Jonnie, Helen's ruse is discovered by his teenaged sister Patsy, who against Jonnie's wishes, has run away from her Connecticut boarding school to pursue a career in show business. Over lunch, Helen then reveals her identity to Jonnie and informs him that she will not act in his show because the script is boring and pretentious. Although Helen's assessment is echoed by Jonnie's father Sam, a comedian who has been forced into retirement by Jonnie, Jonnie decides to postpone the show's opening until he can convince Helen to join. Helen resists Jonnie's attempts at seduction, however, and later agrees to co-produce with Sam an unproduced musical about the Demming family, which Jonnie wrote years before. Because neither of them has much money, Sam and Helen decide to mount the musical in Mellford, Connecticut. They rent an abandoned summer stock theater from a farmer and begin auditioning for the show. When Jonnie, who still hopes to cast Helen in his musical, finally learns about the production, he is furious. He warns his father that his play is too "corny" for contemporary audiences and that Sam's hoped-for comeback will be a pitiful failure. Sam and Helen are undaunted, however, and invite the recently graduated Patsy and her boyfriend and partner, Ray Kent, to join the show. Later, Jonnie shows up in Mellford and begs Helen to do his production, and both confess their love for each other. When Helen asks Jonnie to wish his father good luck, however, Jonnie refuses, infuriating Helen. After Jonnie returns to New York, Sam confides to Helen that he has always dreamed of doing the Demming story with his son. Determined to reunite the two men, Helen goes to New York and lies to Jonnie that the dancer who was to play Jonnie has broken his leg and that she and most of the cast have left Sam's show. His family pride finally stirred, Jonnie condemns Helen as a traitor and rushes to Mellford to "save" his father. Jonnie announces that he is putting on the show in New York and will play himself in it. To everyone's further delight, Jonnie then casts Patsy in Helen's role. Later, during rehearsals, Jonnie is happily surprised when Helen appears on stage, ready to be his co-star.

Production Company:	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.	(Loew's Inc.)
Distribution Company:	Loew's Inc.
Director:	Roy Del Ruth	(Dir)
	Joe Boyle	(Asst dir)
Producer:	Jack Cummings	(Prod)
Writer:	Dorothy Kingsley	(Scr)
	Harry Clork	(Scr)
	Jack McGowan	(Story)
Photography:	Leonard Smith	(Dir of photog)
	Charles Salerno	(2d cam)
Art Direction:	Cedric Gibbons	(Art dir)
	Jack Martin Smith	(Assoc)
	Merrill Pye	(Mus presentation)
Film Editor:	Albert Akst	(Film ed)
Set Decoration:	Edwin B. Willis	(Set dec)
	McLean Nisbet	(Assoc)
Costumes:	Irene	(Cost supv)
	Sharaff	(Assoc)
	Gile Steele	(Men's cost)
Music:	Johnny Green	(Mus dir and supv)
	Ted Duncan	(Orch)
	Sy Oliver	(Orch)
	Lewis Raymond	(Orch)
	Phil Moore	(Orch)
	Hugh Martin	(Vocal arr)
	Ralph Blane	(Vocal arr)
	Kay Thompson	(Vocal arr)
	Gene DePaul	(Vocal arr)
Sound:	Douglas Shearer	(Rec dir)
	James K. Burbridge	(Unit mixer)
	Standish J. Lambert	(Re-rec and eff mixer)
	Robert W. Shirley	(Re-rec and eff mixer)
	William Steinkamp	(Re-rec and eff mixer)
	Michael Steinore	(Re-rec and eff mixer)
	John A. Williams	(Re-rec and eff mixer)
	Edward Baravalle	(Mus mixer)
	M. J. McLaughlin	(Mus mixer)
Dance:	Charles Walters	(Dance dir)
	Jack Donahue	(Dance dir)
	Robert Alton	(Dance dir)
	Don Loper	(Dance dir)
	Bobby Connolly	(Dance dir)
	Jane Hale	(Asst dance dir)
Production Misc:	Harriet Lee	(Vocal coach)
Stand In:	Virginia Rees	(Vocal stand-in for Lena Horne)
Color Personnel:	Natalie Kalmus	(Technicolor col consultant)
	Henri Jaffa	(Assoc)
Country:	United States

Music:	"National Emblem" by E. E. Bagley; "The Minute Waltz" by Frédéric Chopin; arranged by Phil Moore.
Songs:	"Somebody Loves Me," words and music by George and Ira Gershwin; "Who's Who," "Solid Potato Salad," "Irresistible You," "Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet" and "I Love Corny Music," words and music by Don Raye and Gene DePaul; "What Do You Think I Am" and "Brazilian Boogie," words and music by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane; "Pretty Baby," words by Gus Kahn, music by Tony Jackson and Egbert Van Alstyne; "Amor," music by Gabriel Ruiz, Spanish lyrics by Ricardo Lopez Mendez, English lyrics by Sunny Skylar; "All the Things You Are," words by Oscar Hammerstein, II, music by Jerome Kern.
Composer:	Gene DePaul
	E. E. Bagley
	Ralph Blane
	Frédéric Chopin
	George Gershwin
	Ira Gershwin
	Oscar Hammerstein II
	Tony Jackson
	Gus Kahn
	Jerome Kern
	Ricardo Lopez Mendez
	Hugh Martin
	Phil Moore
	Don Raye
	Gabriel Ruiz
	Sunny Skylar
	Egbert Van Alstyne
Source Text:	Based on the musical Very Warm for May by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, II (New York, 17 Nov 1939).
Authors:	Oscar Hammerstein II
	Jerome Kern

Copyright Claimant	Copyright Date	Copyright Number	Passed By NBR:
Loew's Inc.	4/1/1944 dd/mm/yyyy	LP12542	Yes

PCA NO:	9702
Physical Properties:	col:	Technicolor
	Sd:	Western Electric Sound System


Genre:	Musical comedy
Sub-Genre:	Show business

Subjects (Major):	Family relationships
	Motion picture actors and actresses
	Musical revues
	Retirement
	Romance
	Theatrical producers

Subjects (Minor):	African Americans
	Auditions
	City-country contrast
	Comedians
	Connecticut
	Cultural elitism
	Dancers
	Egotists
	Farmers
	Graduations
	Impersonation and imposture
	Latin Americans
	New York City--Broadway
	Nightclubs
	Playboys
	Rehearsals
	Singers
	Theaters
	Wigs

Note:	The working titles of this film were Very Warm for May , Broadway Melody of 1943 , Along Broadway and Up and Down Broadway . In addition to the above-mentioned musical numbers, excerpts from the following songs were heard: "Oh, You Beautiful Doll," words and music by Nat D. Ayer and A. Seymour Brown; "In Other Words, Seventeen," "That Lucky Fellow" and "All in Fun," words by Oscar Hammerstein, II, music by Jerome Kern. All of the Hammerstein-Kern numbers, including "All the Things You Are," were written for Very Warm for May , the musical on which the film was loosely based. An Apr 1942 HR news item announced that Kern and Hammerstein were in Hollywood working on new songs for the screen musical, but no additional Kern-Hammerstein numbers were included in the final film. Although M-G-M music records and publicity material contained at the AMPAS Library note that the song "Tête-à-Tête at Tea Time" by Don Raye and Gene DePaul was recorded for the film by Lena Horne and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, it was not included in the completed film. "My Moonlight Madonna" by Paul Webster, Zedenko Fibich and William Scotti was also recorded for the picture by Gloria DeHaven, but was not used, according to M-G-M music records. Other songs written for the film by Raye and DePaul but not used were "Kid from Seville," "You're Merely Wonderful," "That's Living," "Judaline" and the torch song "When Your Man Is Coming Home," which was to be performed by Horne. HR announced that Hazel Scott was to perform Johnny Green's "Body and Soul" in the picture, but that number was not included in the final film. Dean Murphy impersonates various celebrities in the picture, including Clark Gable, James Stewart, Joe E. Brown, Edgar Bergen as Charlie McCarthy and Franklin D. Roosevelt. HR news items add the following information about the production: Many performers were first considered for parts in the picture, including Judy Garland, Fats Waller, Gene Kelly, Kate Smith, Victor Borge, in his screen debut, the Merry Macs and Ed Wynn. Eleanor Powell was originally cast as "Helen," but was replaced by Ginny Simms shortly before the start of principal photography. After Powell left the production, she asked for and received a termination of her M-G-M contract. Although Bobby Connolly was not credited onscreen, he was the picture's original dance director, working with Powell before her departure, and choreographed some of the numbers. Nick Castle was announced as a choreographer, but his contribution to the completed film has not been confirmed. According to HR , Scott's, Horne's and Anderson's characters were originally involved in a romantic triangle in the story, but that subplot was apparently dropped. The script also included a gag in which Jack Benny was to have appeared as an unseen, unheard foil to Anderson, popping up in one-sided phone conversations. Anderson played Benny's manservant on his popular radio show, but the gag was not included in the final film. HR announced in Jul 1943 that boxer Joe Louis, who was in the Army at the time, was to appear in a scene with Horne and Anderson, but he, too, did not appear. The following actors were tested for roles in the picture: Gerry Ann Smith, Marilyn Maxwell, Pat Comer, Lona Bolton, Velma Slater, comic accordionists the Selzqs and "Maw and Paw" Greene, Australian vaudeville headliners. Their participation in the completed film has not been confirmed, however. The following actors were cast in the film, according to HR : Tommy Datten, Ziggie Talent, Buddy Gorman, George Magrill and Florence Ludeen. Their participation in the final film has not been confirmed. According to M-G-M publicity material, the "Glamazons," a "show girl group" comprised of "six-foot beauties" Bunny Waters, Helen O'Hara, Dorothy Ford, Sylvia Liggett, Barbara Mace and Susan Paley were cast in the film. Only Bunny Waters is credited onscreen and in reviews; the participation of the others in the completed film has not been confirmed. Although HR announced that a "musical golf sequence" had been shot at the Bel-Air Country Club, no golf scenes were included in the final film. According to an early Apr 1944 HR news item, a 16mm version of Broadway Rhythm was screened overseas for American troops prior to its release in the U.S.

Bibliographic Sources:	Date	Page
Box Office	15 Jan 1944.
Daily Variety	18 Jan 44	p. 3, 6
Film Daily	19 Jan 44	p. 10.
Hollywood Reporter	10 Apr 42	p. 2.
Hollywood Reporter	9 Jun 42	p. 6.
Hollywood Reporter	12 Jun 42	p. 2.
Hollywood Reporter	22 Jan 43	p. 9.
Hollywood Reporter	2 Mar 43	p. 8.
Hollywood Reporter	8 Mar 43	p. 2.
Hollywood Reporter	11 Mar 43	p. 8.
Hollywood Reporter	24 Mar 43	p. 4, 10
Hollywood Reporter	25 Mar 43	p. 2.
Hollywood Reporter	16 Apr 43	p. 9.
Hollywood Reporter	19 Apr 43	p. 7.
Hollywood Reporter	10 May 43	p. 1.
Hollywood Reporter	26 May 43	p. 8.
Hollywood Reporter	1 Jun 43	p. 8.
Hollywood Reporter	2 Jun 43	p. 3.
Hollywood Reporter	3 Jun 43	p. 11.
Hollywood Reporter	4 Jun 43	p. 1.
Hollywood Reporter	10 Jun 1943.
Hollywood Reporter	11 Jun 43	p. 3.
Hollywood Reporter	15 Jun 43	p. 7.
Hollywood Reporter	16 Jun 43	p. 2.
Hollywood Reporter	18 Jun 43	p. 3, 10
Hollywood Reporter	24 Jun 43	p. 6.
Hollywood Reporter	1 Jul 43	p. 2.
Hollywood Reporter	15 Jul 43	p. 9.
Hollywood Reporter	22 Jul 43	p. 3.
Hollywood Reporter	23 Jul 43	p. 4.
Hollywood Reporter	5 Aug 43	p. 6.
Hollywood Reporter	20 Aug 43	p. 8.
Hollywood Reporter	24 Aug 43	p. 8.
Hollywood Reporter	25 Aug 43	p. 6.
Hollywood Reporter	3 Sep 43	p. 2.
Hollywood Reporter	16 Sep 43	p. 13.
Hollywood Reporter	22 Oct 43	p. 9.
Hollywood Reporter	18 Jan 44	p. 3.
Hollywood Reporter	31 Mar 44	p. 2.
Hollywood Reporter	6 Apr 44	p. 11.
Hollywood Reporter	17 Apr 44	p. 11.
Motion Picture Herald Product Digest	22 Jan 44	p. 1725.
New York Times	14 Apr 44	p. 24.
Variety	19 Jan 44	p. 30.

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The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.



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