Babes on Broadway

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Babes on Broadway is a 1941 musical movie starring Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Fay Bainter, and Virginia Weidler and directed by Busby Berkeley. Donna Reed and Margaret O'Brien have bit parts.

Songs include: "How About You?", "Hoe Down", "Bombshell from Brazil", and "Chin Up, Cheerio, Carry On", "Franklin D. Roosevelt Jones", as well as such standards as "Mama Yo Quiero", "The Yankee Doodle Boy", and "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee".

The movie ends with a minstrel show performed by the main cast in blackface.

This was the 3rd film in the 'Back-yard Musical' Series. Others included Babes In Arms (1939), Strike Up The Band (1940) and Girl Crazy (1943)

Good News (1947) and Summer Stock (1950) were also planned to become part of the series, although Judy Garland starred in the latter with Gene Kelly.

The film was stalled part way through production when Judy Garland secretly flew to Las Vegas to wed her first husband David Rose. She was 19 years old.

DVD Release

Babes on Broadway will be 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 will contain Babes on Broadway, Babes in Arms, Girl Crazy, and Strike Up the Band, as well as a fifth disc containing bonus features on Mickey and Judy.

Cast

Mickey Rooney - Tommy Williams
Judy Garland - Penny Morris
Fay Bainter - Miss 'Jonesy' Jones
Virginia Weidler - Barbara Josephine 'Jo' Conway
Ray McDonald - Ray Lambert
Richard Quine - Morton 'Hammy' Hammond
Donald Meek - Mr. Stone
Alexander Woollcott - Himself
Luis Alberni - Nick
James Gleason - Thornton Reed
Emma Dunn - Mrs. Williams
Anne Rooney - Jenny
Donna Reed - Jonsey's Secretary
Margaret O'Brien - Maxine, Little Girl at Audition
Ava Gardner - Pitt-Astor Girl

Musical Numbers

"Babes on Broadway" (Main Title) (MGM Studio Chorus)
"Anything Can Happen in New York" (Mickey Rooney, Ray McDonald, and Richard Quine)
"How About You?" (Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney)
"Hoe Down" (Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Six Hits and a Miss, The Five Musical Maids, and MGM Studio Chorus)
"Chin Up! Cheerio! Carry On!" (Judy Garland, St. Luke's Episcopal Church Choristers, and MGM Studio Chorus)

Ghost Theater Sequence:

"Cyrano de Bergerac" (Mickey Rooney as Richard Mansfield)
"Mary's a Grand Old Name" (Judy Garland as Fay Templeton)
"She's Ma Daisy" (Mickey Rooney as Harry Lauder)
"I've Got Rings On My Fingers" (Judy Garland as Blanche Ring)
"La Marseillaise" (Judy Garland as Sarah Bernhardt)
"The Yankee Doodle Boy" (Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland)

"Bombshell from Brazil" (Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Richard Quine, Ray McDonald, Virginia Weidler, Anne Rooney, Robert Bradford, and MGM Studio Chorus)
"Mama Yo Quiero" (Mickey Rooney)

Minstrel Show Sequence:

"Blackout Over Broadway" (Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Ray McDonald, Virginia Weidler, Richard Quine, Anne Rooney and MGM Studio Chorus)
"By the Light of the Silvery Moon" (Ray McDonald)
"Franklin D. Roosevelt Jones" (Judy Garland and MGM Studio Chorus)
"Old Folks at Home" (Eddie Peabody on banjo, dubbing for Mickey Rooney)
"Alabamy Bound" (Eddie Peabody on banjo, dubbing for Mickey Rooney)
"Waiting for the Robert E. Lee" (Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Virginia Weidler, Anne Rooney, Richard Quine, and MGM Studio Chorus)
"Babes on Broadway" (Finale) (Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Virginia Weidler, Ray McDonald, Richard Quine, and MGM Studio Chorus)

References

External

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Last updated on Tuesday May 20, 2008 at 00:19:28 PDT (GMT -0700)
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