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The Barkleys of Broadway

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The Barkleys of Broadway is a 1949 American Technicolor musical comedy film from the Arthur Freed unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that reunited Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers after ten years apart. Directed by Charles Walters, the screenplay is by Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Sidney Sheldon, the songs are by Harry Warren (music) and Ira Gershwin (lyrics) with the addition of "They Can't Take That Away from Me" by George and Ira Gershwin, and the choreography was created by Robert Alton and Hermes Pan. Also featured in the cast were Oscar Levant, Billie Burke, Jacques François and Gale Robbins. It is the last film that Astaire and Rogers made together, and their only film together in color. Rogers came in as a last-minute replacement for Judy Garland, whose frequent absences due to a dependence on prescription medication cost her the role.

The Barkleys of Broadway
Theatrical release poster
Directed byCharles Walters
Written by
Produced byArthur Freed
Starring
CinematographyHarry Stradling
Edited byAlbert Akst
Music byLennie Hayton
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • May 4, 1949 (1949-05-04) (New York)
Running time
109 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2.2 million[1]
Box office$4.4 million[1]

Plot

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Josh and Dinah Barkley are a husband-and-wife musical comedy team at the peak of their careers. After finishing the opening night of their new musical, the couple take a limousine ride to Mrs. Belney's afterparty. During the ride, Josh mildly criticizes Dinah for not allowing the audience to emotionally connect with her performance. When they arrive at the party, Dinah meets French playwright Jacques Pierre Barredout, who suggests that Dinah should quit musical comedy and do serious acting. Meanwhile, Josh waits outside and is prepared to leave. He returns inside and finds Dinah and Jacques together. When the couple arrive home, Josh accuses Dinah of flirting with Barredout. Dinah then tells her husband that Jacques believes she can be a dramatic actress, but Josh believes she should stay in musical theater.

Sometime later, Bert Felsher, the musical's director, feels Josh and Dinah's temperamental relationship is affecting the show. He and Ezra Millar, a musical composer and friend of the Barkleys, introduce the couple to Shirlene May, who has been hired as Dinah's understudy. At the Flandreau Art Gallery, the Barkleys attend an art exhibition where Dinah is displeased with her portrait painting, and that the painter compares Josh to Svengali. As they leave, Dinah encounters Jacques and Mrs. Belney who invites them for a country trip, but she declines the invitation. The Barkleys return to their Broadway musical and perform a Scottish musical number. Backstage, the couple decide to take a weekend vacation in Danbridge, and accompany themselves with Ezra. While Josh and Ezra play golf at the country club, Dinah discusses Jacques's new play, a dramatization of the life of Sarah Bernhardt, with actress Pamela Driscoll to star in. Dinah however criticizes this casting suggestion and proposes she is the better choice, in which Jacques agrees.

Back in New York, Dinah secretly rehearses for the lead role in Jacques's play. Josh discovers this, and accuses her of having an affair with the playwright. From there, the Barkleys announce their separation as Josh proceeds to perform solo in his next musical while Dinah auditions for Jacques's play. At Dinah's audition, Ezra attempts to persuade her into performing at a hospital benefit concert by claiming Josh will not be attending, but she declines. Backstage, with Josh, Ezra tells him that Dinah is struggling in her auditions. Interested, Josh secretly watches Dinah's rehearsals. He returns to have dinner with Ezra and Shirlene, where he believes in Dinah's dramatic abilities but he believes Jacques is giving Dinah unclear direction. Josh leaves the dinner table, and phones Dinah where he impersonates Jacques. He gives her advice to help improve her performance and as a result, Dinah gives an impressive audition.

At the benefit concert, Ezra performs a piano piece with an orchestra. Josh and Dinah reunite backstage and are prompted by Ezra to give an impromptu song-and-dance performance. After the performance, Dinah declines any potential reunion, feeling Josh has been taken her for granted. Jacques's new play The Young Sarah opens and Dinah's performance receives positive reviews. Josh impersonates Jacques once more to congratulate her. However, the real Jacques arrives at Dinah's dressing room and she realizes the deception. Dinah rushes into Josh's apartment and when he arrives, Josh states they will continue with the divorce as he has fallen in love with Shirlene. Before she leaves, she reveals that she knew Josh had impersonated Jacques. Josh acknowledges the deception and congratulates Dinah in person. The two reunite as a musical team.

Cast

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Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were reunited as a dance team, their only non-RKO film.
 

Production

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The Barkleys of Broadway was conceived under the working title You Made Me Love You, with Judy Garland in the lead role opposite Fred Astaire, a repeat of their pairing in Easter Parade (1948). In fact, producer Arthur Freed had Comden and Green working on the script for the new film even before Easter Parade was finished.[2] The film went into rehearsals with Garland, but it was soon clear that she would not be physically and emotionally able to do it. Freed contacted Ginger Rogers to see if she was interested in reuniting with Astaire: there had been rumors, denied by both, that the Astaire-Rogers working relationship had not been particularly warm, and they had not worked together since The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle in 1939. Rogers was interested, and The Barkleys of Broadway became their tenth and final film together, as well as their only film in color.[2]

The production period was from August 8 to October 30, 1948, with some additional work on December 28. While the film was in production, Astaire won an honorary Academy Award for "his unique artistry and his contributions to the technique of musical pictures," presented to him at the awards ceremony by Ginger Rogers.[2]

Songs

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  • "Swing Trot" – music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Dance critic Arlene Croce called this the best number in the film. Seen through the opening credits, it was released without visual impediment on That's Entertainment III (1994).[2]
  • "Sabre Dance" – by Aram Khachaturian, arranged for piano and orchestra, with Oscar Levant at the piano
  • "You'd Be Hard to Replace" – by Harry Warren and Ira Gershwin
  • "Bouncin' the Blues" – by Harry Warren
  • "My One and Only Highland Fling" – by Harry Warren and Ira Gershwin
  • "Weekend in the Country" – by Harry Warren and Ira Gershwin. Performed by Astaire, Rogers and Oscar Levant.
  • "Shoes with Wings On" – by Harry Warren and Ira Gershwin. Fred Astaire performs this number alone, as part of the show that Josh Barkley does by himself. It utilized compositing to have Astaire, a cobbler, dance with many pairs of shoes.
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky) (abridged) – Performed by Oscar Levant with full symphony orchestra.
  • "They Can't Take That Away From Me" – by George Gershwin (music) and Ira Gershwin (lyrics). This song was also used in RKO's 1937 Astaire-Rogers film Shall We Dance, where Astaire had sung it to Rogers (as here). Their dance duet here (ballroom – no tap), one of their most effective, was the first time they danced it together.[2]
  • "Manhattan Downbeat" – by Harry Warren and Ira Gershwin

Three other Harry Warren-Ira Gershwin songs were intended for the film but never used: "The Courtin' of Elmer and Ella," "Natchez on the Mississippi," and "Poetry in Motion."[3] Another song by Warren and Gershwin, "There is No Music", was dropped from the film when Judy Garland was released from the picture.[4]

Release

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The Barkleys of Broadway opened on May 4, 1949 at Loew's State Theatre in New York City.[5]

Reception

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Critical reaction

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Critical response to The Barkleys of Broadway was mixed but positive.[2]

Box office

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The film grossed $50,000 in its first week at the State.[5] According to MGM records, the film earned $2,987,000 in theatrical rentals in the US and Canada and $1,434,000 overseas resulting in a profit of $324,000.[1][6]

Awards and honors

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Although the film did not win any awards, it did receive several nominations. Cinematographer Harry Stradling Sr. was nominated for a 1950 Academy Award for Best Color Cinematography. Betty Comden and Adolph Green were nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical.

Adaptations

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A radio version of the film was broadcast on January 1, 1951, as an episode of the Lux Radio Theater, with Ginger Rogers reprising the role of Dinah Barkley, and George Murphy playing her husband and partner Josh.

References

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  1. ^ a b c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study
  2. ^ a b c d e f Margarita Landazuri "The Barkleys of Broadway" (TCM article)
  3. ^ TCM Notes
  4. ^ Jablonski, Edward (1999). "What about Ira?". In Schneider, Wayne (ed.). The Gershwin style: new looks at the music of George Gershwin. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 269. ISBN 9780195358155.
  5. ^ a b "Record Heat Puts Dent in B'way But 'Barkleys' Bright $50,000 After Big Preem; 'Flamingo'-Ted Lewis Hep 63G". Variety. May 11, 1949. p. 9.
  6. ^ "Top Grossers of 1949". Variety. January 4, 1950. p. 59 – via Internet Archive.
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