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Babes in Arms (film)
Encyclopedia
Babes in Arms is the 1939 film version of the 1937 Broadway musical of the same name
. The film version stars Mickey Rooney
, Judy Garland
, Charles Winninger
, Guy Kibbee
, June Preisser
, Grace Hayes and Betty Jaynes
.
and produced by Arthur Freed
.
The original Broadway
script was revamped to accommodate Hollywood standards. It concerns a group of youngsters trying to put on a show to prove their vaudevillian
parents wrong and make it to Broadway.
Most of the Rodgers and Hart
songs were cut, except for the title tune, "The Lady Is a Tramp" (used as background music during a dinner scene), and "Where or When". Arthur Freed
and Nacio Herb Brown
wrote a new song for the film, "Good Morning
" (later made famous in Singin' in the Rain
). Harold Arlen
and E. Y. Harburg (composer and lyricist for The Wizard of Oz
) wrote a new finale, called "God's Country".
Garland and Rooney later sang "I Wish I Were in Love Again" from the Broadway version of the show in the 1948 Rodgers and Hart biopic Words and Music
. Garland also sang "Johnny One Note" in the same picture.
The original release of the film included a segment during the finale in which Rooney and Garland lampoon Franklin
and Eleanor Roosevelt
; this was edited from the film during a later reissue and not restored until the 1990s. In 1940, slapstick
comedy team the Three Stooges would lampoon the title of the film with Boobs in Arms
.
Filming of Babes in Arms began on May 12, 1939, soon after Garland had finished filming The Wizard of Oz
, and was completed on July 18, 1939. The film premiered on October 13, 1939.
Musical numbers were recorded in stereophonic sound
but released to theaters with conventional monaural sound. Recent home video releases feature some of the original stereo recordings.
: Best Actor in a Leading Role
(Mickey Rooney, who was 19 at the time) and Best Music, Scoring
by Roger Edens
and Georgie Stoll
.
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 contains Babes in Arms, Babes on Broadway
, Girl Crazy
, and Strike Up the Band
, as well as a fifth disc containing bonus features on Rooney and Garland.
Babes in Arms
Babes in Arms is a 1937 musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart and book by Rodgers and Hart. It concerns a teen-age boy who puts on a show with his friends to avoid being sent to a work farm.- Production history:...
. The film version stars Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
, Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
, Charles Winninger
Charles Winninger
Charles Winninger was an American stage and film actor, most often cast in comedies or musicals, but equally at home in drama.-Biography:He began as a vaudeville actor...
, Guy Kibbee
Guy Kibbee
Guy Bridges Kibbee was an American stage and film actor.Born in El Paso, Texas, Kibbee began his entertainment career on Mississippi riverboats and eventually became a successful Broadway actor...
, June Preisser
June Preisser
June Preisser was an American actress, briefly popular in musical films during the late 1930s and early 1940s, many of which capitalized on her skills as an acrobat.-Life and career:...
, Grace Hayes and Betty Jaynes
Betty Jaynes
Betty Jaynes was a B-movie actress in the late 1930s to mid-1940s.She was born in Greeneville, Tennessee but attended high school in Chicago. At the age of 15 she made a "sensational debut" with the Chicago City Opera Company in La boheme...
.
Production
The movie was written by Jack McGowan, Kay Van Riper and Annalee Whitmore (uncredited). It was directed by Busby BerkeleyBusby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley was a highly influential Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer. Berkeley was famous for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns...
and produced by Arthur Freed
Arthur Freed
Arthur Freed was born Arthur Grossman in Charleston, South Carolina. He was a Jewish American lyricist and a Hollywood film producer.- Biography :Freed began his career as a song-plugger and pianist in Chicago...
.
The original Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
script was revamped to accommodate Hollywood standards. It concerns a group of youngsters trying to put on a show to prove their vaudevillian
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
parents wrong and make it to Broadway.
Most of the Rodgers and Hart
Rodgers and Hart
Rodgers and Hart were an American songwriting partnership of composer Richard Rodgers and the lyricist Lorenz Hart...
songs were cut, except for the title tune, "The Lady Is a Tramp" (used as background music during a dinner scene), and "Where or When". Arthur Freed
Arthur Freed
Arthur Freed was born Arthur Grossman in Charleston, South Carolina. He was a Jewish American lyricist and a Hollywood film producer.- Biography :Freed began his career as a song-plugger and pianist in Chicago...
and Nacio Herb Brown
Nacio Herb Brown
Nacio Herb Brown was an American writer of popular songs, movie scores, and Broadway theatre music in the 1920s through the early 1950s.-Biography:...
wrote a new song for the film, "Good Morning
Good Morning (1939 song)
Good Morning is a song by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed written for the 1939 film Babes in Arms. Its best known performance was in the 1952 hit musical film Singin' in the Rain....
" (later made famous in Singin' in the Rain
Singin' in the Rain
Singin' in the Rain is a 1952 American comedy musical film starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds and directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, with Kelly also providing the choreography...
). Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen was an American composer of popular music, having written over 500 songs, a number of which have become known the world over. In addition to composing the songs for The Wizard of Oz, including the classic 1938 song, "Over the Rainbow,” Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the...
and E. Y. Harburg (composer and lyricist for The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
) wrote a new finale, called "God's Country".
Garland and Rooney later sang "I Wish I Were in Love Again" from the Broadway version of the show in the 1948 Rodgers and Hart biopic Words and Music
Words and Music (1948 film)
Words and Music is a 1948 movie loosely based on the creative partnership of the composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart. The film starred Mickey Rooney, Tom Drake, Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett, and Ann Sothern, It is best remembered for the final screen pairing between Rooney and Judy...
. Garland also sang "Johnny One Note" in the same picture.
The original release of the film included a segment during the finale in which Rooney and Garland lampoon Franklin
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
and Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
; this was edited from the film during a later reissue and not restored until the 1990s. In 1940, slapstick
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
comedy team the Three Stooges would lampoon the title of the film with Boobs in Arms
Boobs in Arms
Boobs in Arms is the 52nd short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.-Plot:...
.
Filming of Babes in Arms began on May 12, 1939, soon after Garland had finished filming The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
, and was completed on July 18, 1939. The film premiered on October 13, 1939.
Musical numbers were recorded in stereophonic sound
Stereophonic sound
The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective...
but released to theaters with conventional monaural sound. Recent home video releases feature some of the original stereo recordings.
Reception
It was nominated for two Academy AwardsAcademy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
: Best Actor in a Leading Role
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Mickey Rooney, who was 19 at the time) and Best Music, Scoring
Academy Award for Original Music Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
by Roger Edens
Roger Edens
Roger Edens was a Hollywood composer, arranger and associate producer, and is considered one of the major creative figures in Arthur Freed's musical film production unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the "golden era of Hollywood".-Early career and work with Judy Garland:Edens was born in...
and Georgie Stoll
Georgie Stoll
Georgie Stoll was a musical director, conductor, composer and jazz violinist, associated with the Golden Age of MGM musicals and performers from the 1940s to 1960s. Born George Martin Stoll, he was also later credited as George E...
.
Main cast and characters
 |
Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award... as Mickey Moran. |
 |
Judy Garland Judy Garland Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage... as Patsy Barton |
Other cast members
| Charles Winninger Charles Winninger Charles Winninger was an American stage and film actor, most often cast in comedies or musicals, but equally at home in drama.-Biography:He began as a vaudeville actor... |
as Joe Moran |
| Guy Kibbee Guy Kibbee Guy Bridges Kibbee was an American stage and film actor.Born in El Paso, Texas, Kibbee began his entertainment career on Mississippi riverboats and eventually became a successful Broadway actor... |
as Judge John Black |
| June Preisser June Preisser June Preisser was an American actress, briefly popular in musical films during the late 1930s and early 1940s, many of which capitalized on her skills as an acrobat.-Life and career:... |
as Rosalie Essex |
| Grace Hayes | as Florrie Moran |
| Betty Jaynes Betty Jaynes Betty Jaynes was a B-movie actress in the late 1930s to mid-1940s.She was born in Greeneville, Tennessee but attended high school in Chicago. At the age of 15 she made a "sensational debut" with the Chicago City Opera Company in La boheme... |
as Molly Moran |
| Douglas McPhail | as Don Brice |
| Rand Brooks | as Jeff Steele |
| Leni Lynn Leni Lynn -Selected filmography:* Babes in Arms * Angels with Broken Wings * Heaven Is Round the Corner * Give Me the Stars * Gaiety George * Spring Song... |
as Dody Martin |
| Cliff Edwards Cliff Edwards Cliff Edwards , also known as "Ukelele Ike", was an American singer and voice actor who enjoyed considerable popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s, specializing in jazzy renditions of pop standards and novelty tunes. He had a number-one hit with "Singin' in the Rain" in 1929... |
in a clip from The Hollywood Revue of 1929 The Hollywood Revue of 1929 The Hollywood Revue of 1929 is a 1929 part Technicolor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer American musical-comedy film. It was the studio's second feature-length musical, and one of the earliest ventures into the talkie format. Produced by Harry Rapf and directed by Chuck Riesner, the film brought together some... of the song Singin' in the Rain |
| Charles King Charles King (vaudevillian) Charles King was a vaudeville and Broadway actor who also starred in several movies. He starred as the leading actor in the hit MGM movie, The Broadway Melody , the first all-talking film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.-Early Life:Charles J... |
in a clip from The Broadway Melody The Broadway Melody The Broadway Melody is a 1929 American musical film and the first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. It was one of the first musicals to feature a Technicolor sequence, which sparked the trend of color being used in a flurry of musicals that would hit the screens in 1929-1930... |
| Margaret Hamilton Margaret Hamilton Margaret Hamilton was an American film actress known for her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz... |
as Martha |
| Lelah Tyler | as Mrs. Brice |
Worldwide Release Dates
- BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
: June 18, 1940 - ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
: October 14, 1941 - JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
: May 12, 1951 - GuatemalaGuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
: September 14, 1958 - South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
: June 14, 1963
DVD release
Babes in Arms was released on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
for the first time as part of Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
5-disc DVD set The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection on September 25, 2007. The set contains Babes in Arms, Babes on Broadway
Babes on Broadway
Babes on Broadway is a 1941 musical film starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland and directed by Busby Berkeley, with Vincente Minnelli directing Garland's big solo numbers. The film, which features Fay Bainter and Virginia Weidler, was the third in the "Backyard Musical" series about kids who put...
, Girl Crazy
Girl Crazy
Girl Crazy is a 1930 musical with music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book by Guy Bolton and John McGowan. Ethel Merman made her stage debut in this musical production....
, and Strike Up the Band
Strike Up the Band (film)
Strike Up the Band is a 1940 American black and white musical film. It is directed by Busby Berkeley and stars Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland.A very famous, memorable quote from the film is "Take that boy on the street...
, as well as a fifth disc containing bonus features on Rooney and Garland.