Present Arms is a 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...

 musical comedy that opened April 26, 1928, with music by Richard Rodgers

Richard Rodgers

Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...

, lyrics by Lorenz Hart

Lorenz Hart

Lorenz "Larry" Milton Hart was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart...

 and book by Herbert Fields

Herbert Fields

Herbert Fields was an American librettist and screenwriter.Born in New York City, Fields began his career as an actor, then graduated to choreography and stage direction before turning to writing. From 1925 until his death, he contributed to the libretti of many Broadway musicals...

. It was produced by Lew Fields

Lew Fields

Lew Fields , born as Moses Schoenfeld, was an American actor, comedian, vaudeville star, theatre manager and producer....

 with musical numbers stage by Busby Berkeley

Busby 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...

. It ran for 155 performances at the Lew Fields' Mansfield Theatre.

The show starred 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...

, Flora Le Breton

Flora Le Breton

Flora le Breton was an English silent film actress from Croydon, Surrey, England. She was blonde with dark blue eyes. In her own country she was called the English Mary Pickford.-Heritage:...

 and Busby Berkeley

Busby 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...

. A man from Brooklyn is serving as a buck private in Pearl Harbor. He flirts with an English Peer’s daughter; however, she is being pursued by a German, who raises pineapples in Hawaii. The Brooklynite pretends to be a Captain in order to make an impression, but he is found out, booted out, and loses out on the girl, until he proves himself in a shipwreck.

Some of the songs from the show are:

• "You Took Advantage of Me
  You Took Advantage of Me
  "You Took Advantage of Me" is a 1928 popular song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart for the musical Present Arms , where it was introduced by Joyce Barbour and Busby Berkeley as the characters Edna Stevens and Douglas Atwell....
  
  "
• "A Kiss for Cinderella"
• "Down By the Sea"
• "Blue Ocean Blues"
• "I'm a Fool, Little One"
• "Crazy Elbows"

Present Arms was filmed in 1930 with Irene Dunne

Irene Dunne

Irene Dunne was an American film actress and singer of the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s. Dunne was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for her performances in Cimarron , Theodora Goes Wild , The Awful Truth , Love Affair and I Remember Mama...

, with its title changed to Leathernecking. The film is presumed lost.

External links

• Overview of show