The Strip (1951 film)
Encyclopedia
The Strip is a 1951 film starring 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...

, Sally Forrest
Sally Forrest
Sally Forrest , is a retired American film actress of the 1940s and 1950s.She began her film career as a dancer in films in the 1940s before moving on to small film roles. After meeting director Ida Lupino, she was cast in a few of her films including Not Wanted and Hard Fast and Beautiful...

 and William Demarest
William Demarest
Carl William Demarest was an American character actor. He frequently played crusty but good-hearted roles.-Early life and career:...

. It was directed by Leslie Kardos, photographed by Robert Surtees.

Plot

Stanley Maxton (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...

) is a drummer in the rhythm section of a night club orchestra. He is in love with cigarette girl, Jane Tafford (Sally Forrest
Sally Forrest
Sally Forrest , is a retired American film actress of the 1940s and 1950s.She began her film career as a dancer in films in the 1940s before moving on to small film roles. After meeting director Ida Lupino, she was cast in a few of her films including Not Wanted and Hard Fast and Beautiful...

), but she is more interested in a mobster reputed to have influence in the movie industry.

Cast

  • 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 Stanley Maxton
  • Sally Forrest
    Sally Forrest
    Sally Forrest , is a retired American film actress of the 1940s and 1950s.She began her film career as a dancer in films in the 1940s before moving on to small film roles. After meeting director Ida Lupino, she was cast in a few of her films including Not Wanted and Hard Fast and Beautiful...

     as Jane Tafford
  • William Demarest
    William Demarest
    Carl William Demarest was an American character actor. He frequently played crusty but good-hearted roles.-Early life and career:...

     as Fluff
  • James Craig
    James Craig
    -Public officials:*James Henry Craig , British soldier and colonial administrator*James Craig , British politician*James Craig , Canadian politician...

     as Delwyn 'Sonny' Johnson
  • Kay Brown as Edna
  • Louis Armstrong
    Louis Armstrong
    Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....

     as Himself

Production notes

The film is set against the backdrop of Hollywood's Sunset Strip
Sunset Strip
The Sunset Strip is the name given to the mile-and-a-half stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with Hollywood at Harper Avenue, to its western border with Beverly Hills at Sierra Drive...

 and Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....

 and Jack Teagarden
Jack Teagarden
Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden , known as "Big T" and "The Swingin' Gate", was an influential jazz trombonist, bandleader, composer, and vocalist, regarded as the "Father of Jazz Trombone".-Early life:...

appear in the film. Pete Rugolo, who is credited with Leo Arnaud with the film's orchestrations, was a well-known jazz arranger.

Much of the picture was shot on location in and around the Sunset Strip. Interiors were shot at popular nightclubs Mocambo and Ciro's and at restaurants Little Hungary and Stripps. A news item in the Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express noted that the "La Bota" number, featuring Marcia Lewis, was filmed inside Ciro's. A May 31, 1951 Hollywood Reporter "Rambling Reporter" column indicated that Sammy Gordon was planning to sue M-G-M, which used his nightclub for interiors of the film, but failed to show the exterior, as promised, even though "every other place on the Strip had their names prominently displayed."

In addition to the numbers performed in the released film, jazz instrumentals that were recorded by Louis Armstrong but cut from the production included "Ain't Misbehavin'" by Fats Waller and Harry Brooks, "One O'Clock Jump" by Count Basie and "I'm Coming, Virginia" by Donald Heywood. Those numbers, plus several songs from the film were included in the CD-anthology album "Now You Has Jazz: Louis Armstrong at M-G-M," released in 1997.

"A Kiss to Build a Dream On" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song, but "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," from the Paramount film Here Comes the Groom won the award.

Criticism

"Rooney turns in a surprisingly vivid performance, sensitive, disarming and always on the beat. Sally Forrest is impressive, too, in an unsympathetic role."
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