Babes in Arms (1939)

Director:

Busby Berkeley

Writers:

Jack McGowan (writer) and
Kay Van Riper (writer) ...

Release Date:

31 October 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Tagline:

The big musical fun show!

Plot:

The struggle of two talented young artists, to make their own way in the show business.

Plot Keywords:

Singer | Rehearsal | Show Business | Jealousy | Composition

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Mickey Rooney	...	Mickey Moran
Judy Garland	...	Patsy Barton
Charles Winninger	...	Joe Moran
Guy Kibbee	...	Judge John Black
June Preisser	...	Rosalie Essex
Grace Hayes	...	Florrie Moran
Betty Jaynes	...	Molly Moran
Douglas McPhail	...	Don Brice
Rand Brooks	...	Jeff Steele
Leni Lynn	...	Dody Martin
Johnny Sheffield	...	Bobs (as John Sheffield)
Henry Hull	...	Maddox
Barnett Parker	...	William Bartlett
Ann Shoemaker	...	Mrs. Barton
Margaret Hamilton	...	Martha Steele

Also Known As:

Los hijos de la farándula (Spain) [es]
Me hurmurit (Finland) [fi]
Musik ist unsere Welt (Germany) [de]
Place au rythme (France) [fr]
Ragazzi attori (Italy) [it]
Sangue de Artista (Brazil) [pt]
T'anilika en drasei (Greece) [el]
Theaterkinder (Austria) [de]
Vi charmörer (Sweden) [sv]
Vi charmører (Denmark) [da]

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Although Judy Garland re-created for Decca a contemporary version of the exuberant classic, "I'm Just Wild About Harry" (music and lyrics by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake), the first U.S. release would not appear until 1984 when MCA produced a Garland LP collection called "From the Decca Vaults." This cut was issued again as part of a Judy CD box set entitled "The Complete Decca Masters (Plus)."

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: During the girls' duet, Patsy Barton begins her solo, and Mickey Moran switches from cello plucking to piano thumping. However, the music continues as it was before, and we don't hear any amazing sounds on the piano in spite of Mickey's efforts.

Quotes:

Michael C. 'Mickey' Moran: No, no, no, judge! You don't understand; she don't understand, either. Oh, she don't mean no harm to us, but... we're not her kind of people - or yours, either. We belong in show business. We gotta start young so we can get some steel in our backbone. Well, gee, we're developing. You couldn't teach us a trade: we've GOT one. And you couldn't do without it...

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Miracle of Sound (1940)

Soundtrack:

Daddy Was a Minstrel Man

Judy Judy Judy! (And Some Others)

This movie was done right after "Wizard of Oz" and shows Judy Garland in a more appropriate role for her age. It is great to see her and Mickey-- the "Good Morning" duet at the beginning is just priceless! Watch the opera versus swing number she does with Betty Jaynes and you can almost imagine the short "Every Sunday" with Deanna Durbin being an influence. June Preisser plays a spirited Shirley Temple parody, which was weird because I could have sworn Shirley Temple was being signed, or soon to be signed to MGM. Unfortunately, they try to make Judy be the homely one, which mystifies me because she looked absolutely gorgeous in this film. Good songs, and good numbers throughout. Yes, the minstrel scene near the end will make your jaw drop, but if we didn't have things like this on film, we would never know how it really was back then, and therefore not know how hard it really was.

Oh, and Mickey Rooney was good, too. Hyper, but good.