42nd STREET

42nd Street
Warner Bros. / Vitaphone, 1933, B/W, 89 minutes, ***½
Released March, 1933

Meet a dewy-eyed ingenue, a gee-whiz tenor, stuck-up stars, hard-up producers, brassy blondes and "shady ladies from the 80s." They're all denizens of 42nd Street, belting out ageless Harry Warren / Al Dubin songs and tapping out Busby Berkeley's sensational Depression-lifting production numbers.

The put-on-a-show plot spins merrily, full of snappy banter and new faces Ruby Keeler (her movie debut), Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers. The show-stopping numbers ("Shuffle Off to Buffalo," "You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me" and the title tune) still dazzle. Looking and sounding its best in years via a new digital transfer from the restored original camera negative and optical audio tracks, 42nd Street shows that the good times never go out of style.

Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck
Associate Producer: Hal B. Wallis
Directed by: Lloyd Bacon
Dances and Ensembles Created and Staged by: Busby Berkeley
Screen Play by: Rian James and James Seymour
Based on the novel by Bradford Ropes
Vitaphone Orchestra Conducted by: Leo F. Forbstein
Words and Music by: Al Dubin and Harry Warren
Art Director: Jack Okey
Gowns by: Orry-Kelly
Silks by Cheney Brothers
Photography by: Sol Polito
Edited by: Frank Ware and Thomas Pratt

Awards: Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Sound Recording

Cast: Warner Baxter [Julian Marsh], Bebe Daniels [Dorothy Brock], George Brent [Pat Denning], Ruby Keeler [Peggy Sawyer], Guy Kibbee [Abner Dillon], Una Merkel [Lorraine Fleming], Ginger Rogers [Ann Lowell, "Anytime Annie"], Ned Sparks [Thomas Barry], Dick Powell [Billy Lawler], Allen Jenkins [Mac Elroy], Edward J. Nugent [Terry Neil], Robert McWade [Al Jones], George E. Stone [Andy Lee], Harry Akst [Jerry], Clarence Nordstrom [Groom in "Shuffle off to Buffalo"], Henry B. Walthall [Concerned Actor], Al Dubin [Stout Songwriter], Harry Warren [Short Songwriter], Louise Beavers [Pansy], Wallis Clark [Dr. Chadwick], Patricia Ellis [Secretary], Renee Evans [Bit], George Irving [House Doctor], Tom Kennedy [Slim Murphy], Milton Kibbee [News Spreader], Jack La Rue [Mug with Murphy], Charles Lane [Author of 'Pretty Lady'], Kermit Maynard [Dancer Who Catches Girl], Dave O'Brien [Chorus Boy], Rolfe Sedan [Stage Aide], Harry Seymour [Aide], Lyle Talbot [Geoffrey Waring], Toby Wing ["Young and Healthy" Girl], Loretta Andrews, Joan Barclay, Lynn Browning, Edna Callaghan, Maxine Cantway, Dorothy Coonan, Ruth Eddings, Patsy Farnum, June Glory, Geraine Grear, Mary Jane Halsey, Ann Hovey, Alice Jans, Evelyn Joice, Gertrude Keeler, Helen Keeler, Margaret La Marr, Adele Lacy, Lorena Layson, Eve Marcy, Agnes Ray, Donna Mae Roberts, Barbara Rogers, Jayne Shadduck, Grace Tobin, Renee Whitney, Pat Wing [Chorus Girls]

Musical Program: [0:00] Overture (played by Orchestra behind titles); [0:17] It Must Be June (sung and danced by Bebe Daniels, Dick Powell and Chorus); [0:26] You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me (sung by Bebe Daniels); [0:42] You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me (sung by Bebe Daniels, danced by Bebe Daniels and Boys Chorus); [1:12] Shuffle Off to Buffalo (sung by Ruby Keeler and Clarence Nordstrom, danced by Ruby Keeler, Clarence Nordstrom and Chorus; sung by Una Merkel, Ginger Rogers and Girls Chorus); [1:17] Young and Healthy (big production number sung by Dick Powell, joined by Chorus; danced by Girls Chorus); [1:22] Forty-Second Street (sung and danced by Ruby Keeler; sung by Dick Powell; sung and danced by Chorus Girls and Boys)