Summer Holiday

Summer Holiday


MGM, 1948, Color, 93 minutes, ***

Released (USA) April, 1948



Summer Holiday is here! But that doesn't mean education is over for Dannville High valedictorian Richard Miller (Mickey Rooney). He still has a lot to learn about life!



As energetic as a town picnic and as warm as Mom's just-baked apple pie, Summer Holiday (from Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness!) follows the early 1900s foibles of Richard, his best girl (Gloria DeHaven) and several generations of Millers who live under the same roof: Dad and Mom (Walter Huston, Selena Royle), a tippling uncle (Frank Morgan), a spinster aunt (Agnes Moorehead) and more.



Rooney tears into his scenes with a zeal Andy Hardy would admire. And Rouben Mamoulian (Love Me Tonight, Silk Stockings) directs with innovative style. Snatches of dialogue rhyme. A floozy's pink dress turns scarlet when she gives wide-eyed Rooney the "come hither." These and other imaginative flourishes make Summer Holiday one of the famed director's best-loved films. Imaginative, too, are the sparkling Harry Warren / Ralph Blane tunes.


Produced by: Arthur Freed

Directed by: Rouben Mamoulian

Adapted by: Irving Brecher and Jean Holloway

From the Screen Play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett

Based on the Play Ah! Wilderness by Eugene O'Neill

Musical Direction: Lennie Hayton

Orchestrations: Conrad Salinger

Musical Score: Harry Warren

Music by: Harry Warren

Lyrics by: Ralph Blane

Dance Direction: Charles Walters

Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Jack Martin Smith

Set Decorations: Edwin B. Willis

Associate: Richard Pefferle

Costume Supervision: Irene

Costumes Designed by: Walter Plunkett

Make-Up Created by: Jack Dawn

Hair Styles Created by: Sydney Guilaroff

Recording Director: Douglas Shearer

Director of Photography: Charles Schoenbaum

Photographed in Technicolor

Technicolor Color Director: Natalie Kalmus

Associate: Henri Jaffa

Film Editor: Albert Akst



Cast: Mickey Rooney [Richard Miller], Gloria DeHaven [Muriel], Walter Huston [Mr. Nat Miller], Frank Morgan [Uncle Sid], Butch Jenkins [Tommy], Marilyn Maxwell [Belle], Agnes Moorehead [Cousin Lily], Selena Royle [Mrs. Miller], Michael Kirby [Arthur Miller], Shirley Johns [Mildred], Hal Hackett [Wint], Anne Francis [Elsie Rand], John Alexander [Mr. Macomber], Virginia Brissac [Miss Hawley], Howard Freeman [Mr. Peabody], Alice MacKenzie [Mrs. Macomber], Ruth Brady [Crystal], Additional Cast: Don Garner [Gilbert Ralston], Emory Parnell [Bartender], Wally Cassell [Salesman], Terry Moore [Hatcheck Girl], Francis Stevens, Budd Fine [Farmers], Louise Colombet, Blanche Rose, Margaret Fealy, Nell Spaugh [Old Painting Characters], Oliver Blake [Scorekeeper], Margaret Bert [Mrs. Nichols]



Musical Program: [0:00] Overture (played by Orchestra behind titles); [0:01] Our Home Town (sung by Walter Huston, Butch Jenkins, Frank Morgan, Agnes Moorehead, Gloria DeHaven, Mickey Rooney); [0:09] Afraid to Fall in Love (sung and danced by Mickey Rooney and Gloria DeHaven -- cute number!); [0:17] Dan-Dan-Danville High (All Hail Danville High) (sung by Students and Attendees of Graduation Ceremony [Chorus]); [0:27] The Stanley Steamer (sung by Gloria DeHaven, Mickey Rooney, and the Miller family); [0:42] It's Independence Day (sung and danced by Mens Ensemble at picnic); [0:44] While the Men Are All Drinking (sung by Ladies Ensemble at picnic); [0:46] Square Dance (sung and danced by Mixed Chorus at picnic); [0:59] You're Next (sung by Marilyn Maxwell and Girls); [1:02] Weary Blues (sung by Marilyn Maxwell); [1:04] The Sweetest Kid I Ever Met (sung by Marilyn Maxwell and Mickey Rooney)