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Babes in Arms
Probably the most famous of the "backyard" musicals that Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland made together, 1939's Babes in Arms is hopelessly dated in a lot of ways, but is still essential viewing for fans of the stars.
The story centers around a group of vaudeville performers mourning the death of vaudeville with the advent of talkies, who decide to try and revive their careers by taking their acts on tour across the country. Their children, who have been raised in the theater and want careers in vaudeville as well, are distressed because their parents refuse to take them on tour with them. In order to prove to himself and the rest of the kids worthy of a show business career, young Mickey Moran (Mickey Rooney) decides to write a show that will also keep them from being shipped off to a school.work farm.
Mickey plans to write the show for himself and his girlfriend, Patsy Barton (Garland) to star in, but Mickey needs financial help with sets and costumes and finds an angel in a former child star named Rosalie Essex (June Preisser), who agrees to finance the show on the condition that she plays the lead in the show instead of Patsy.
This movie is actually based on a Broadway show that premiered in 1937, but major changes were made to the story and the score, most likely to make the story suited to the stars, who were probably the hottest properties of MGM at the time. Rooney had already began his series of films playing Andy Hardy and Judy Garland was in the process of filming The Wizard of Oz, which had delays in filming that gave Garland and Rooney time to squeeze this tidy little musical into their schedule.
There are elements of the story that come off as rather silly now, but this silliness was the foundation for a lot of the show business cliches that later musicals were based on. Carol Burnett even did an elaborate spoof of this movie on her classic variety show. Despite its silliness, this movie is still watchable thanks to the boundless energy of Rooney, the vocal magic of Garland, and the undeniable chemistry they created onscreen, originating with three previous film appearances together and six more after this one.
Mickey Rooney is an endless bundle of energy here, dominating the screen in a performance of such exuberance that it actually earned him an Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor of 1939. He is especially fun in a scene directing the show that allows him to do impressions of Clark Gable and Lionel Barrymore, which he would be allowed to reprise in the 1943 musical Thousands Cheer.
The other noteworthy aspect of this musical is the tuneful score by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, with the exception of Judy and Mickey's opening number, "Good Morning", written by Arthur Freed, a song most people associate with Singing in the Rain. Other highlights include Garland's "I Cried for You" and the memorable "Where or When". The staging of the title number is somewhat laughable, featuring kids carrying torches like they're going to a lynching and I won't even talk about the big finale, which features Rooney and Garland in black face. Like I said, it's definitely dated, but Garland and Rooney are always worth watching.
Probably the most famous of the "backyard" musicals that Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland made together, 1939's Babes in Arms is hopelessly dated in a lot of ways, but is still essential viewing for fans of the stars.
The story centers around a group of vaudeville performers mourning the death of vaudeville with the advent of talkies, who decide to try and revive their careers by taking their acts on tour across the country. Their children, who have been raised in the theater and want careers in vaudeville as well, are distressed because their parents refuse to take them on tour with them. In order to prove to himself and the rest of the kids worthy of a show business career, young Mickey Moran (Mickey Rooney) decides to write a show that will also keep them from being shipped off to a school.work farm.
Mickey plans to write the show for himself and his girlfriend, Patsy Barton (Garland) to star in, but Mickey needs financial help with sets and costumes and finds an angel in a former child star named Rosalie Essex (June Preisser), who agrees to finance the show on the condition that she plays the lead in the show instead of Patsy.
This movie is actually based on a Broadway show that premiered in 1937, but major changes were made to the story and the score, most likely to make the story suited to the stars, who were probably the hottest properties of MGM at the time. Rooney had already began his series of films playing Andy Hardy and Judy Garland was in the process of filming The Wizard of Oz, which had delays in filming that gave Garland and Rooney time to squeeze this tidy little musical into their schedule.
There are elements of the story that come off as rather silly now, but this silliness was the foundation for a lot of the show business cliches that later musicals were based on. Carol Burnett even did an elaborate spoof of this movie on her classic variety show. Despite its silliness, this movie is still watchable thanks to the boundless energy of Rooney, the vocal magic of Garland, and the undeniable chemistry they created onscreen, originating with three previous film appearances together and six more after this one.
Mickey Rooney is an endless bundle of energy here, dominating the screen in a performance of such exuberance that it actually earned him an Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor of 1939. He is especially fun in a scene directing the show that allows him to do impressions of Clark Gable and Lionel Barrymore, which he would be allowed to reprise in the 1943 musical Thousands Cheer.
The other noteworthy aspect of this musical is the tuneful score by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, with the exception of Judy and Mickey's opening number, "Good Morning", written by Arthur Freed, a song most people associate with Singing in the Rain. Other highlights include Garland's "I Cried for You" and the memorable "Where or When". The staging of the title number is somewhat laughable, featuring kids carrying torches like they're going to a lynching and I won't even talk about the big finale, which features Rooney and Garland in black face. Like I said, it's definitely dated, but Garland and Rooney are always worth watching.