On the Avenue is a
1937The year 1937 in film involved some significant events.- Events :*April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US.*May 7 - Shall We Dance premieres in the US.-Top grossing films:#Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs#Maytime#Saratoga...
musical filmThe musical film is a film genre in which several songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative. The songs are usually used to advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but some musical films simply plop the songs in as unrelated "specialties" - as with Carmen Miranda's...
starring
Dick PowellRichard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.-Biography:...
,
Madeleine CarrollMadeleine Carroll was a British actress, popular in the 1930s and 1940s.-Early life:She was born as Edith Madeleine Carroll at 32 Herbert Street West Bromwich, England...
, and
Alice FayeAlice Faye was an American actress and singer. She is remembered first for her stardom at 20th Century Fox and, later, as the radio comedy partner of her husband, bandleader-comedian Phil Harris...
. All of the songs in this film were composed by
Irving BerlinIrving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
.
Gary Blake (Powell) stars in a new show,
On the Avenue, with Mona Merrick (Faye). The show contains a satire on "The Richest Girl in the World", Mimi Carraway (Carroll). Mimi and her father (Barbier) are in the audience on opening night and they feel insulted. She goes backstage and tries to get Gary to take the skit out of the show.
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On the Avenue is a
1937The year 1937 in film involved some significant events.- Events :*April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US.*May 7 - Shall We Dance premieres in the US.-Top grossing films:#Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs#Maytime#Saratoga...
musical filmThe musical film is a film genre in which several songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative. The songs are usually used to advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but some musical films simply plop the songs in as unrelated "specialties" - as with Carmen Miranda's...
starring
Dick PowellRichard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.-Biography:...
,
Madeleine CarrollMadeleine Carroll was a British actress, popular in the 1930s and 1940s.-Early life:She was born as Edith Madeleine Carroll at 32 Herbert Street West Bromwich, England...
, and
Alice FayeAlice Faye was an American actress and singer. She is remembered first for her stardom at 20th Century Fox and, later, as the radio comedy partner of her husband, bandleader-comedian Phil Harris...
. All of the songs in this film were composed by
Irving BerlinIrving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
.
Plot
Gary Blake (Powell) stars in a new show,
On the Avenue, with Mona Merrick (Faye). The show contains a satire on "The Richest Girl in the World", Mimi Carraway (Carroll). Mimi and her father (Barbier) are in the audience on opening night and they feel insulted. She goes backstage and tries to get Gary to take the skit out of the show. He refuses and calls her a "bad sport".
Shocked by the remark, Mimi decides to make a date with Gary. They spend the entire evening together and, by morning, have fallen in love. He finally agrees to revise the skit so it can no longer hurt the Carraways. Mona is in love with Gary and is furious when she hears about Gary's date with Mimi. When the Carraways appear to see the revised sketch, she changes it, without Gary's knowledge, making it worse than before. The Carraways decide to file suit against Gary.
To get back at him, Mimi buys the show from the producer and embarrasses Gary by hiring a paid audience to walk out on the show. Word leaks out to the press and Gary is now the laughingstock of New York. Furious, he tears up his contract, refusing to work with Mimi. Soon, Mimi becomes engaged to Arctic explorer Frederick Sims (Mowbray). On her wedding day, Mona arrives and tells Mimi that it was she, not Gary, who changed the skit. She runs out on the wedding and is taken to city hall with Gary to be married.
The movie's action is interspersed with songs from the play, including Berlin's songs "He Ain't Got Rhythm," and "Let's Go Slumming On Park Avenue."
Cast
- Dick Powell
Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.-Biography:...
as Gary Blake
- Madeleine Carroll
Madeleine Carroll was a British actress, popular in the 1930s and 1940s.-Early life:She was born as Edith Madeleine Carroll at 32 Herbert Street West Bromwich, England...
as Mimi Caraway
- Alice Faye
Alice Faye was an American actress and singer. She is remembered first for her stardom at 20th Century Fox and, later, as the radio comedy partner of her husband, bandleader-comedian Phil Harris...
as Mona Merrick
- The Ritz Brothers
The Ritz Brothers were a comedy team who appeared in films, and as live performers from 1925 to the late 1960s.Although there were four brothers, the sons of Austrian-born haberdasher Max Joachim and his wife Pauline, only three of them performed together. There was also a sister, Gertrude. The...
as themselves
- George Barbier as Commodore Caraway
- Alan Mowbray
Alan Mowbray MM, , was an English stage and film actor who found success in Hollywood.Born Alfred Ernest Allen in London, England, he served with distinction the British Army in World War I, reaching the rank of major and being awarded the Military Medal for bravery...
as Frederick Sims
- Cora Witherspoon
Cora Witherspoon was an American actress who played supporting roles in films from the 1930s until the 1950s....
as Aunt Fritz
- Walter Catlett
Walter Catlett was an American actor.-Early Career:Catlett was born in San Francisco, California. He made a career by playing excitable, officious blowhards...
as J.J. Dibble
- Douglas Fowley
Douglas Fowley was an American movie and television actor.Fowley was born in The Bronx, New York. The 5'11" actor is probably best remembered by movie buffs for his role as a movie director Roscoe Dexter in Singing in the Rain . The actor appeared in over 240 films and later and dozens of...
as Eddie Eads
- Joan Davis
Joan Davis was an American comedic actress whose career spanned vaudeville, film, radio and television. Remembered best for the 1952–55 television comedy, I Married Joan, Davis also had a successful earlier career as a B-movie actress andas a leading star of 1940s radio comedy...
as Miss Katz
- Stepin Fetchit
Stepin Fetchit was the stage name of American comedian and film actor Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry...
as Herman 'Step'
- Sig Ruman
Sig Ruman was a German-American actor known for his comic portrayals of pompous villains....
as Herr Hanfstangel (as Sig Rumann)
- Billy Gilbert
Billy Gilbert was an American comedian and actor most known for his comic sneeze routines.-Early life and vaudeville career:...
as Joe Papaloupas