Till The Clouds Roll By is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
musicalThe 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...
-
biographicalA biography is a description or account of someone's life and the times, which is usually published in the form of a book or essay, or in some other form, such as a film. An autobiography is a biography of a person's life written or told by that same person...
film made by MGM in
1946The year 1946 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*November 21 - William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.*December 20 - Frank Capra's It's a...
.
The film is a fictionalized biography of composer
Jerome KernJerome David Kern was an American composer of popular music. He wrote around 700 songs, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A Fine Romance", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "All the Things You Are", "The Way You Look Tonight", and "Who?", a 6-week number 1 hit for...
, who was originally involved with the production of the film, but died before it was completed.
Robert Walker-Early life:Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Zella and Horace Walker, he was the youngest of four sons. Emotionally scarred by his parents' divorce when he was still a child, he subsequently developed an interest in acting which led to his maternal aunt Hortense Odlum to offer to pay for his...
portrays Kern.
Till the Clouds Roll By is best remembered for its large cast of well-known musical stars of the day who appear in cameo roles performing Kern's songs.
Till The Clouds Roll By is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
musicalThe 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...
-
biographicalA biography is a description or account of someone's life and the times, which is usually published in the form of a book or essay, or in some other form, such as a film. An autobiography is a biography of a person's life written or told by that same person...
film made by MGM in
1946The year 1946 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*November 21 - William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.*December 20 - Frank Capra's It's a...
.
The film is a fictionalized biography of composer
Jerome KernJerome David Kern was an American composer of popular music. He wrote around 700 songs, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A Fine Romance", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "All the Things You Are", "The Way You Look Tonight", and "Who?", a 6-week number 1 hit for...
, who was originally involved with the production of the film, but died before it was completed.
Robert Walker-Early life:Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Zella and Horace Walker, he was the youngest of four sons. Emotionally scarred by his parents' divorce when he was still a child, he subsequently developed an interest in acting which led to his maternal aunt Hortense Odlum to offer to pay for his...
portrays Kern.
Till the Clouds Roll By is best remembered for its large cast of well-known musical stars of the day who appear in cameo roles performing Kern's songs. The first 15 minutes of the film consist of a condensed adaptation of
Show BoatShow Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. One notable exception is the song Bill, which was originally written by Kern and author-lyricist P. G. Wodehouse in 1917 but reworked by Hammerstein for Show Boat...
.
Stars appearing in the film include:
Judy GarlandJudy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist, and on the concert stage. Respected for her versatility, she received a Juvenile Academy...
,
Frank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the "bobby soxers." His professional career had stalled by the...
,
Kathryn GraysonKathryn Grayson is an American actress and operatic soprano singer. Trained as an opera singer from the age of twelve, Grayson was contracted to MGM and established a career in films from the early 1940s...
,
Virginia O'BrienVirginia Lee O’Brien was a popular American actress and singer known for her comedic roles in MGM musicals of the 1940s. She was highly regarded for her singing style, as well as her beauty.-Life and career:...
,
Dinah ShoreDinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality. She was most popular during the Big Band era of the 1940s and 1950s....
,
Van JohnsonVan Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during and after World War II....
,
June AllysonJune Allyson was an American film and television actress, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was a major MGM contract star. Allyson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in Too Young to Kiss...
,
Lena HorneLena Mary Calhoun Horne is an American singer and actress. She has recorded and performed extensively, independently and with other jazz notables, including Artie Shaw, Teddy Wilson, Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington, Charlie Barnet, Benny Carter and Billy Eckstine...
,
Lucille BremerLucille Bremer was an American film actress and dancer.Bremer was born in Amsterdam, New York and began her career as a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, aged 16. Bremer, along with fellow stars Vera-Ellen and June Allyson, appeared as a 'Pony Girl' in the Broadway musical Panama...
,
Van HeflinEmmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. was an American film and theatre actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man...
,
Tony MartinTony Martin is an American actor and traditional pop singer.-Career:Martin was born Alvin Morris in Oakland, California to Jewish immigrants from Portugal. He received a soprano saxophone as a gift from his grandmother at ten. In his grammar school glee club, he became an instrumentalist and a boy...
,
Cyd CharisseCyd Charisse was an American actress and dancer.After recovering from polio as a child, and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s...
, and
Angela LansburyAngela Brigid Lansbury, CBE is an English actress and singer whose career has spanned seven decades. Her first film appearance was in Gaslight , for which she received an Academy Award nomination as a malevolent maid, and she expanded her repertoire to Broadway and television in the 1950s...
. Horne's appearance is of particular interest as she is shown performing as Julie in the
Show Boat segment — a role she was considered for but ultimately denied when MGM came to adapt the complete show in 1951. Garland, meanwhile, was pregnant with her daughter,
Liza MinnelliLiza May Minnelli is an American singer and actress of film, stage and television. She is the daughter of entertainer Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
, when she filmed her segments, which required creative filming to hide her condition.
Even by the standards of the Hollywood "biopic," this film has been controversial for its looseness with the facts. Kern's major musical colleagues are not depicted at all, while two entirely fictional characters -- arranger James Hesler and his troubled daughter, Sally -- have a bigger part in the storyline than anyone besides Kern himself.
Till the Clouds Roll By is one of several MGM musicals (
Royal WeddingRoyal Wedding is a 1951 Hollywood musical comedy film set in London in 1947 at the time of the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, and stars Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, Peter Lawford, Sarah Churchill and Keenan Wynn, with music by Burton Lane and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. The film...
being another) that have lapsed into the
public domainThe public domain is a range of abstract materials—commonly referred to as intellectual property—which are not owned or controlled by anyone. The term indicates that these materials are therefore "public property", and available for anyone to use for any purpose...
due to MGM failing to renew
copyrightCopyright is a form of intellectual property that gives the author of an original work exclusive right for a certain time period in relation to that work, including its publication, distribution and adaptation, after which time the work is said to enter the public domain...
in the early-1970s. As such, it is one of the most widely circulated MGM musicals on home video, although the quality of these copies varies wildly.
Warner Home VideoWarner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . It was re-named Warner Home Video in 1980...
gave the film its first fully restored DVD release on April 25, 2006.
Till the Clouds Roll By is also credited as one of the first motion pictures to have a
soundtrack albumA soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television programme. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the trailers that do not appear...
released concurrent with the film arriving in theaters. The soundtrack was produced by MGM Records. The album originally contained four 78-rpm records featuring various artists and songs from the movie and front-cover artwork by
Lennie HaytonLeonard George Hayton was an American Jewish composer, conductor and arranger. He was initially a pianist in jazz groups led by Frankie Trumbauer, Bix Beiderbecke, Red Nichols, Joe Venuti and others. He also played with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. Hayton composed "Apple Blossoms" with Joe...
. Later this album was released on
LPLong-playing record albums are 33⅓ rpm vinyl gramophone records , generally either 10 or 12 inches in diameter. They were first introduced in 1948, and served as a primary release format for recorded music until the compact disc began to significantly displace them by 1988...
. No official authorized version has yet been released on CD, but several unauthorized versions have. This is because MGM allowed the film to fall into the public domain.
Cast
- June Allyson
June Allyson was an American film and television actress, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was a major MGM contract star. Allyson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in Too Young to Kiss...
-- Jane Witherspoon (in Leave It to Jane)
- Lucille Bremer
Lucille Bremer was an American film actress and dancer.Bremer was born in Amsterdam, New York and began her career as a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, aged 16. Bremer, along with fellow stars Vera-Ellen and June Allyson, appeared as a 'Pony Girl' in the Broadway musical Panama...
-- Sally Hessler
- Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist, and on the concert stage. Respected for her versatility, she received a Juvenile Academy...
-- Marilyn MillerMarilyn Miller was one of the most popular Broadway musical stars of the 1920s and early 1930s. She was an accomplished tap dancer, singer and actress, but it was the combination of these talents that endeared her to audiences. On stage she usually played rags-to-riches Cinderella characters who...
- Kathryn Grayson
Kathryn Grayson is an American actress and operatic soprano singer. Trained as an opera singer from the age of twelve, Grayson was contracted to MGM and established a career in films from the early 1940s...
-- Magnolia Hawks in Show BoatShow Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. One notable exception is the song Bill, which was originally written by Kern and author-lyricist P. G. Wodehouse in 1917 but reworked by Hammerstein for Show Boat...
- Van Heflin
Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. was an American film and theatre actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man...
-- James l. Hessler
- Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne is an American singer and actress. She has recorded and performed extensively, independently and with other jazz notables, including Artie Shaw, Teddy Wilson, Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington, Charlie Barnet, Benny Carter and Billy Eckstine...
-- Julie LaVerne in Show Boat
- Van Johnson
Van Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during and after World War II....
-- Bandleader in Elite Club
- Tony Martin
Tony Martin is an American actor and traditional pop singer.-Career:Martin was born Alvin Morris in Oakland, California to Jewish immigrants from Portugal. He received a soprano saxophone as a gift from his grandmother at ten. In his grammar school glee club, he became an instrumentalist and a boy...
-- Gaylord Ravenal in Show Boat
- Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality. She was most popular during the Big Band era of the 1940s and 1950s....
-- Specialty
- Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the "bobby soxers." His professional career had stalled by the...
-- Finale Specialty
- Robert Walker -- Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of popular music. He wrote around 700 songs, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A Fine Romance", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "All the Things You Are", "The Way You Look Tonight", and "Who?", a 6-week number 1 hit for...
- Gower Champion
Gower Carlyle Champion was an American actor, theatre director, choreographer, and dancer.-Early years:Champion was born in Geneva, Illinois, the son of John W. Champion and Beatrice Carlisle. He was raised in Los Angeles, California, where he graduated from Fairfax High School...
-- Specialty Dancer in RobertaRoberta is a musical from 1933 with music by Jerome Kern, and lyrics and book by Otto Harbach. The musical is based on the novel Gowns by Roberta by Alice Duer Miller...
- Cyd Charisse
Cyd Charisse was an American actress and dancer.After recovering from polio as a child, and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s...
-- Specialty Dancer in Roberta
- Angela Lansbury
Angela Brigid Lansbury, CBE is an English actress and singer whose career has spanned seven decades. Her first film appearance was in Gaslight , for which she received an Academy Award nomination as a malevolent maid, and she expanded her repertoire to Broadway and television in the 1950s...
-- as London Specialty
- Ray McDonald -- Specialty in Oh, Boy!
Oh, Boy! is a musical in two acts, with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse. The story concerns befuddled George, who elopes with Lou Ellen, the daughter of Judge Carter. He must win over her parents and his Quaker aunt...
and Leave It to Jane
- Virginia O'Brien
Virginia Lee O’Brien was a popular American actress and singer known for her comedic roles in MGM musicals of the 1940s. She was highly regarded for her singing style, as well as her beauty.-Life and career:...
-- Ellie Mae in Show Boat / Specialty
- Joan Wells -- Sally Hessler as a little girl
- Esther Williams
Esther Jane Williams is a retired American competitive swimmer and MGM movie star, notable for her musical films that featured elaborate performances with swimming and diving.-Early years:...
-- Cameo appearance
Airdates
- 1954 - Tuesday, August 3 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1955 - Thursday, January 20 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1956 - Friday, July 13 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1957 - Tuesday, September 10 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1958 - Sunday, March 9 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1959 - Tuesday, April 14 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1960 - Sunday, December 18 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1961 - Friday, October 27 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1962 - Saturday, December 22 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1963 - Friday, February 1 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1964 - Tuesday, November 17 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1965 - Monday, December 27 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1966 - Friday, February 4 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1967 - Tuesday, September 26 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1968 - Monday, April 15 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1969 - Tuesday, November 18 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1970 - Wednesday, January 14 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1971 - Friday, May 14 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1972 - Thursday, August 24 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1973 - Sunday, June 3 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1974 - Friday, April 12 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1975 - Monday, March 3 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1976 - Saturday, January 31 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1977 - Friday, September 30 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1978 - Friday, February 10 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1979 - Friday, September 28 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1980 - Friday, September 12 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1981 - Sunday, February 22 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1982 - Monday, November 8 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1983 - Tuesday, October 25 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1984 - Wednesday, December 5 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1985 - Friday, March 22 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1986 - Thursday, December 25 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1987 - Friday, May 22 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1988 - Monday, October 3 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1989 - Friday, April 14 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1990 - Tuesday, February 20 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1991 - Tuesday, August 6 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1992 - Tuesday, January 21 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1993 - Wednesday, November 17 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1994 - Saturday, January 29 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1995 - Tuesday, August 29 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1996 - Monday, September 9 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1997 - Wednesday, March 26 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1998 - Friday, November 6 - 8:00 p.m.
- 1999 - Tuesday, October 19 - 8:00 p.m.
- 2000 - Monday, May 8 - 8:00 p.m.
- 2001 - Wednesday, May 9 - 8:00 p.m.
- 2002 - Friday, March 1 - 8:00 p.m.
- 2003 - Monday, April 7 - 8:00 p.m.
- 2004 - THursday, April 15 - 8:00 p.m.
- 2005 - Saturday, January 22 - 8:00 p.m.
- 2006 - Wednesday, August 16 - 8:00 p.m.
- 2007 - Sunday, May 13 - 8:00 p.m.
- 2008 - Sunday, July 6 - 8:00 p.m.
- 2009 - Thursday, January 1 - 8:00 p.m.
Songs
- Cotton Blossom - MGM Studio and Orchestra Chorus
- Where's the Mate for me - Tony Martin
- Make Believe - Kathryn Grayson / Tony Martin
- Life Upon the Wicked Stage - Virginia O'Brien / MGM Studio and Orchestra Chorus Girls
- Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
"Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" with music by Jerome Kern, and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, is one of the most famous songs from their classic 1927 musical play Show Boat, adapted from Edna Ferber's novel....
- Lena Horne
- Ol' Man River
"Ol' Man River" is a song in the 1927 musical Show Boat, that contrasts African American hardship and struggles of the time with the endless, uncaring flow of the Mississippi River, from the view of a dock worker on a showboat.It is the most famous song from the show...
- Caleb Peterson / MGM Studio and Orchestra Chorus
- How'd You like to Spoon with Me - Angela Lansbury / MGM Studio and Orchestra Chrous
- Till the Clouds Roll By - June Allyson / Ray McDonald / MGM Studio and Orchestra Chorus
- The Last Time I Saw Paris
The Last Time I Saw Paris is a 1954 romantic drama made by MGM, loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald 's short story Babylon Revisited. It was directed by Richard Brooks and produced by Jack Cummings. The screenplay was by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G...
- Dinah Shore
- Leave it to Jane - MGM Studio and Orchestra Chorus / June Allyson / Ray McDonald
- Cleopatterer - June Allyson / Ray McDonald / MGM Studio and Orchestra Chorus
- Leave it to Jane (Reprise) - MGM Studio and Orchestra Chorus / June Allyson / Ray McDonald
- Look for the Silver Lining
"Look for the Silver Lining" is a popular song with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by B.G. DeSylva. It was written in 1919 for the unsuccessful musical Zip, Goes a Million. In 1920 it was published and reused in the musical Sally whence it was popularized by Marilyn Miller.A 1949 biopic with the...
- Judy Garland
- Sunny
Sunny is a 1925 musical written by Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Otto Harbach. The plot involves Sunny, the star of a circus act, who falls for a rich playboy, but comes in conflict with his snooty family.-Broadway production:...
- Judy Garland / MGM Studio and Orchestra Chorus
- Who?
"Who?" is a popular song written for the Broadway musical Sunny by Jerome Kern, Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II. The song was featured in the film version of Sunny starring Marilyn Miller....
- Judy Garland / MGM Studio and Orchestra Chorus
- One More Dance - Lucille Bremer (Dubbed by,) Trudy Erwin
- I Won't Dance
"I Won't Dance" is a song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach, for the 1934 musical Three Sisters. However, Three Sisters flopped and was quickly forgotten, so when the time came to film the Kern-Harbach musical Roberta, the song was interpolated...
- Van Johnson / Lucille Bremer (Dubbed by,) Trudy Erwin
- She Didn't say Yes - Lyn Wilde / Lee Wilde
- Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is a show tune written by American composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harbach for their 1933 operetta Roberta. It was performed by Irene Dunne for the 1935 film adaptation, costarring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Randolph Scott...
- Cyd Charisse / Gower Champion
- The Land where the Good Songs Go - Lucille Bremer (dubbed by Trudy Erwin)
- A Fine Romance - Virginia O'Brian
- Why Was I Born?
"Why Was I Born?" is a 1929 song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II.It was written for the show Sweet Adeline .-Notable recordings:*Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook...
- Lena Horne
- Yesterdays - MGM Studio and Orchestra Chorus
- Ka-Lu-a - MGM Studio and Orchestra
- Ol' Man River (Reprise/Finale) - Frank Sinatra / MGM Studio and Orchestra Chorus
External links