Oh, You Beautiful Doll (film)

Oh, You Beautiful Doll
Directed by	John M. Stahl
Written by	Albert Lewis Arthur Lewis
Produced by	George Jessel
Starring	Mark Stevens June Haver S.Z. Sakall
Cinematography	Harry Jackson
Edited by	Louis R. Loeffler
Production company	Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Release date	November 11, 1949 (1949-11-11)(New York City)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1,950,000 (US rentals) [1] [2]

1949 photograph of the Marquee of the Chicago Theatre advertising showings of the film

Oh, You Beautiful Doll is a 1949 American musical film directed by John M. Stahl (his final film), starring the musical queen June Haver and Mark Stevens. Co-stars included S.Z. Sakall, Charlotte Greenwood, and Gale Robbins. ^[3]

Plot

The film is a fictionalized biography of Fred Fisher, a German-born American writer of Tin Pan Alley songs. Tin Pan Alley promoter (Mark Stevens) turns serious composer Fred Breitenbach (S.Z. Sakall) into songwriter Fred Fisher. Fred Fisher is his assumed name in real life and Breitenbach is his birth surname. In the film, many Fisher songs were given a symphonic arrangement that was performed at Aeolian Hall. Among the Fisher songs heard were:

• Chicago
• Dardanella
• Peg O' My Heart
• Who paid the rent for Mrs. Rip Van Winkle? (1914)

Cast

Leading actors

• Mark Stevens – Larry Kelly
• June Haver – Doris Fisher
• S.Z. Sakall – Fred Fisher aka Alfred Breitenbach
• Charlotte Greenwood – Anna Breitenbach
• Gale Robbins – Marie Carle
• Jay C. Flippen Lippy Brannigan
• Andrew Tombes – Ted Held
• Eduard Franz – Gottfried Steiner

Other cast

• Sam Ash – quartet
• Warren Jackson – quartet
• Donald Kerr – quartet
• Al Klein – quartet
• Frank Kreig – head waiter
• Nestor Paiva – Lucca

Uncredited cast

• Myrtle Anderson – cook
• Curt Bois – Zaltz
• Edward Clark – Cooper - desk clerk
• Tom Coleman – Policeman
• John Davidson – Davis - Steiner's secretary
• Sam Finn – minor role
• Joseph Forte – waiter
• Robert Gist – musician
• James Griffith – Joe - reporter
• Sam Harris – composer
• Eddie Kane – Charles Hubert
• Kenner G. Kemp – audience spectator
• Carl M. Leviness – composer (uncredited)
• Sidney Marion – minor role (uncredited)
• Marion Martin – big blonde
• Frank Mills – man in jail
• Eula Morgan – Madame Zoubel
• John Mylong – toastmaster
• William J. O'Brien – waiter
• Torchy Rand – Sophie - waitress
• Dick Rich – burly man in saloon
• Maurice Samuels – Italian
• Harry Seymour – Volk, nightclub M.C.
• Lester Sharpe – music store proprietor
• Ray Teal – policeman
• Phil Tully – desk sergeant
• Ray Walker – box office attendant
• Billy Wayne – reporter
• Robert Williams – police lieutenant
• Victor Sen Yung – houseboy
• Al Jolson; himself

References

1. 'The Top Box Office Hits of 1950', Variety, January 3, 1951
2. Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century-Fox: A Corporate and Financial History Rowman & Littlefield, 2002 p 223
3. Thomas M. Pryor (1915–2001), Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949), A Pleasant Musical From Fox, The New York Times, November 12, 1949

External links

• Oh, You Beautiful Doll at IMDb