The picture is notable for several reasons. It was Powell's first and only film after leaving Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where she became a star nearly a decade earlier; it was also her final starring role in a film, after which she would only make a cameo in MGM's Duchess of Idaho in 1950 and some unused footage of her would appear in a 1946 MGM compilation, The Great Morgan. Powell's dance inside a giant pinball machine (as part of the song, "Spin Little Pinball") has been cited by critics variously as both a highlight and as the nadir of her film career.
Hubert Castle plays the role of Olaf, “The Great Gustafson”; the setting of Olaf’s high-wire publicity stunt is the Royal Gorge in Colorado.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music Scoring.
Cabell Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the swing era. His niche of mixing jazz and vaudeville won him acclaim during a career that spanned over 65 years.
June Allyson was an American stage, film, and television actress.
Dennis O'Keefe was an American actor and screenwriter.
Silent Movie is a 1976 American satirical silent comedy film cowritten, directed by and starring Mel Brooks, released by 20th Century Fox in summer 1976. The ensemble cast includes Dom DeLuise, Marty Feldman, Bernadette Peters and Sid Caesar, with cameos by Anne Bancroft, Liza Minnelli, Burt Reynolds, James Caan, Marcel Marceau and Paul Newman as themselves. The film was produced in the manner of a 20th-century silent film, with intertitles instead of spoken dialogue; the soundtrack consists almost entirely of accompanying music and sound effects. It is an affectionate parody of slapstick comedies, including those of Charlie Chaplin, Mack Sennett and Buster Keaton. The film satirizes the film industry, presenting the story of a film producer trying to obtain studio support to make a silent film in the 1970s.
Eleanor Torrey Powell was an American dancer and actress. Best remembered for her tap dance numbers in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s, she was one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's top dancing stars during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Powell appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and most prominently, in a series of movie musical vehicles tailored especially to showcase her dance talents, including Born to Dance (1936), Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), Rosalie (1937), and Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940). She retired from films in the mid-1940s but resurfaced for the occasional specialty dance scene in films such as Thousands Cheer. In the 1950s she hosted a Christian children's TV show and eventually headlined a successful nightclub act in Las Vegas. She died from cancer at 69. Powell is known as one of the most versatile and powerful female dancers of the Hollywood studio era.
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle is a 1939 American biographical musical comedy directed by H.C. Potter. The film stars Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edna May Oliver, and Walter Brennan. The film is based on the stories My Husband and My Memories of Vernon Castle, by Irene Castle. The movie was adapted by Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Yost and Richard Sherman. This was Astaire and Rogers' ninth and last film together with RKO. Their final pairing was The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) at MGM.
Ann Miller was an American actress and dancer. She is best remembered for her work in the classical Hollywood cinema musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Her early film work included roles in Room Service, starring the Marx Brothers and Frank Capra's You Can't Take It with You, both released in 1938. She later starred in the musical classics Easter Parade (1948), On the Town (1949) and Kiss Me Kate (1953). Her final film role was in Mulholland Drive (2001).
"Minnie the Moocher" is a jazz-scat song co-written by American musician Cab Calloway and first recorded in 1931 by Calloway and his orchestra, selling over a million copies. "Minnie the Moocher" is most famous for its nonsensical ad libbed ("scat") lyrics. In performances, Calloway would have the audience and the band members participate by repeating each scat phrase in a form of call and response, eventually making it too fast and complicated for the audience to replicate.
Charles Van Dell Johnson was an American film, television, theatre and radio actor. He was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during and after World War II.
Lyle Florenz Talbot was an American stage, screen and television actor. His career in films spanned three decades, from 1931 to 1960, and he performed on a wide variety of television series from the early 1950s to the late 1980s. Among his notable roles on television was his portrayal of Ozzie Nelson's friend and neighbor Joe Randolph, a character he played for ten years on the ABC sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.
Born to Dance is a 1936 American musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Eleanor Powell, James Stewart and Virginia Bruce. It was produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The score was composed by Cole Porter.
I Dood It is a 1943 American musical-comedy film starring Red Skelton and Eleanor Powell, directed by Vincente Minnelli, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The screenplay is by Fred Saidy and Sig Herzig and the film features Richard Ainley, Patricia Dane, Lena Horne, and Hazel Scott. John Hodiak plays a villain in this production, just his third movie role. Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra provide musical interludes.
The Great Morgan is a 1945 American musical-comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film is considered one of the more unusual in the MGM canon in that it is a compilation film built around a slight plot line, with a running time of less than 60 minutes.
David Albert "Panama" Francis was an American swing jazz drummer who played on numerous hit recordings in the 1950s.
John Cummings was an American film producer and director. He was best known for being a leading producer at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Song of the Open Road is a 1944 musical comedy film directed by S. Sylvan Simon, from a screenplay by Irving Phillips and Edward Verdier. It was the debut film of teenage singer Jane Powell. Powell's real name was Suzanne Burce, but prior to the release of this film MGM assigned her the stage name "Jane Powell".
Gene Rodgers was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He is best known for being the pianist on Coleman Hawkins' famous 1939 recording of "Body and Soul".
Luxury Liner is a 1948 romantic musical comedy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Technicolor. It was directed by Richard Whorf, and written by Richard Connell, Gladys Lehman and Karl Kamb (uncredited). It was originally titled Maiden Voyage.
That's My Baby! is a 1944 American film directed by William Berke and starring Richard Arlen, Ellen Drew, and Leonid Kinskey.
Sensation Hunters, also known as Club Paradise, is a 1945 American film directed by Christy Cabanne.
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