Two Tickets to Broadway

Last updated

Two Tickets to Broadway
Two Tickets to Broadway FilmPoster.jpeg
Original film poster
Directed by James V. Kern
Written by Sammy Cahn
Produced by Norman Krasna
Jerry Wald
Howard Hughes (uncredited)
Starring Tony Martin
Janet Leigh
Gloria DeHaven
Ann Miller
Eddie Bracken
Cinematography Edward Cronjager
Harry J. Wild
Edited by Harry Marker
Music by Walter Scharf
Production
company
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release date
  • November 20, 1951 (1951-11-20) [1]
Running time
106 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2 million (US rentals) [2]

Two Tickets to Broadway is a 1951 American musical film directed by James V. Kern and starring Tony Martin, Janet Leigh, Gloria DeHaven and Ann Miller. It was filmed on the RKO Forty Acres backlot. [3] It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Recording (John O. Aalberg). [4] The film was choreographed by Busby Berkeley. The film recorded an estimated loss of $1,150,000. [5]

Contents

Plot

Frustrated singers Hannah Holbrook, Joyce Campbell, and S. F. "Foxy" Rogers return dejectedly to New York on a bus, their out-of-town engagement in Vermont, arranged by small-time promoter Lew Conway, having been a huge flop.

Nancy Peterson, another passenger on the bus, mistakenly believes Dan Carter has stolen her suitcase. It turns out both are entertainers. They end up with each other's bags, then become better acquainted after the mix-up.

The conniving Lew represents Dan and tries to get him to take the same bad gig the girl singers just left. Lew also meets a couple of delicatessen owners, Leo and Harry, who might have money to invest in his performers' careers. The agent has an impersonator, Glendon, pretend to be the producer of bandleader Bob Crosby's television program.

Everybody excitedly believes that Lew has booked them on the TV show. Lew continually tries to get in to see Crosby's actual producer, totally in vain. He lies to the singers that Crosby won't book them because he is jealous of Dan's ability as a singer. A furious Nancy barges into the TV studio to berate Crosby and his producer, who have no idea what she is talking about.

Nancy boards a bus, headed back home. Crosby's producer, however, says he's been interested in Dan for quite a while, and ends up with an opening on tonight's show after Lew locks the scheduled performers in a closet. Nancy refuses to believe Lew that the gang really is performing on tonight's show, until she spots Dan singing on a TV in a store's window. She races back to New York just in time to join the others on the show.

Cast

The roles of the two delicatessen owners were originally offered to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, who had to turn down the parts due to Laurel being ill. [6] The comedy team of Smith and Dale got the roles instead.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Hardy</span> American actor (1892–1957)

Oliver Norvell Hardy was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his comedy partner Stan Laurel in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles. He was credited with his first film, Outwitting Dad, in 1914. In most of his silent films before joining producer Hal Roach, he was billed on screen as Babe Hardy.

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1952.

<i>Damn Yankees</i> Musical play

Damn Yankees is a 1955 musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League Baseball. It is based on Wallop's 1954 novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant.

<i>Bye Bye Birdie</i> 1960 musical

Bye Bye Birdie is a stage musical with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, based upon a book by Michael Stewart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dixie Carter</span> American actress (1939–2010)

Dixie Virginia Carter was an American actress. She starred as Julia Sugarbaker on the sitcom Designing Women (1986–1993) and as Randi King on the drama series Family Law (1999–2002). She was nominated for the 2007 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Gloria Hodge on Desperate Housewives (2006–2007).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmond O'Brien</span> American actor (1915–1985)

Eamon Joseph O'Brien was an American actor and film director. His career spanned almost 40 years, and he won one Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann Rutherford</span> Canadian-born American actress

Therese Ann Rutherford was a Canadian-born American actress in film, radio, and television. She had a long career starring and co-starring in films, playing Polly Benedict during the 1930s and 1940s in the Andy Hardy series, and appearing as one of Scarlett O'Hara's sisters Careen O'Hara in the film Gone with the Wind (1939).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Double act</span> Pair of comedians whose act is based on their uneven relationship

A double act is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act, often highlighting differences in their characters' personalities. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases for the artists' entire careers. Double acts perform on the stage, television and film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katz's Delicatessen</span> Restaurant in Manhattan, New York

Katz's Delicatessen, also known as Katz's of New York City, is a kosher-style delicatessen at 205 East Houston Street, on the southwest corner of Houston and Ludlow Streets on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bonita Granville</span> American actress and producer (1923–1988)

Bonita Gloria Granville Wrather was an American actress and producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Gilbert</span> American comedian and actor (1894–1971)

William Gilbert Barron, known professionally as Billy Gilbert, was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his comic sneeze routines. He appeared in over 200 feature films, short subjects and television shows beginning in 1929.

<i>The Hollywood Palace</i> American television variety series

The Hollywood Palace is an hourlong American television variety show broadcast Saturday nights on ABC from January 4, 1964, to February 7, 1970. Titled The Saturday Night Hollywood Palace for its first few weeks, it began as a midseason replacement for The Jerry Lewis Show, another variety show, which lasted only three months.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tay Garnett</span> American film director and writer (1894–1977)

William Taylor "Tay" Garnett was an American film director and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chuck McCann</span> American actor

Charles John Thomas McCann was an American actor, comedian, puppeteer, commercial presenter and television host. He was best known for his work in presenting children's television programming and animation, as well as his own program The Chuck McCann Show and he also recorded comedy parody style albums.


"Young and Foolish" is a popular song with music by Albert Hague and lyrics by Arnold B. Horwitt, published in 1954.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manhattan (song)</span> Original show tune by Rodgers and Hart; from the 1925 musical revue "The Garrick Gaieties"

"Manhattan" is a popular song and part of the Great American Songbook. It has been performed by the Supremes, Lee Wiley, Oscar Peterson, Blossom Dearie, Tony Martin, Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Mel Torme, among many others. It is often known as "We'll Have Manhattan" based on the opening line. The music was written by Richard Rodgers and the lyrics by Lorenz Hart for the 1925 revue Garrick Gaieties. It was introduced by Sterling Holloway and June Cochran.

<i>Pick a Star</i> 1937 film by Edward Sedgwick

Pick a Star is a 1937 American musical comedy film starring Rosina Lawrence, Jack Haley, Patsy Kelly and Mischa Auer, directed by Edward Sedgwick, produced by Hal Roach and released through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and filmed by Norbert Brodine. A reworking of Buster Keaton's first talkie, Free and Easy, the film is mostly remembered today for two short scenes featuring Laurel and Hardy.

<i>Our Gang Follies of 1938</i> 1937 American film

Our Gang Follies of 1938 is a 1937 American musical short subject, the 161st short subject entry in Hal Roach's Our Gang series. Directed by Gordon Douglas as a sequel to 1935's Our Gang Follies of 1936, the two-reel short was released to theaters on December 18, 1937 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

<i>Mr. Music</i> 1950 film by Richard Haydn

Mr. Music is a 1950 film starring Bing Crosby and Nancy Olson, directed by Richard Haydn, and released by Paramount Pictures. It is based on the play Accent on Youth written by Samson Raphaelson. Filming took place from October to December 1949 in Hollywood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Felix Knight</span> American actor (1908–1998)

William Felix Knight, was an American tenor, actor, and vocal teacher, best known for his role as Tom-Tom in the 1934 Laurel and Hardy holiday musical film Babes in Toyland.

References

  1. "Two Tickets to Broadway: Detail View". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 19, 2014.
  2. 'The Top Box Office Hits of 1951', Variety, January 2, 1952.
  3. Hal Erickson (2012). "Two Tickets to Broadway". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
  4. "The 24th Academy Awards (1952) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
  5. Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, The RKO Story. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p261.
  6. p.110 Gehring, Wes D. Laurel & Hardy: A Bio-Bibliography Greenwood Publishing Group, 1990