Ups and Downs (1937 film)

Last updated
Ups and Downs
Directed by Roy Mack
Written by Jack Henley
Cyrus Wood
Produced by Vitaphone Corporation
Starring Hal Le Roy
June Allyson
CinematographyRay Foster
Edited byBert Frank
Music by Sammy Cahn
Saul Chaplin
Cliff Hess
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • 1937 (1937)
Running time
21 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Ups and Downs (1937) is a short film directed by Roy Mack and starring Broadway dancer Hal Le Roy. It was released by Warner Bros. as part of its Broadway Brevities series of two-reel musical shorts, released in 1937 and 1938. [1]

Contents

The film was made in New York City, and was Bronx native June Allyson's first film for a major studio. [2]

Synopsis

An elevator operator Harry Smith (Hal Le Roy), who works in a luxury hotel, courts the hotel president's daughter June Dailey (June Allyson). She is engaged to another, but when her fiancé leaves on a business trip, Harry asks her to join him for dinner.

During dinner, Harry is introduced to her father, who misinterprets Harry's remarks about elevators as being a tip to invest in the Upsadaisy Elevator Company. June's fiancé returns and breaks off the engagement, thinking that his prospective father-in-law has lost everything on a worthless stock. However, the investment turns out to be wildly profitable, Harry and June are engaged, and the film ends with them tap-dancing away in a production number dominated by a giant stock ticker machine.

Cast

Home media

Ups and Downs appears as a special feature on the 2005 DVD of the film Stage Door . [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Picnic</i> (1955 film) 1955 film by Joshua Logan

Picnic is a 1955 American Technicolor romantic comedy-drama film filmed in CinemaScope. It was adapted for the screen by Daniel Taradash from William Inge's 1953 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. Joshua Logan, director of the original Broadway stage production, directed the film version, which stars William Holden, Kim Novak, and Rosalind Russell, with Susan Strasberg and Cliff Robertson in supporting roles. Picnic was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won two.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">June Allyson</span> American actress (1917–2006)

June Allyson was an American stage, film, and television actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleanor Powell</span> American tap dancer, actress, (1912–1982)

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 athletic female dancers of the Hollywood studio era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Dubin</span> Swiss-American lyricist (1891–1945)

Alexander Dubin was an American lyricist. He is best known for his collaborations with the composer Harry Warren.

<i>42nd Street</i> (film) 1933 musical film

42nd Street is a 1933 American pre-Code musical film directed by Lloyd Bacon, with songs by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics). The film's numbers were staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. It stars an ensemble cast of Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers.

<i>Thats Entertainment!</i> 1974 film by Jack Haley Jr.

That's Entertainment! is a 1974 American compilation film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to celebrate the studio's 50th anniversary. The success of the retrospective prompted a 1976 sequel, the related 1985 film That's Dancing!, and a third installment in 1994.

<i>Royal Wedding</i> 1951 MGM musical comedy film directed by Stanley Donen

Royal Wedding is a 1951 American musical comedy film directed by Stanley Donen, and starring Fred Astaire and Jane Powell, with music by Burton Lane and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. Set in 1947 London at the time of the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, the film follows an American brother-sister song and dance duo who, while performing, each fall in love — he, with a female dancer, and she, with an impoverished but well-connected nobleman. The film marked Donen's second directorial feature. It was released as Wedding Bells in the United Kingdom.

<i>Gold Diggers of 1933</i> 1933 film by Mervyn LeRoy, Busby Berkeley

Gold Diggers of 1933 is an American pre-Code musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy with songs by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics). The film's numbers were staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. It starred Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler, and Dick Powell. It featured appearances by Guy Kibbee, Ned Sparks and Ginger Rogers.

<i>Summer Stock</i> 1950 film by Charles Walters

Summer Stock is a 1950 American Technicolor musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Charles Walters, stars Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, and features Eddie Bracken, Gloria DeHaven, Marjorie Main, and Phil Silvers. Musical numbers were staged by Nick Castle and Kelly.

<i>Dinner at Eight</i> (1933 film) 1933 film

Dinner at Eight is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor from a screenplay by Frances Marion and Herman J. Mankiewicz, based on George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber's 1932 play of the same title. The film features an ensemble cast of Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, Lee Tracy, Edmund Lowe, and Billie Burke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">K. T. Stevens</span> American actress

K.T. Stevens was an American film and television actress.

<i>Gold Diggers of 1935</i> 1935 American film

Gold Diggers of 1935 is an American musical film directed and choreographed by Busby Berkeley, his first time as a film's overall director. It stars Dick Powell, Adolphe Menjou, Gloria Stuart, Alice Brady, Hugh Herbert, Glenda Farrell, and Frank McHugh, and features Joseph Cawthorn, Grant Mitchell, Dorothy Dare, and Winifred Shaw. The songs were written by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics). The film is best known for its famous "Lullaby of Broadway" production number. That song, sung by Shaw, also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The screenplay was by Manuel Seff and Peter Milne, based on a story by Robert Lord, who also produced the film, and Milne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liliane Montevecchi</span> French actress and entertainer

Liliane Dina Montevecchi was a French actress, dancer, and singer. She won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role in the original Broadway production of Nine, and was nominated for Best Actress in a Musical for Grand Hotel.

<i>The Shrike</i> (film) 1955 film by José Ferrer

The Shrike is a 1955 American film noir drama film based on Joseph Kramm's play of the same name. José Ferrer directed and starred in Ketti Frings' screenplay adaptation.

<i>Demob</i> (TV series) 1993 British television series

Demob was a short-lived British comedy-drama television series, which screened for one six-episode series in 1993; It was produced by Talkback Productions in association with Yorkshire Television for ITV.

<i>Wonder Bar</i> 1934 film by Busby Berkeley, Lloyd Bacon

Wonder Bar is a 1934 American pre-Code film adaptation of a Broadway musical of the same name directed by Lloyd Bacon with musical numbers created by Busby Berkeley.

<i>Go into Your Dance</i> 1935 film by Archie Mayo

Go into Your Dance is a 1935 American musical drama film starring Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, and Glenda Farrell. The film was directed by Archie Mayo, and is based on the novel of the same name by Bradford Ropes. It was released by Warner Bros. on April 20, 1935. An irresponsible Broadway star gets mixed up with gambling and gangsters.

<i>I Love Melvin</i> 1953 film by Don Weis

I Love Melvin is a 1953 American Technicolor musical romantic comedy film directed by Don Weis, starring Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds.

Hal Le Roy was an American tap dancer, actor, and singer appearing on stage, in film, and on television.

<i>Too Many Girls</i> (film) 1940 film by George Abbott

Too Many Girls is a 1940 American musical comedy film directed by George Abbott, who had also directed the hit Broadway musical on which it was based, which ran for 249 performances. The film's screenplay is by John Twist, and it stars Lucille Ball, Richard Carlson, Ann Miller, Eddie Bracken, Frances Langford, Desi Arnaz and Hal Le Roy.

References

  1. Frank, Rusty E. 1994. Tap!: the greatest tap dance stars and their stories 1900–1955 . New York, New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., p. 307. ISBN   0-306-80635-5
  2. Koszarski, Richard. 2008. Hollywood on the Hudson: Film and Television in New York from Griffith to Sarnoff. Piscataway, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, p. 542. ISBN   978-0-8135-4293-5
  3. Dab Callahan and Ed Gonzalez (February 21, 2005). "DVD Review: Stage Door". Slant Magazine. Retrieved March 24, 2012.