Walking My Baby Back Home (film)

Last updated
Walking My Baby Back Home
Walking My Baby Back Home FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Lloyd Bacon
Written by Oscar Brodney
Don McGuire
Produced by Ted Richmond
Leonard Goldstein
Starring Donald O'Connor
Janet Leigh
Buddy Hackett
Cinematography Irving Glassberg
Edited by Ted J. Kent
Music by Henry Mancini (uncredited)
Production
company
Universal Pictures
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
  • December 6, 1953 (1953-12-06)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1.8 million [1]

Walking My Baby Back Home is a 1953 American musical comedy film directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Donald O'Connor, Janet Leigh, and Buddy Hackett. [2] It was Hackett's film debut. [3]

Contents

Excerpts of the film are used in the Columbo episode "Forgotten Lady", in which Leigh plays a middle aged former film star Grace Wheeler who nostalgically watches the film; Walking My Baby Back Home music composer Henry Mancini was the composer of the Columbo theme music as well. [4]

Donald O'Connor enjoyed working with Janet Leigh.

She hadn't danced in years but was a real trouper. Nine times out of 10 we'd do all those beautiful dance routines on cement, and she got very tired, started falling a lot on her knees. And her knees started to swell three times their normal size. It was very painful. On the screen you can't tell how she was suffering in that darn thing. [5]

Plot

A World War II veteran joins a minstrel show and falls in love with the daughter of the troupe's patriarch.

Cast

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Leigh</span> American actress (1927–2004)

Jeanette Helen Morrison, known professionally as Janet Leigh, was an American actress. Her career spanned over five decades. Raised in Stockton, California, by working-class parents, Leigh was discovered at 18 by actress Norma Shearer, who helped her secure a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buddy Hackett</span> American actor (1924–2003)

Buddy Hackett was an American actor and comedian. His best remembered roles include Marcellus Washburn in The Music Man (1962), Benjy Benjamin in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Tennessee Steinmetz in The Love Bug (1968), and the voice of Scuttle in The Little Mermaid (1989). He was also a frequent guest on TV game shows and variety shows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald O'Connor</span> American film actor (1925–2003)

Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor was an American dancer, singer and actor. He came to fame in a series of films in which he co-starred, in succession, with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gus Kahn</span> Musical artist

Gustav Gerson Kahn was an American lyricist who contributed a number of songs to the Great American Songbook, including "Pretty Baby", "Ain't We Got Fun?", "Carolina in the Morning", "Toot, Toot, Tootsie ", "My Buddy" "I'll See You in My Dreams", "It Had to Be You", "Yes Sir, That's My Baby", "Love Me or Leave Me", "Makin' Whoopee", "My Baby Just Cares for Me", "I'm Through with Love", "Dream a Little Dream of Me" and "You Stepped Out of a Dream".

<i>Easter Parade</i> (film) 1948 US musical film by Charles Walters

Easter Parade is a 1948 American Technicolor musical film directed by Charles Walters, written by Sidney Sheldon, Frances Goodrich, and Albert Hackett from a story by Goodrich and Hackett, and starring Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford, and Ann Miller. The film contains some of Astaire's and Garland's best-known songs, including "Easter Parade", "Steppin' Out with My Baby", and "We're a Couple of Swells", all by Irving Berlin.

<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>Thats Dancing!</i> 1985 film directed by Jack Haley Jr.

That's Dancing! is a 1985 American compilation film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that looked back at the history of dancing in film. Unlike the That's Entertainment! series, this film not only focuses specifically on MGM films, but also included films from other studios.

<i>Singin in the Rain</i> 1952 American musical-romantic comedy film

Singin' in the Rain is a 1952 American musical romantic comedy film directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds and featuring Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell, Rita Moreno, and Cyd Charisse in supporting roles. It offers a lighthearted depiction of Hollywood in the late 1920s, with the three stars portraying performers caught up in the transition from silent films to "talkies".

Walkin' My Baby Back Home may refer to:

"Walkin' My Baby Back Home" is a popular song written in 1930 by Roy Turk (lyrics) and Fred E. Ahlert (music).

<i>Thats Entertainment, Part II</i> 1976 film directedby Gene Kelly

That's Entertainment, Part II is a 1976 American compilation film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and a sequel to That's Entertainment! (1974). Like the previous film, That's Entertainment, Part II was a retrospective of famous films released by MGM from the 1930s to the 1950s. Some posters for the film use Part 2 rather than Part II in the title.

<i>Glorifying the American Girl</i> 1929 film

Glorifying the American Girl is a 1929 American pre-Code musical comedy film produced by Florenz Ziegfeld that highlights Ziegfeld Follies performers. The last third of the film, which was filmed in early Technicolor, is basically a Follies production, with appearances by Rudy Vallee, Helen Morgan, and Eddie Cantor.

Oscar Brodney was an American lawyer-turned-screenwriter. He is best known for his long association with Universal Studios, where his credits included Harvey, The Glenn Miller Story (1954), several Francis movies and the Tammy series.

<i>Living It Up</i> 1954 film by Norman Taurog

Living It Up is a 1954 American comedy film starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis which was released by Paramount Pictures.

<i>Follow the Boys</i> (1944 film) 1944 film

Follow the Boys also known as Three Cheers for the Boys is a 1944 musical film made by Universal Pictures during World War II as an all-star cast morale booster to entertain the troops abroad and the civilians at home. The film was directed by A. Edward "Eddie" Sutherland and produced by Charles K. Feldman. The movie stars George Raft and Vera Zorina and features Grace McDonald, Charles Grapewin, Regis Toomey and George Macready. At one point in the film, Orson Welles saws Marlene Dietrich in half during a magic show. W.C. Fields, in his first movie since 1941, performs a classic pool-playing presentation he first developed in vaudeville four decades earlier in 1903.

<i>Summer Holiday</i> (1948 film) 1948 film by Rouben Mamoulian

Summer Holiday is a 1948 American musical-comedy film, directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Mickey Rooney and Gloria DeHaven. The picture is based on the play Ah, Wilderness! (1933) by Eugene O'Neill, which had been filmed under that name by MGM in 1935 with Rooney in a much smaller role, as the younger brother. Though completed in October 1946, this film sat on the shelf until 1948.

<i>When Johnny Comes Marching Home</i> (film) 1942 film by Charles Lamont

When Johnny Comes Marching Home is a 1942 musical film directed by Charles Lamont and starring Allan Jones and Jane Frazee. The film is loosely based on the song with the same title.

<i>Call Me Madam</i> (film) 1953 film

Call Me Madam is a 1953 American Technicolor musical film directed by Walter Lang, with songs by Irving Berlin, based on the 1950 stage musical of the same name.

My Sister Eileen is a 1955 American CinemaScope comedy musical film directed by Richard Quine. It stars Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett, and Jack Lemmon.

This Is the Life is a 1944 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Felix E. Feist starring Donald O'Connor, Susanna Foster, and Peggy Ryan. It is one of the several films that Universal Studios rushed O'Connor and Ryan through before O'Connor was drafted into the Army to serve in World War II.

References

  1. "1954 Box Office Champs". Variety Weekly. January 5, 1955. p. 59. - figures are rentals in the US and Canada
  2. "Walking My Baby Back Home (1953)". BFI. Archived from the original on 2012-07-13.
  3. "Buddy Hackett - Movies and Filmography - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  4. Vincentelli, Elizabeth (July 24, 2020). "Comfort Viewing: 3 Reasons I Love 'Columbo'". The New York Times. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  5. Mindy Aloff (October 7, 2003). "Remembering a Hoofer, Donald O'Connor interview". Danceviewtimes.com. Retrieved 2017-06-08.