So This Is Love (film)

Last updated
So This Is Love
So This Is Love (film).jpg
Directed by Gordon Douglas
Written by John Monks Jr.
Produced by Henry Blanke
Starring Kathryn Grayson
Merv Griffin
Joan Weldon
Walter Abel
Rosemary DeCamp
Jeff Donnell
Cinematography Robert Burks [1]
Edited by Folmar Blangsted
Music by Ray Heindorf
Max Steiner
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • July 29, 1953 (1953-07-29) [2]
Running time
100 or 104 minutes [2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1.75 million (US) [3]

So This Is Love (subtitled The Grace Moore Story [4] ) is a 1953 American musical drama film directed by Gordon Douglas, based on the life of singer Grace Moore. The film stars Kathryn Grayson as Moore, and Merv Griffin. [5] The story chronicles Moore's rise to stardom from 1918 to February 7, 1928 when she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera.

Contents

Plot

Grace Moore (Kathryn Grayson) dreams of being a great opera singer. She starts out singing at a nightclub, where she meets her boyfriend Buddy (Merv Griffin). She takes singing lessons and Buddy pressures her to marry him and move out of the city. Grace, however, cannot give up on her career.

At one point her dreams may be dashed, as poor singing instruction has inflamed her vocal cords. Under the direction of a new, better voice coach, she is told to rest and not speak for three months. She does so, but Buddy Nash marries another woman while Grace is secluded in a cabin.

Upon Grace's return to New York City, she is able to sing again and continues her lessons. She is hired as an understudy in a musical and takes over when the leading lady (Marie Windsor) falls ill. Grace's performance impresses the producers so much that she is made a star on Broadway. Her next boyfriend, Bryan Curtis (Douglas Dick), dates her for two years before insisting they marry, to which Grace agrees.

When Grace auditions for the Metropolitan Opera, she is told that she lacks experience and that her youth, charm and voice are better suited to musical comedies. She wagers Otto Kahn (Roy Gordon), the Manager of Metropolitan Opera, that she will perform there within two years. She quits her musical contract and books passage to Europe in order to get better vocal training. Bryan says he can't compete with her dream and ends their engagement.

Two years later Grace has returned and sings in a starring role at the Metropolitan. She is a success and has finally achieved her dream to be an opera star.

Cast

According to her 1959 autobiography My Story, actress Mary Astor wrote that in late 1952, she had been initially cast by Warner Brothers in So This Is Love (then titled The Grace Moore Story) for the role of Aunt Laura Stokley. Before actual filming began, Astor had even made some camera tests but had to bow out of the film after breaking her leg from a fall in her home. The role went to Rosemary DeCamp. (My Story: An Autobiography by Mary Astor pgs. 219-220 Windham Press)

Release

So This Is Love was the first major film to premiere in Tennessee, Moore's home state. [6]

Soundtrack

So This Is Love
Soundtrack album by
Kathryn Grayson, Merv Griffin, Noreen Corcoran and Max Steiner (uncredited) [7]
Released1953 [8]
Genre Soundtrack
Label MCA

So This Is Love is a jukebox musical. The soundtrack consists of various songs from multiple composers. Songs, such as Remember by Irving Berlin and Pack Up Your Troubles... by Felix Powell and George Henry Powell, were released prior to and not written for the film. [8]

Track listing

  1. Voi, Che Sapete – Kathryn Grayson
  2. Time On My Hands – Kathryn Grayson
  3. The Tickle Toe – Kathryn Grayson
  4. The Kiss Waltz – Kathryn Grayson
  5. Remember – Kathryn Grayson
  6. Oh Me! Oh My! – Kathryn Grayson
  7. I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate – Kathryn Grayson
  8. Ciribiribin – Kathryn Grayson
  9. Ah! Je Ris De Me Voir Si Belle (The Jewel Song) – Kathryn Grayson
  10. Christ The Lord Is Risen Today
  11. I Kiss Your Hand, Madame – Merv Griffin
  12. I'm Just Wild About Harry
  13. In Dat Great Gittin' Up Morning – Noreen Corcoran
  14. Je Veux Vivre (Juliet's Waltz Song) – Kathryn Grayson
  15. Memories
  16. Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile!
  17. Si, Mi Chiamano Mimi (Mimi's Aria) – Kathryn Grayson
  18. So This Is Love [8]

Related Research Articles

<i>One Night of Love</i> 1934 film

One Night of Love is a 1934 American Columbia Pictures romantic musical film set in the opera world, starring Grace Moore and Tullio Carminati. The film was directed by Victor Schertzinger and adapted from the story Don't Fall in Love, by Charles Beahan and Dorothy Speare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Keel</span> American actor and singer (1919–2004)

Harold Clifford Keel, professionally Howard Keel, was an American actor and singer known for his rich bass-baritone singing voice. He starred in a number of MGM musicals in the 1950s and in the television series Dallas from 1981 to 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathryn Grayson</span> American actress (1922–2010)

Kathryn Grayson was an American actress and coloratura soprano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grace Moore</span> American operatic soprano and actress (1898–1947)

Mary Willie Grace Moore was an American operatic lyric soprano and actress in musical theatre and film. She was nicknamed the "Tennessee Nightingale." Her films helped to popularize opera by bringing it to a larger audience. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in One Night of Love.

<i>Interrupted Melody</i> 1955 film by Curtis Bernhardt

Interrupted Melody is a 1955 American musical biopic film starring Eleanor Parker, Glenn Ford, Roger Moore, and Cecil Kellaway. Directed by Curtis Bernhardt, it was filmed in CinemaScope and Eastman Color, and produced for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by Jack Cummings. With a screenplay by Lawrence, Sonya Levien, and William Ludwig, the operatic sequences were staged by Vladimir Rosing, and Eileen Farrell provided the singing voice for Parker. It tells the story of Australian soprano Marjorie Lawrence's rise to fame as an opera singer and her subsequent triumph over polio with her husband's help

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merv Griffin</span> American talk show host (1925–2007)

Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. was an American television show host and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer, later appearing in film and on Broadway. From 1962 to 1986, Griffin hosted his own talk show, The Merv Griffin Show. Griffin also created the game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune through his own production companies, Merv Griffin Enterprises and Merv Griffin Entertainment.

<i>The Desert Song</i> Operetta by Sigmund Romberg

The Desert Song is an operetta with music by Sigmund Romberg and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel. It was inspired by the 1925 uprising of the Riffs, a group of Berber fighters, against French colonial rule in Morocco. It was also inspired by stories of Lawrence of Arabia aiding native guerrillas. Many tales romanticizing Saharan North Africa were in vogue, including Beau Geste and The Son of the Sheik.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miyoshi Umeki</span> Japanese-American actress and singer (1929–2007)

Miyoshi Umeki was a Japanese-American singer and actress. Umeki was nominated for the Tony Award and Golden Globe Award and was the first East Asia-born woman to win an Academy Award for acting.

<i>Ziegfeld Follies</i> (film) 1945 film

Ziegfeld Follies is a 1945 American musical comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, primarily directed by Vincente Minnelli, with segments directed by Lemuel Ayers, Roy Del Ruth, Robert Lewis, and George Sidney, the film's original director before Minnelli took over. Other directors that are claimed to have made uncredited contributions to the film are Merrill Pye, Norman Taurog, and Charles Walters. It stars many MGM leading talents, including Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Lucille Bremer, Fanny Brice, Judy Garland, Kathryn Grayson, Lena Horne, Gene Kelly, James Melton, Victor Moore, William Powell, Red Skelton, and Esther Williams.

<i>That Midnight Kiss</i> 1949 film by Norman Taurog

That Midnight Kiss is a 1949 Technicolor American musical romance film also starring Mario Lanza and Kathryn Grayson. Among the supporting cast were Ethel Barrymore, conductor/pianist Jose Iturbi, Keenan Wynn, J. Carrol Naish, and Jules Munshin. The commercially popular film was directed by Norman Taurog, who the following year would again direct Lanza and Grayson in the even more successful The Toast of New Orleans.

<i>Thousands Cheer</i> 1943 film by George Sidney

Thousands Cheer is a 1943 American musical comedy film directed by George Sidney and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Produced during the Second World War, the film was intended as a morale booster for American troops and their families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvia Syms (singer)</span> American singer (1917–1992)

Sylvia Syms was an American jazz singer.

<i>This Time for Keeps</i> 1947 film by Richard Thorpe

This Time for Keeps is a 1947 American romantic musical film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Esther Williams, Jimmy Durante, Johnnie Johnston and opera singer Lauritz Melchior. Produced by MGM, it is about a soldier, returning home from war, who does not wish to work for his father's opera company or to continue his relationship with his pre-war lover.

So This Is Love may refer to:

<i>Brigadoon</i> (film) 1954 film by Vincente Minnelli

Brigadoon is a 1954 American Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical film made in CinemaScope and color by Ansco based on the 1947 Broadway musical of the same name by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli and stars Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, and Cyd Charisse. Brigadoon has been broadcast on American television and is available in VHS, DVD and Blu-ray formats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doris Day filmography</span>

American actress Doris Day appeared in 39 feature films released between 1948 and 1968. Day began her career as a band singer and eventually won the female lead in the Warner Bros. film Romance on the High Seas (1948), for which she was selected by Michael Curtiz to replace Betty Hutton. She starred in several minor musicals for Warner Bros., including Tea for Two (1950), Lullaby of Broadway (1951), April in Paris (1952), By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953) and the hit musical Calamity Jane, in which she performed the Academy Award-winning song "Secret Love" (1953). She ended her contract with Warner Bros. after filming Young at Heart (1954) with Frank Sinatra.

<i>Show Boat</i> (1951 film) 1951 film by George Sidney, Roger Edens

Show Boat is a 1951 American musical romantic drama film, based on the 1927 stage musical of the same name by Jerome Kern (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II, and the 1926 novel by Edna Ferber. It was made by MGM, adapted for the screen by John Lee Mahin, produced by Arthur Freed and directed by George Sidney.

<i>My One and Only</i> (film) 2009 American film

My One and Only is a 2009 comedy-drama film loosely based on a story about George Hamilton's early life on the road with his mother and brother, featuring anecdotes that Hamilton had told to producer Robert Kosberg and Merv Griffin. Kosberg pitched the idea of this true story to screenwriter Charlie Peters, then Merv Griffin shepherded the project from screenplay to production, until his death in 2007. Merv Griffin's company served as one of the film's producers and Robert Kosberg executive produced.

<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.

<i>Two Sisters from Boston</i> 1946 film by Henry Koster

Two Sisters from Boston is a 1946 American musical-comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring Kathryn Grayson, June Allyson, Lauritz Melchior, Jimmy Durante and Peter Lawford. The film features songs by Sammy Fain and Ralph Freed.

References

  1. "IMDB So This Is Love (1953) Full Credits". IMDb .
  2. 1 2 "TCM So This is Love (1953)".
  3. "The Top Box Office Hits of 1953", Variety (January 13, 1954)
  4. "TCM So This is Love (1953)".
  5. "So This Is Love (1953) – Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast – AllMovie". AllMovie.
  6. "Official Preem Oct. 17, For 'All Way Home'". Variety . September 18, 1963. p. 5. Retrieved February 11, 2024 via Internet Archive.
  7. "IMDB So This Is Love (1953) Full Cast & Crew". IMDb .
  8. 1 2 3 "So This Is Love (1953) Official Soundtrack".