Week Thirty-Five: On the Town (1949)

Director: Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly

Producer: Arthur Freed and Roger Edens

Writer: Adolph Green and Betty Comden

Cinematography: Harold Rosson

Music: Leonard Bernstein, Roger Edens, Lennie Hayton, Adolph Green, Betty Comden, and Conrad Salinger

Choreography: Gene Kelly

Studio: MGM

Starring: Gene Kelly (Gabey), Frank Sinatra (Chip), Betty Garrett (Hildy Esterhazy), Ann Miller (Claire Huddesen), Jules Munshin (Ozzie), Vera-Ellen (Ivy Smith), Florence Bates (Madame Dilyovska), Alice Pearce (Lucy Shmeeler)

Before You Watch the Movie
(First make sure you have read the introduction to this series)

During the first two decades or so of sound films, Hollywood's relationship between the Broadway musical and its Hollywood counterpart was entirely in the eye of the beholder. Hollywood saw Broadway as a testing ground for new talent and material: success on Broadway meant that maybe – maybe – there was a chance for that to translate to the big screen. On the other hand, devotees of the Great White Way saw the stage as the peak of artistic performance; Hollywood was a step-down, entertainment mass produced for the lowest common denominator audience. Many of Broadway’s most talented actors, producers, directors, writers, composers, and behind-the-scenes workers made the movies. Additionally, Broadway was often the cutting edge of musical developments, while Hollywood lagged behind and only picked up what was most successful. Throughout the thirties and forties, it was mostly stage plays that were adapted into film with only a very few notable musicals – such as The Gay Divorcee (1934), Show Boat (1936), and Cabin in the Sky (1943) – making the transition.

It is fitting then, that MGM’s adaptation of the 1944 Broadway hit On the Town closed out the decade and set the stage for the predominant trend in Hollywood musicals for the next twenty-ish years. Though it is impossible to know whether On the Town was really the catalyst or not, the massive success of the film is conveniently tied chronologically to the boom of Broadway adaptations. In the fifties alone, Annie Get Your Gun (1950), Show Boat (1951), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Kiss Me Kate (1953), Brigadoon (1954), Guys and Dolls (1955), Kismet (1955), Oklahoma! (1955), Carousel (1956), The King and I (1956), Pal Joey (1957), Damn Yankees (1958), and South Pacific (1958) were all adapted from Broadway to the big screen. To say nothing of the sixties, featuring adapted works West Side Story (1961), The Music Man (1962), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), My Fair Lady (1964), The Sound of Music (1965), Camelot (1967), Funny Girl (1968), Oliver! (1968), Hello Dolly! (1969). This explosion can at least partially be contributed to the growth of musical theater from paper-thin stories with mostly unrelated music to a full-fledged experience in which all parts of the production serve a fleshed-out story. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II – who wrote many of the films listed above – were at the head of this movement to revolutionize the musical into something more mature and lasting.  

Before all that though, producer Arthur Freed and his super-team at MGM released On the Town, an attempt to rekindle the success of a previous Gene Kelly/Frank Sinatra/sailor musical comedy Anchors Aweigh (1945). Shot in now-ubiquitous MGM Technicolor, On the Town is also notable for its use of real-life New York City locations, though the vast majority of the film was still made in the studio.

On the Town features the famous MGM Technicolor. Here, a pop of green ensures that the eye is drawn to the important character.

Luckily, the girls all decided to wear different colors in the same tone.

The Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty, and Rockefeller Center.

On the Town has another thing going for it, a portion of the music used in the film was composed by Leonard Bernstein, one of most talented composers of both film and stage music. Bernstein’s music in the film stands out because it has much more symphonic, deep sound as a result of being symphonic rather than big band-style, which was the common mode of musical numbers at that time.

Notably, On the Town contains a time element that compresses the action: the three sailors only have a twenty-four-hour pass, which means each one must meet his girl, fall in love, and have adventures together. Most movies have some sort of a countdown clock – X time until Y happens, that sort of thing – but On the Town plays it up by having a digital clock appear to let us know how much time is left. By putting such a rigid and set amount of time, it ups the emotional stakes.

After You Watch the Movie (Spoilers Below)

The music in the Broadway version of On the Town was entirely written by Bernstein, but during the course of the movie, several of his songs were removed and new songs – “Prehistoric Man,” “Main Street,” “You’re Awful,” “On the Town,” “Count on Me” – were added. Though this obviously miffed Bernstein, in a roundabout way it solved the problem that most film adaptations of Broadway productions have. Broadway musicals are events, often you have to wait to get tickets and pay far more to get them than you would to see a movie. You dress up to go to Broadway, no one cares what you wear to the movie theater. Therefore, in that setting two-and-half to three-plus hours of content is totally acceptable and works perfectly well. On the screen, however, that length of runtime must justify itself or else it feels ponderous. As Broadway musicals became more popular as adaptations, the length of the movie adjusted accordingly with features routinely running two-and-a-half hours and some such as the interminable The Sound of Music pushing three hours. Studios in the fifties were all about giving television obsessed audiences a reason to leave their couch and go to the movies, so that certainly played a role, but the main problem was that filmmakers were unwilling to cut anything out of the original works, even if they were unnecessary, didn’t fit on the screen as well, or made the movie so long you needed to shave after it was over. It is up to the individual to judge whether the changes made to On the Town were good or bad, by streamlining the film with more snappy, movie-tailored musical numbers, the movie has a crispness that stands in direct contrast to the molasses-covered-sloth pace of most Broadway film adaptations. The Broadway musical and the Hollywood musical are two very different things and should be treated as such. True, die-hard fans of the original material might be disappointed but movies are supposed to be cinematic and that means more than just visuals, but also pace and structure.

Despite being a Broadway adaptation, this approach to On the Town gives the film more in common with MGM’s original fifties musicals – which are for the most part great – than it does with other adaptations. With On the Town MGM perfected their formula of the movie musical: big stars, great music, eye-popping Technicolor, a variety of great dancing, and a funny romantic comedy story. The stars in On the Town are undeniable – all six leads manage to have distinct personalities and standout moments – as are the music and photography. The dances are worth a closer look because they are emblematic of the MGM style of musical number. 

Each of the six main characters has their own unique attributes both as performers and characters.

Overall, MGM’s musical numbers take place in either mundane locations – a Taxi cab for “Come Up to My Place” – or places that can be exploited for the sake of the musical number – the museum full of pre-historic artifacts for “Prehistoric Man” – but are far from the glamorous locals of the Astaire/Rogers RKO films or the Broadway stage of Warner Bros. Busby Berkeley musicals. 

Seemingly everyday locals are used to enhance the musical number.

"Baby You Knock Me Out" from It's Always Fair Weather (1955)

"Good Morning" from Singin' in the Rain (1952)

"Singin' in the Rain" from Singin' in the Rain

By adding a gimmick like this, there is both humor and visual element added to the number. “Prehistoric Man” would still be a good, funny song if danced on an empty soundstage, but the addition of props makes it just that much more entertaining, ditto for the break-slams of “Come Up to My Place,” mirroring Chip slamming on the breaks of his romance with Hildy.

The museum setting of "Prehistoric Man" provides ample props.

"Drum Crazy" from Easter Parade (1948)

"Moses Supposes" from Singin' in the Rain

"Shine on Your Shoes" from The Band Wagon (1953)

Similarly to how Astaire and Rogers had at least one romantic dance number per picture, MGM would add one as well where the leads would fall in love. They usually ranged on the cuter/flirtier side (like “Main Street” does here) but could – usually when Fred Astaire was involved – evoke the serious romantic drama of a “Cheek to Cheek” at times. As with those RKO pictures, this sells the story more than dialogue ever could, it is one thing for characters to say they love each other, quite another to hold each other, sing, and dance together.

"Main Street": A sweetly romantic dance shared between the male and female leads.

"You, Wonderful You" from Summer Stock (1950)

"You Were Meant for Me" from Singin' in the Rain 

"Dancing in the Dark" from The Band Wagon 

MGM would also usually insert a straight comedic dance number – the most famous example of this being “Make ‘Em Laugh” from Singin’ in the Rain (1952) – and On the Town is no exception, with “Count On Me.”

"Count on Me": A broadly comedic number with visual and lyrical humor

"Make 'Em Laugh" from Singin' in the Rain

"Triplets" from The Band Wagon

As we saw with The Red Shoes, ballet had steadily been growing as an artistic element in film and MGM was on the trend. The “Miss Turnstiles Ballet” and “A Day in New York” numbers are performed on sparsely decorated, dream-like sets that are built by Gabey’s imagination. This style of dream dance is most famously used in during the epic ballet finale of An American in Paris (1951) but can also be seen in Yolanda and the Thief (1945), The Pirate (1948), Ziegfeld Follies (1945), and Lili (1953) while a variation of this, the “story within a story” would soon be seen again in Singin’ in the Rain and The Band Wagon (1953).

"Miss Turnstiles Ballet" and "A Day in New York": dreamlike numbers that take place in the imagination of a character

"Pirate Ballet" from The Pirate (1948)

"Limehouse Blues" from Ziegfeld Follies (1945)

"Second Dream" from Lili (1953)

A variation, stories within songs ala "42nd Street": "Broadway Melody" from Singin' in the Rain

"Girl Hunt Ballet" from The Band Wagon

The film’s standout dance is the film’s title number, a rare six-person dance that never feels cluttered. The average dance in a musical number – non-Busby Berkeley spectacle category – has three or at most four main participants but “On the Town” manages to make six work by really only having two dancers. That is to say, the six are broken into two groups, each group dances the same, interplaying with the other group or all dancing together as if it were just the two dancers. This way, by limiting the choreography, it becomes less cluttered than you would expect six dancers to be while also having fewer characters standing around while one or two dance.

Two groups, each moving as one.

Like the great musicals of the thirties, these top tier MGM musicals excelled despite the repetitive formulas because of the sheer amount of talent both in front of and behind the camera. MGM boasted easily the most musical stars in Hollywood and had a crack team of creative minds that gave them great songs to sing and dance, funny screenplays to act in, and photographed it all in Technicolor (later Eastmancolor) glory. The fifties were the heyday of the MGM musical: in the decade they would produce some of the most famous musicals of all time and provide a much-needed counterpoint to the endless parade of bloated Broadway adaptations that would litter the decade.

See Also

It’s Always Fair Weather (1955) dir. Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen

One of the more underrated musicals of the era, It’s Always Fair Weather combines the expected great musical numbers with a satirical story with more depth that you would expect from an MGM musical not named Meet Me in St. Louis.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) dir. Stanley Donen

An excellent all-around musical that really soars during the energetic, athletic dance numbers choreographed by Michael Kidd (who also starred in It’s Always Fair Weather.) An example of MGM changing up the formula a bit by using an unorthodox setting to create a whole host of musical and story potentials.

Small Town Girl (1953) dir. László Kardos

MGM’s B-team could still turn out entertaining work, this time with the help of Ann Miller and choreography by the one and only Busby Berkeley, who could still create a show-stopping musical number.

Guys and Dolls (1955) dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz

A prime example of a fifties Broadway adaptation that could be better with a little adaptation to cinema. The musical play Guys and Dolls is a classic and the film has it’s moments and has some big stars, but at two-and-a-half hours you’ll find yourself wanting to skip to the musical numbers.

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