Yes, the subject may be vaudeville, but indeed, this is a film somewhat ahead of its time as it details how the absence of parents on their children has an effect on them. It is also the tale of a marriage, a successful career, and an era we will certainly never see again. It is also a lesson about how not to judge someone just because they are old; They may indeed have a past much hotter than yours! "Mother, how could you?" narrator Anne Baxter inquiries as she tells us about the life of the sweet old lady crocheting who at one time could kick up her legs to the delight of the tired businessmen in the audience. Mother is Betty Grable, the pin-up girl, and the young musical comedy star who had the highest insured legs in the business. Having left Oakland for Business College in San Francisco, she got sidetracked by a light opera house (i.e. vaudeville or burlesque hall) and ended up co-starring with the hammy headliner Dan Dailey whom she eventually married. Mother decides to put show business aside when she has children, but when father's partner backs out for a new invention called moving pictures, dad asks that mother return, and her feisty grandmother (Sara Allgood) tells her that she should have been with him all along.
As Myrt and McKinnley, they travel the provinces, and are prepared to spend Christmas away from the family when grandma steps in and sends them the best Christmas of all. Realizing that their children are growing up into young ladies and need proper education, they send them to boarding school, and as the oldest, Iris (Mona Freman), begins to grow into a beautiful young woman with social ambitions, she is slightly embarrassed over her parent's occupation. Myrtle and Bert step in to help their daughter adjust to accepting them and show her that not all entertainers are loud hams who jump in to take over a song when a group of youngsters are singing on a train to entertain themselves.
The first and best of the Dailey/Grable pairings (although Dailey was nominated for an Oscar for playing an alcoholic vaudevillian opposite Grable in the following year's "When My Baby Smiles at Me"), this is more than just another "Alexander's Ragtime Band" or "Tin Pan Alley". It really goes beyond just being an entertainment, exploring the dynamics of family and how they deal with being separated and getting past identity crisis of the teenage years. It is also filled with a glorious song score including "Berlington Bertie From Bow" (repeated by Julie Andrews in "Star!") and songs written directly for the film like "This is My Favorite City", "Bowling Green", "Tra La La La La" and "Kokomo, Indiana". The main theme, "You Do", is heard several times, first as a chorus number, later as a beautiful solo by Grable and finally by Freeman at her high school graduation, and was deservedly nominated for an Oscar.
While Dailey and Grable never became as beloved as Astaire and Rogers, it is apparent that they came too late in the musical game to hold court for longer than a few joint appearances. However, they are glorious together, and unlike Astaire and Rogers are not placed together against type; You really feel they belong together. Allgood gives her good old Welsh charm as Grandmother, while Freeman and Connie Marshall are delightful as the two sisters who as Baxter narrates both loved and hated each other, yet were never not devoted. Veda Ann Borg is very funny as the cynical but wise chorus line pal of Grable's. In smaller roles, William Frawley, Lee Patrick, Maude Eburne and Ruth Nelson also deserve credit in character parts.
This is a highlight for the episodic family get-togethers, particularly the funny and touching Christmas sequence (featuring some very entertaining guests including Senor Wences) and the Berkshire Highlands summer resort scenes. Lotte Stein and Sig Ruman are adorable as the elderly European couple who encounter young Marshall while the family is on that holiday. The ending is touching as it reminds us that as our parents get older, the memory of their youth to them is as fresh as ours is to us.
As Myrt and McKinnley, they travel the provinces, and are prepared to spend Christmas away from the family when grandma steps in and sends them the best Christmas of all. Realizing that their children are growing up into young ladies and need proper education, they send them to boarding school, and as the oldest, Iris (Mona Freman), begins to grow into a beautiful young woman with social ambitions, she is slightly embarrassed over her parent's occupation. Myrtle and Bert step in to help their daughter adjust to accepting them and show her that not all entertainers are loud hams who jump in to take over a song when a group of youngsters are singing on a train to entertain themselves.
The first and best of the Dailey/Grable pairings (although Dailey was nominated for an Oscar for playing an alcoholic vaudevillian opposite Grable in the following year's "When My Baby Smiles at Me"), this is more than just another "Alexander's Ragtime Band" or "Tin Pan Alley". It really goes beyond just being an entertainment, exploring the dynamics of family and how they deal with being separated and getting past identity crisis of the teenage years. It is also filled with a glorious song score including "Berlington Bertie From Bow" (repeated by Julie Andrews in "Star!") and songs written directly for the film like "This is My Favorite City", "Bowling Green", "Tra La La La La" and "Kokomo, Indiana". The main theme, "You Do", is heard several times, first as a chorus number, later as a beautiful solo by Grable and finally by Freeman at her high school graduation, and was deservedly nominated for an Oscar.
While Dailey and Grable never became as beloved as Astaire and Rogers, it is apparent that they came too late in the musical game to hold court for longer than a few joint appearances. However, they are glorious together, and unlike Astaire and Rogers are not placed together against type; You really feel they belong together. Allgood gives her good old Welsh charm as Grandmother, while Freeman and Connie Marshall are delightful as the two sisters who as Baxter narrates both loved and hated each other, yet were never not devoted. Veda Ann Borg is very funny as the cynical but wise chorus line pal of Grable's. In smaller roles, William Frawley, Lee Patrick, Maude Eburne and Ruth Nelson also deserve credit in character parts.
This is a highlight for the episodic family get-togethers, particularly the funny and touching Christmas sequence (featuring some very entertaining guests including Senor Wences) and the Berkshire Highlands summer resort scenes. Lotte Stein and Sig Ruman are adorable as the elderly European couple who encounter young Marshall while the family is on that holiday. The ending is touching as it reminds us that as our parents get older, the memory of their youth to them is as fresh as ours is to us.