Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Richard Whorf
(more)

Writers:

Guy Bolton (story)
George Wells (story)
(more)

Release Date:

3 January 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Musical

Tagline:

The mammoth musical of Jerome Kern's dramatic life story!

Plot:

Light bio-pic of American Broadway pioneer Jerome Kern, featuring renditions of the famous songs from his musical plays by contemporary stage artists...

Plot Keywords:

Stage | Composition | Music Arranger | Singing | Title Based On Song

US TV Schedule:

Wed. July 8

8:00 AM

TCM

Cast

June Allyson	...	Jane Witherspoon (in "Leave it to Jane" / "Oh Boy")
Lucille Bremer	...	Sally Hessler
Judy Garland	...	Marilyn Miller
Kathryn Grayson	...	Magnolia Hawks (in "Show Boat" / "Finale Specialty")
Van Heflin	...	James I. Hessler
Lena Horne	...	Julie LaVerne (in "Show Boat" / "Specialty")
Van Johnson	...	Bandleader in Elite Club
Tony Martin	...	Gaylord Ravenal (in "Show Boat" / "Finale Specialty")
Dinah Shore	...	Herself / Specialty (in "The Girl from Utah")
Frank Sinatra	...	(in "Finale Specialty")
Robert Walker	...	Jerome Kern
Gower Champion	...	Dance Specialty (in "Roberta")
Cyd Charisse	...	Dance Specialty in 'Roberta'
Harry Hayden	...	Charles Frohman
Paul Langton	...	Oscar Hammerstein II
Angela Lansbury	...	London Specialty
Paul Maxey	...	Victor Herbert
Ray McDonald	...	Specialty (in "Oh Boy" / "Leave it to Jane")
Mary Nash	...	Mrs. Muller
Virginia O'Brien	...	Ellie May Shipley (in "Show Boat" / "Finale Specialty")
Dorothy Patrick	...	Eva Kern
Caleb Peterson	...	Joe in 'Show Boat'
William 'Bill' Phillips	...	Joe Hennessey, Taxi Driver (as Wm. 'Bill' Phillips)
Joan Wells	...	Sally Hessler as a girl
Lyn Wilde	...	Specialty (in "The Cat and the Fiddle") (as The Wilde Twins)
Lee Wilde	...	Specialty (in "The Cat and the Fiddle") (as The Wilde Twins)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Johnny Johnston	...	Specialty (scenes deleted)
John Alban	...	Stage Door Johnny (uncredited)
John Albright	...	Call Boy (uncredited)
Jean Andren	...	Secretary (uncredited)
Stanley Andrews	...	Doctor (uncredited)
Gloria Joy Arden	...	Showgirl (uncredited)
Lee Bennett	...	Stage Door Johnny (uncredited)
Margaret Bert	...	Maid (uncredited)
Charles Bradstreet	...	Stage Door Johnny (uncredited)
Linda Brent	...	Showgirl (uncredited)
Arnaut Brothers	...	Bird Act (uncredited)
Alma Carroll	...	Showgirl (uncredited)
Lucille Casey	...	Showgirl (uncredited)
Ann Codee	...	Miss Larouche (uncredited)
Bruce Cowling	...	Steve Baker (in "Show Boat") (uncredited)
James Darrell	...	Critic (uncredited)
Harry Denny	...	Stage Door Johnny (uncredited)
Elspeth Dudgeon	...	Katie, Eva's Maid (uncredited)
Ralph Dunn	...	Moving Man (uncredited)
Dick Earle	...	Critic (uncredited)
Ed Elby	...	Critic (uncredited)
Rex Evans	...	Cecil Keller (uncredited)
James Finlayson	...	Candy Vendor (uncredited)
Bess Flowers	...	Backstage Well-Wisher (uncredited)
Sally Forrest	...	Showgirl (uncredited)
William Forrest	...	Motion Picture Director (uncredited)
Byron Foulger	...	Frohman's Secretary (uncredited)
Mary Jane French	...	Showgirl (uncredited)
Herschel Graham	...	Critic (uncredited)
James Grey	...	Bull Clown (uncredited)
Charles Griffin	...	Critic (uncredited)
William Halligan	...	Cap'n Andy Hawks (in "Show Boat") (uncredited)
Mary Hatcher	...	Showgirl (uncredited)
Russell Hicks	...	Producer (uncredited)
Stuart Holmes	...	Man waiting in Frohman's Office (uncredited)
Reed Howes	...	Critic (uncredited)
Fred Hueston	...	Critic (uncredited)
Lilyan Irene	...	Barmaid (uncredited)
Maurice Kelly	...	Dance Specialty (uncredited)
Thomas Louden	...	Rural Postman (uncredited)
Charles Madrin	...	Critic (uncredited)
Mickey Malloy	...	Showgirl (uncredited)
Louis Manley	...	Swivel Chair Lady (uncredited)
Matt Mattox	...	Dance Specialty (uncredited)
Frank McClure	...	Stage Door Johnny (uncredited)
Beryl McCutcheon	...	Showgirl (uncredited)
Bob McLean	...	Stage Door Johnny (uncredited)
Leonard Mellen	...	Critic (uncredited)
Tony Merlo	...	Critic (uncredited)
Howard M. Mitchell	...	Private Detective (uncredited)
Bert Moorhouse	...	Diner at the Elite Club (uncredited)
George Murray	...	Stage Door Johnny (uncredited)
Hazard Newsberry	...	Critic (uncredited)
Robert Emmett O'Connor	...	Ed, the Clerk (uncredited)
George Peters	...	Stage Door Johnny (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Moving Man (uncredited)
James Plato	...	Critic (uncredited)
'Snub' Pollard	...	Orchestra Drummer (song "Old Man River") (uncredited)
Lee Smith	...	Critic (uncredited)
Larry Steers	...	Critic (uncredited)
Tom Stevenson	...	Man with Parasol idea (uncredited)
Ray Teal	...	Movie Studio Orchestra Conductor (uncredited)
Irene Vernon	...	Showgirl (uncredited)
Alice Wallace	...	Showgirl (uncredited)
Don Wayson	...	Private Detective (uncredited)
Esther Williams	...	Herself (uncredited)
Larry Williams	...	Critic (uncredited)
Douglas Wright	...	Bull Clown (uncredited)

Directed by
Richard Whorf
Vincente Minnelli		(Judy Garland numbers) (uncredited)
George Sidney		(Hollywood finale sequence) (uncredited)

Writing credits
Guy Bolton		(story)
George Wells		(story adaptation)
Myles Connolly		(writer) &
Jean Holloway		(writer)

Produced by
Arthur Freed	....	producer

Cinematography by
George J. Folsey		(director of photography)
Harry Stradling Sr.		(director of photography) (as Harry Stradling)

Film Editing by
Albert Akst

Art Direction by
Daniel B. Cathcart
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
Edwin B. Willis

Costume Design by
Helen Rose
Valles		(costumes: men)

Makeup Department
Jack Dawn	....	makeup designer
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair designer

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Carl 'Major' Roup	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Wallace Worsley Jr.	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Richard Pefferle	....	associate set decorator

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director

Special Effects by
Warren Newcombe	....	special effects

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Irene	....	costume supervisor

Editorial Department
Peter Ballbusch	....	montage

Music Department
Robert Alton	....	direction and staging of musical numbers
Lennie Hayton	....	musical director
Conrad Salinger	....	orchestrator
Kay Thompson	....	music arranger: vocal arrangements
Roger Edens	....	composer: incidental music (uncredited)
Lennie Hayton	....	composer: incidental music (uncredited)
Conrad Salinger	....	composer: incidental music (uncredited)

Other crew
Henri Jaffa	....	associate technicolor color director
Natalie Kalmus	....	technicolor color director
Vincente Minnelli	....	director: Judy Garland's numbers

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1946) (USA) (theatrical)
• Madacy Entertainment (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• Take 2 Video (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• Master Movies (1997) (USA) (DVD)
• Madacy Entertainment (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Madacy Entertainment (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• BFS Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Brentwood Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004) (worldwide) (VHS)
• Digiview Productions (2004) (worldwide) (DVD)
• Mill Creek Entertainment (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Passport Video (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

132 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG (TV rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (2005) | UK:U (original rating) (1947-2005) | Canada:G (Ontario) | Australia:G | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #11781)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - 301 N. Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Having become popular as a nightclub songstress, Angela Lansbury's singing voice had been bypassed in her two previous MGM films - dubbed by Virginia Reece in The Harvey Girls (1946), a sprightly Technicolor musical with Angela scampering through "Oh You Kid" (music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Johnny Mercer); and dubbed by Doreen Tryden in The Hoodlum Saint (1946), a downbeat drama which featured two vocalized evergreens: "If I Had You" (music and lyrics by Ted Shapiro, Jimmy Campbell and Reginald Connelly) plus 'How Am I to Know?" (music by Jack King, lyrics by Dorothy Parker). At Miss Lansbury's insistence, producer Arthur Freed, who already had overseen The Harvey Girls (1946), allowed her, in this Jerome Kern biopic, to use her own singing voice in the jaunty, set-on-swings production number, "How'd You Like to Spoon with Me?" (lyrics by Edward Laska).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Kern goes to see Sally at Club Elite in Memphis, he hasn't written Show Boat yet. Therefore, it would be before 1927. However, the song she performs with Van Johnson, "I Won't Dance", wasn't written by Kern until 1935.

Quotes:

Victor Herbert: [congratulating Jerome Kern on his composing ability] My boy, you've got a song to sing.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Biography: Angela Lansbury: A Balancing Act" (1998)

Soundtrack:

Look for the Silver Lining

Fictional Biography of Jerome Kern

Back in the day when Hollywood was doing biographical pictures of some of our most famous popular composers, it was generally acknowledged that they were nothing more than an excuse to string musical numbers together. Till the Clouds Roll By is the best example of that tradition.

Jerome Kern wrote some of the best music ever heard in the world. But he was a pretty dull fellow in real life. He married the love of his life, had one daughter and was never linked with any of the famous stars he wrote for.

He actually did have two incidents in real life that would have made great screen drama. He had a heart attack that almost took him in 1938 where he was actually dead for several minutes. Kern always claimed after that any music he did write was due to heavenly intervention.

When he did die in 1945, he collapsed on the street near Carnegie Hall in late 1945. He was back in New York after several years in Hollywood to negotiate with Rodgers&Hammerstein who were going to produce a musical about Annie Oakley. Of course we know who got that assignment eventually.

His wallet must have fallen from his pocket and gotten lifted because Kern remained unidentified for a few days and was in a charity ward at a NYC hospital when he died. Kern in fact died while production plans were being made for Till the Clouds Roll By. Still those two true incidents would have made great cinema.

The film opens with a montage of melodies from Show Boat, his greatest musical success. In fact that whole sequence could have been released as a short subject. The rest of the film is Kern in taxi giving a fictional flashback of his life up to Show Boat which premiered in 1927. We fast forward through the next several years when in fact he wrote his best music for stage and then the screen. And there is a musical finale.

Curiously enough MGM had two guys on their lot at the time who actually had sung Kern songs on the screen, Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, and neither of them got in this film. Kathryn Grayson later did full adaptations of Show Boat and Roberta, but hadn't sung anything of Kern's up to that point. The only one in the cast actually performing a song he actually was identified with was Tony Martin. He sang Make Believe with Grayson during the Show Boat sequence, but also had made a hit record of one of Kern's best songs All the Things You Are which came out in 1939. Martin sang it beautifully during the finale.

You certainly can't complain about the vocalizing here though. With such additional folks as Lena Horne, Van Johnson, June Allyson, and Judy Garland contributing their talents who could complain.

Caleb Peterson who is a black baritone sang Ol Man River in the Show Boat sequence. During the finale, it's sung by Frank Sinatra. Sinatra sings it great, but given the song's identification with Paul Robeson it should have been done by him. Of course Mr. Robeson was having blacklist problems then. Still and all the white suited Sinatra was out of place to say the least.

If you're a fan of Jerome Kern as I am, just put the plot out of your head. Sit back and listen to the music.