Wabash Avenue (1950)

Director:

Henry Koster

Writers:

Charles Lederer (screenplay)
Charles Lederer (story)

Release Date:

24 May 1950 (Sweden)

Genre:

Musical

Plot:

Andy Clark discovers he was cheated out of a half interest in partner Mike's business, now a thriving dance hall in 1892 Chicago...

Plot Keywords:

Remake | Beautiful Woman | World's Fair | Wax Museum | Ferris Wheel

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Betty Grable	...	Ruby Summers
Victor Mature	...	Andy Clark
Phil Harris	...	Mike Stanley
Reginald Gardiner	...	English Eddie
James Barton	...	Harrigan
Barry Kelley	...	Bouncer
Margaret Hamilton	...	Tillie Hutch
Jacqueline Dalya	...	Cleo
Robin Raymond	...	Jennie
Hal K. Dawson	...	Healy
Dorothy Neumann	...	Reformer
Alexander Pope	...	Charlie Saxe
Henry Kulky	...	Joe Barton
Marie Bryant	...	Elsa
Collette Lyons	...	Beulah

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | West Germany:16 (nf) | Sweden:15

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

By declining to play Ruby Summers, Alice Faye passed up appearing on screen with her husband and then-radio co-star, Phil Harris.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Ruby sings and dances "The Shimmy" (composed in 1917) before attending the Chicago World's Fair of 1893.

Quotes:

Ruby Summers: Why, you overgrown, dime-a-dozen wiseacre pig-puss! Who made your clothes? Or did you grow 'em yourself?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Biography: Betty Grable: Behind the Pin-up" (1995)

Soundtrack:

I'VE BEEN FLOATING DOWN THE OLD GREEN RIVER

Smart, funny dialogue and songs...but the casting works against the plot

Remake of 1943's "Coney Island" (both starring Betty Grable!) has Victor Mature (in suits and straw hats) playing a hustler-showman conning old acquaintance Phil Harris into going in business together in 1890s Chicago. Seems nightclub owner Harris has scuffled with a rowdy drunk and believes he's killed him; Mature holds this over his head and steals his girl in the process! Screenwriter Charles Lederer has penned a great deal of smart, sassy patter (broken up every now and again by cute musical numbers), but he fumbles what little plot there is. Lederer also isn't helped by the casting: Phil Harris seems like such a genuinely nice guy (with a big, gregarious smile) that Mature comes off a bit cold-hearted by contrast (he's not the dashing romantic intended). Grable is very lively on stage and funny in a catfight scene with a showgirl; she keeps a heated temper throughout and gives the movie a good goosing. Also funny is Margaret Hamilton in small role as a crusader for decency (no one displays comic indignation better than Hamilton). Fox production values a bit low, although the trick photography during a ferris wheel sequence is well done and Harris has a funny bit there inadvertently proposing to a sailor. ** from ****