Wabash Avenue (film)
Encyclopedia
Wabash Avenue is a 1950
musical
film directed by Henry Koster
and starring Betty Grable
. The film was a remake of Grable's earlier hit 1943 film Coney Island
.
was at the peak of her career. Throughout the 1940's she was the box office queen, with most of her films being among the top ten highest grossing of each year and being 20th Century Fox
's big money makers. Grable was yearning for some originality at this point in her career, but agreed to the idea of remaking her own 1943 film Coney Island
with new songs and dances. Coney Island had been a huge success for Fox, and Wabash Avenue followed with great success as well as being among the highest grossing films of 1950. The public loved Grable and her next film My Blue Heaven
was also among the highest grossing films of that year.
Wabash Avenue also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song
for the number Wilhelmina
1950 in film
The year 1950 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 15 - Walt Disney Studios' animated film Cinderella debuts.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:*Ambush...
musical
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
film directed by Henry Koster
Henry Koster
Henry Koster was born Hermann Kosterlitz in Berlin, Germany. He became a film director and later moved to Hollywood. Koster's father, a salesman, left home when Henry was a young man...
and starring Betty Grable
Betty Grable
Elizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...
. The film was a remake of Grable's earlier hit 1943 film Coney Island
Coney Island (1943 film)
Coney Island is a 1943 American Technicolor musical film released by Twentieth Century Fox and starring Betty Grable in one of her biggest hits. A "gay nineties" musical it also featured George Montgomery, Cesar Romero, and Phil Silvers, was choreographed by Hermes Pan, and was directed by Walter...
.
Plot
Ruby Summers is a burlesque queen in a successful dance hall in 1892 Chicago. The owner of the dance hall Mike has cheated his ex-partner Andy Clark out of a half interest in the business. Andy schemes to potentially ruin Mike and also hopes to make Ruby a classy entertainer, as well as his own girl.Cast
- Betty GrableBetty GrableElizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...
as Ruby Summers - Victor MatureVictor MatureVictor John Mature was an American stage, film and television actor.-Early life:Mature was born in Louisville, Kentucky to an Italian-speaking father from the town Pinzolo, in the Italian part of the former County of Tyrol , Marcello Gelindo Maturi, later Marcellus George Mature, a cutler,...
as Andy Clark - Phil HarrisPhil HarrisHarris and Faye married in 1941; it was a second marriage for both and lasted 54 years, until Harris's death. Harris engaged in a fistfight at the Trocadero nightclub in 1938 with RKO studio mogul Bob Stevens; the cause was reported to be over Faye after Stevens and Faye had ended a romantic...
as Mike Stanley - Reginald GardinerReginald GardinerReginald Gardiner was an English-born actor in film and television and a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in Britain. His parents wanted him to be an architect and he studied at it but he wanted to be an actor and eventually got his way.He started as a super on stage and eventually...
as English Eddie - James Barton as Harrigan
- Barry KelleyBarry KelleyBarry Kelley was an actor on Broadway in the 1930s and '40s and in movies during the 1940s, '50s, and '60s. The heavy-set actor created the role of Ike in Oklahoma! on Broadway....
as Bouncer - Margaret HamiltonMargaret HamiltonMargaret Hamilton was an American film actress known for her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz...
as Tillie Hutch - Jacqueline Dalya as Cleo
- Robin RaymondRobin RaymondRobin Raymond, , sometimes credited as Robyn Raymond, was a film actress. She appeared in over 40 films including Johnny Eager and as a slave girl in Arabian Nights...
as Jennie - Hal K. Dawson as Healy
- Dorothy Neumann as Reformer
- Alexander PopeAlexander PopeAlexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
as Charlie Saxe - Henry KulkyHenry KulkyHenry Kulky was an American actor and former professional wrestler from Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, probably best remembered as Chief Petty Officer Curly Jones from season 1 of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea....
as Joe Barton - Marie Bryant as Elsa
- Collette Lyons as Beulah
- George BerangerGeorge BerangerGeorges Augustus Alexandre Roger de L'ile de Beranger , born George Augustus Beringer, was the seventh child of Adam Beringer and Caroline Mondientz. He was an Australian actor and film director. He played Shakespearean roles at the age of sixteen and left Australia in 1912 and began film work in...
as Wax Museum Attendant
Background
At the time of the release of Wabash Avenue, Betty GrableBetty Grable
Elizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...
was at the peak of her career. Throughout the 1940's she was the box office queen, with most of her films being among the top ten highest grossing of each year and being 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
's big money makers. Grable was yearning for some originality at this point in her career, but agreed to the idea of remaking her own 1943 film Coney Island
Coney Island (1943 film)
Coney Island is a 1943 American Technicolor musical film released by Twentieth Century Fox and starring Betty Grable in one of her biggest hits. A "gay nineties" musical it also featured George Montgomery, Cesar Romero, and Phil Silvers, was choreographed by Hermes Pan, and was directed by Walter...
with new songs and dances. Coney Island had been a huge success for Fox, and Wabash Avenue followed with great success as well as being among the highest grossing films of 1950. The public loved Grable and her next film My Blue Heaven
My Blue Heaven (1950 film)
My Blue Heaven is a 1950 musical film directed by Henry Koster and starring Betty Grable and Dan Dailey.-Plot:Kitty Moran, a radio star finds out she is pregnant however she miscarries...
was also among the highest grossing films of that year.
Wabash Avenue also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song
Academy Award for Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...
for the number Wilhelmina