Main Street to Broadway

MGM may have released it, but MAIN STREET TO Broadway plays like one of those student film projects which combine a dime's worth of financing, a brilliant concept and a dazzling cast who nearly surmount a nonexistent script and amateur direction to produce something "those in the know" HAVE to see.

Put together as an ad for Broadway and professional theatre, it is difficult to believe that respected Broadway playwright Robert E. Sherwood actually came up with THIS story. A supposedly promising "new wave" playwright, coming off a failed workshop about the nature of "independence" (no MAN should be tied down to a commitment to a woman - this was 1953 so there wasn't a hint of gay subtext) is persuaded by his eager agent (Agnes Moorehead - well, maybe just a hint of subtext) to write a play to show off Tallulah Bankhead as a normal American housewife, just like his girl's mom. (Well, maybe MORE than just a hint of that subtext.) The play is called CALICO AND LUST.

Most of screenwriter Samuel Raphaelson's script about the process of actually getting a play on has less credibility than the more famous wartime vehicle for shorter stage star cameos, STAGE DOOR CANTEEN, but when the parade of real stars and personalities starts rolling, you forgive it an awful lot.

The opening memorial to the beloved Empire Theatre is from a different film entirely (a documentary), but heart warming.

The mini-thread about the evolution of a Rodgers and Hammerstein song ("There's Music In You"), especially when legitimate musical superstar Mary Martin (just back from the London run of SOUTH PACIFIC) is working on it, rings true. If only the show R&H were *actually* working on at the time, ME AND JULIET, had had another song this good in it - 'though it did have the reworking of Rodgers' "Under The Southern Cross" from VICTORY AT SEA into the hit "No Other Love Have I".

While most of the familiar footage we have of famed director Josh Logan (who had directed SOUTH PACIFIC for R&H on stage and screen) is from this film, it's a pity they couldn't have also gotten their ME AND JULIET director (and Broadway immortal), George Abbott, into the film as well.

We DO get to see at least a glimpse of famed playwright John Van Druten working with the cast of the still running THE KING AND I, which he had directed for Rodgers & Hammerstein a year and a half before, and Tallulah (with all too few films to her credit) has a grand time playing a caricature of herself.

Contrary to most listings, Jack Gilford does NOT play himself (unless he actually was a theatre box office treasurer during the blacklist), but his presence is always a delight - even when miraculously coming up with a $2.40 balcony ticket to the playwright's sold-out opening for the playwright's girl's Hoagy Carmichael-ish Indiana boyfriend.

You may want to crawl into a hole when Gertrude Berg, as the playwright's overly enthusiastic landlady tries to drum up intermission enthusiasm at his floundering opening, but she plays the stereotype against an honest backdrop.

None of the problems of the movie are ascribable to the "plot actors." Although it's hard to find further credits for the playwright (Tom Morton) in either this database OR the Internet Broadway Database, one assumes he may have changed his name - he had all the makings of a strong young leading man just waiting for the right script, like A HATFUL OF RAIN or a Sunday IN NEW YORK. Rosemary DeCamp was already playing the "Mother" parts she specialized in on TV.

Wallow in the things and the personalities which do work, then screen a copy of Woody Allen's BULLETS OVER Broadway for a funnier - and more strangely credible - fiction about getting a play on...and imagine what a GREAT movie MAIN STREET TO Broadway might have been had the creators and their astonishing supporting cast of theatre stars had as much fun with their show as Allen and his company did. Since we can't have THAT film, at least we can have a great double feature blending both guilty and honest pleasure at the movies' version of theatre.

An interesting note- Tom Morton, who plays Tony Monaco in the film, toured in the national company of I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE under the stage name of Tony Monaco. This film is a theatre-lover's delight for so many reasons, my favorite being Tallulah Bankhead yelling at Agnes Moorehead "Aren't they writing plays for nice people like ME ANYMORE?!?!". Other people appearing in the film not listed in the cast or in the other posts include Al Hirschfeld at work on one of his drawings, Regis Toomey as a policeman, Lydia Reed back-stage with Helen Hayes at MRS. McTHING, Constance Carpenter backstage at THE KING AND I, first-nighters Maureen Stapleton, Joan McCracken, Vivian Blaine, Paula Lawrence, Sam Jaffe, Dolly Haas(Mrs. Hirschfeld), Nedda Logan, Dorothy Rodgers, Dorothy Hammerstein, and best of all Estelle Winwood, providing the gem, "Tallulah's got a wonderful heart- only sometimes it pumps the wrong way." Oddly, Henry Fonda is always credited with a cameo, but I don't see him in the VHS print. This may be due to the fact that some changes in personnel and plot happened along the way, probably with the involvement of MGM. Originally, it was to be Henry Fonda and Olivia de Havilland who bail Tony out of jail, not Louis Calhern and Ethel Barrymore. The Faye Emerson radio broadcasts were written to be done by Arthur Godfrey. The Gertrude Berg character was originally named "Mrs. Donatelo", probably to be more Italian than Jewish. The playwright's name was originally Tony Fletcher, not Tony Monaco. Even then-mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri (another first-nighter) was to get into the act with a climactic car chase on the Pulaski Skyway involving himself, Tony and Mrs. Danotelo pursuing Mary and Frank on their way back to Indiana, while in New York, THE PLAY IS A SUCCESS!!! Don't ask.

Slim plot of surly writer and no-talent actress from the sticks falling in love is set against the angst of getting a play produced on Broadway amid a flurry of cameos from theater stars.

The writer (Tom Morton) pressures his agent (Agnes Moorehead) into letting him write a play for Tallulah Bankhead, who's looking for a new play. What he comes up with is "Calico and Lust," which of course is a bomb. Along the way he stalks the girl (Mary Murphy) back to Indiana and inflicts himself on her dopey parents (Clinton Sundberg, Rosemary DeCamp) while he writes. She's also courted by a hardware store owner (Herb Shriner) from Fort Wayne. Back in New York he is mothered by a lonely widow (Gertrude Berg) who works the theater crowds on opening night, hoping to drum up support for his lousy play.

Along the way, a bunch of real stars plays cameos as they opine about "theater" or get involved in the plot. Helen Hayes opens the film and talks about the closing of the Empire Theater, about to be demolished for an office building. Shirley Booth is starring in that theater's last production ("The Time of the Cuckoo") and chats with autograph seekers about winning a Tony Award and such.

Ethel Barrymore and Louis Calhern somehow get involved in the playwright's life (they bail him out of jail) and chat with Lionel Barrymore (in his last screen appearance). Others show up to chat about "theater" or to appear in the opening night crowd scenes.

We see Faye Emerson doing a radio show, Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer walking down the street talking about supper, Mary Martin singing a song whipped up for her by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, Cornel Wilde doing a workshop reading, playwright John Van Druten directing the new play, and Constance Carpenter backstage as the star of "The King and I." Al Hirschfeld is seen drawing caricatures of Bankhead.

Among the opening night attendees are Vivian Blaine, Dolly Haas, Estelle Winwood, Stu Erwin, Elsa Maxwell, Jeffrey Lynn, Maureen Stapleton, Joan McCracken, Peggy Wood, Jessie Royce Landis, and June Collyer. Others with bit parts include Jack Gilford as the ticket seller, Regis Toomey as a cop, Arthur Shields, Florence Bates, Madge Kennedy, Carl Benton Reid, Frank Ferguson, and Lydia Reed.

Mary Murphy had a longish career in films, usually as the "girl-next-door" type in B movies. Her one hit was "The Wild One" with Marlon Brando. Tom Morton made his final major film appearance here but changed his name to Tony Monaco (his character's name) and continued working under both names (mostly in television) thru the late 80s.

But it's Tallulah Bankhead you'll remember from this film. She's hilarious playing herself and seems like quite a good sport caricaturing her own well-known personality.

Main Street to Broadway is an odd little film. Like Stagedoor Canteen or Thousands Cheer, it contains the merest thread of a plot, used primarily to show off everyone on Broadway in the 50s. It is also a bit awkward, with Helen Hayes starting off the festivities introducing the audience to the world of Broadway, while Ethel Barrymore walks through a soon-to-be torn down theatre on Broadway. The storyline is pedestrian; a girl gives up acting to go home to Indiana, a playwright follows her home. Then boy loses girl and goes back to New York to write play. Then girl comes back to boy on the opening night of his play and decides that she loves him, even though his play is a flop. Storyline and performances are pretty weak. What makes this film utterly entrancing are the broadway stars. Talullah Bankhead gives a strong and wickedly funny performance as herself. Rodgers and Hammerstein, not only appear in the film, but Hammerstein sings a song they wrote for the film, "There is Music in You," which is later reprised by Mary Martin on stage. Even then-married Lili Palmer and Rex Harrison appear, supposedly on the street fighting over how to make a sandwich. My favorite part, however, is the main girl's hometown boyfriend, who talks EXACTLY like Billy Bob Thornton in Slingblade. He also has a number of really odd lines that left me scratching my head and trying to figure out where he came from. Broadway to Main Street is very worth seeing, if you get the chance.