Small Town Girl

Van's "hippity hop" dance number was done on the MGM back lot, not a sound stage. The movie version has at least 3 cuts, so it wasn't filmed in one long take. Busby Berkeley choreographed the number, with 8,523 hops, on both feet for 3 minutes, TRT. (It's not the same as "Take Me to Broadway" which is danced inside his father's store.

In recent years, the "Jumping Song" performed by Bobby Van has been referenced in commercials and music videos, including one for Goldfrapps song "Happiness", in which a happy man jumps through the streets, shaking hands with people and playing with garbage can lids.

Rick Belrow Livingston (Farley Granger), in love with self-obsessed Broadway star Lisa, (Ann Miller), is sentenced to 30 days in jail for speeding through a small town. Quite by accident, he meets the daughter of the judge, Cindy Kimbell (Jane Powell). He persuades her to let him out for one night, so that he can visit Lisa on the premise he is seeing his "poor sick mother" (Billie Burke) on her birthday. After tracking him down and bringing him back to town, Cindy starts to fall for Livingston, but Dr. Schemmer (S.Z. Sakall) wants her to marry his son (Bobby Van) even though he desperately wants a career on Broadway.

Jane Powell gets to try a role first done by Janet Gaynor in a musical remake of Small Town Girl. Though she has top billing the best numbers in the film are given to Bobby Van and Ann Miller.

Playboy Farley Granger goes whizzing through Jane's small town and interrupts the church service. The cops clock Farley at 85 miles an hour and he's arrested and hauled before Judge Robert Keith. Farley's passenger is fiancé and musical comedy star Ann Miller. They're in a big rush to elope.

As it turns out the Judge is Jane's father and Farley's attitude earns him 30 days in the joint. Jane also has a boyfriend in Bobby Van, the son of the local department store owner, S.Z. Sakall. Of course she takes one look at handsome Farley and she shifts her romantic gears.

The big number that everyone remembers from Small Town Girl is Take Me to Broadway where Bobby Van acts like a human pogo going through the entire town or at least one very big MGM soundstage. The original film had James Stewart in Van's part and was considerably smaller.

Robert Taylor was in Farley Granger's part and wasn't quite as haughty or arrogant as Granger plays it here. Yet in both cases you can see why the small town girl thought Prince Charming arrived.

Small Town Girl is not the best MGM musical done, nor is it the best of Jane Powell's films for MGM. But it's entertaining enough.

It's just too bad more people didn't appreciate Bobby Van when he was around. I've never seen him before, but I certainly will remember his energy and incredible footwork. Where are they now? 50 years seemed to have taken away the fun of making a entertaining musical. Watching rappers and boy bands has diminished our appreciation of what dance was all about. Donald OConnor, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Danny Kaye all had desire that is lacking in movies now. Perhaps the cycle will return and will get away from Gangsta rappers and back to a style of entertainment that celebrated life rather than threaten it. Great work Bobby... Too bad I missed you. ......Wayne

Does anyone know any behind the scenes info about the dance number "Take Me to Broadway" as performed by Bobby Van in this movie? It is comprised of several minutes of hopping. For example, did he do it in one take? Did he have to have special shoes that had major cushioning inside? Whose idea was it to have him perform a dance that consisted only of hopping? As someone who has suffered from shin splints, I think this choreography would make him a prime candidate for that or some other kind of injury as a result of this dance. Did he do special warm-ups? This just struck me as I watching the film on May 21, TCM channel. Some people will think it odd to focus on this, when the major dance number is Ann Miller's, but I just got to thinking . . .

Small Town Girl is cute, fluffy and moderately entertaining. It tells the story of a handsome rich young man (Farley Granger) and the titular daughter of the small town judge who sentences him to 30 days in jail for speeding. Antics ensue.

There is much singing and dancing and Bobby Van has a long scene where he hops through town -- even with two or three cuts, it's still a whole lot of hopping!

What made me sit up and take notice, though, was Nat "King" Cole's number, set in a New York nightclub. It makes the film definitely worth watching, even worth buying.