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42nd Street is the backstage, putting-on-a-show musical par excellence,
and part of it's due to the choreography of Berkeley. With Dick
Powell, Ruby Keeler, Bebe Daniels and more it is a delight to see.
It even includes one tune by Harren Warren that is such a stinker
it is thrown out of the show. A delight to view it contains many
popular songs of the time and best of all it has the age old - leading
lady breaks her ankle and the Ingénues gets her big break
plot.
Here the stage director gives
her a pep talk before she goes on.
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Partly as a sequel to the overwhelmingly successful 42nd Street
this was the first of four Gold Diggers films. Starring Powell,
Keeler, Joan Blondell, Ginger Rogers, and Una Merkel to name a few
it was also a success.
Down and out Broadway hoofers are desperate to find work and here
of a show being cast on Broadway. Even the dearest of friends in
the Depression could not have done anything to get the job. The
girls begin to date the shows patrons as a way to get money, but
of course love prevails, everyone gets a job and the show is a tremendous
hit. At left is Berkeley's opening number "We're in the Money"
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