''When My Baby Smiles at Me'' is a 1948 musical film directed by

Walter Lang Walter Lang (August 10, 1896 – February 7, 1972) was an American film director. Early life Walter Lang was born in Tennessee. As a young man he went to New York City where he found clerical work at a film production company. The business piq ...

and starring

Betty Grable Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer. Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million; for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she reign ...

and

Dan Dailey Daniel James Dailey Jr. (December 14, 1915 – October 16, 1978) was an American dancer and actor. He is best remembered for a series of popular musicals he made at 20th Century Fox such as '' Mother Wore Tights'' (1947). Biography Early life D ...

. Released by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

, it is the third film based on the popular 1927 Broadway play '' Burlesque'', the others being ''

The Dance of Life ''The Dance of Life'' is a 1929 American pre-Code musical film. It is the first of three film adaptations of the popular 1927 Broadway play ''Burlesque'', with the others being '' Swing High, Swing Low'' (1937) and '' When My Baby Smiles at Me ...

'' (1929) and '' Swing High, Swing Low'' (1937). ''When My Baby Smiles at Me'' is the first (and to date, the only) full

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

film version of that play; ''The Dance of Life'' had several Technicolor sequences, but they are no longer extant. Dan Dailey received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance, but lost to Laurence Olivier for ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

''.

Plot

Bonny Kane and "Skid" Johnson are vaudeville performers in the 1920s. The two of them suffer marital difficulties when Skid gets an offer to appear on Broadway, while Bonny gets left behind on the road. Things get worse with Skid's increasing drinking problem, and the fact that the press has reported him to be spending a lot of time with his pretty co-star.

Cast

as Bonny Kane *

as "Skid" Johnson *

Jack Oakie Jack Oakie (born Lewis Delaney Offield; November 12, 1903 – January 23, 1978) was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television. He portrayed Napaloni in Chaplin's ''The Great Dictator'' (194 ...

as Bozo Evans *

June Havoc June Havoc (born Ellen Evangeline Hovick; November 8, 1912 – March 28, 2010) was a Canadian American actress, dancer, stage director and memoirist. Havoc was a child vaudeville performer under the tutelage of her mother Rose Thompson Hovick, ...

as Gussie Evans *

Richard Arlen Richard Arlen (born Sylvanus Richard Mattimore, September 1, 1899 – March 28, 1976) was an American actor of film and television. Biography Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Arlen attended the University of Pennsylvania. He served in Canada as a ...

as Harvey Howell *

James Gleason James Austin Gleason (May 23, 1882 – April 12, 1959) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter born in New York City. Gleason often portrayed "tough-talking, world-weary guys with a secret heart-of-gold." Life and career Gleason w ...

as Lefty Moore

Background

''When My Baby Smiles at Me'' was

's highest grossing film of 1948. Grable had been reigning the box office since the beginning of the 1940s, and scored her biggest triumph with ''

Mother Wore Tights ''Mother Wore Tights'' is a 1947 Technicolor musical film starring Betty Grable and Dan Dailey as married vaudeville performers, directed by Walter Lang. This was Grable and Dailey's first film together, based on a book of the same name by Mir ...

'' the previous year. Dailey received an Academy Award nomination for his performance in this film, while Grable did not. In fact many thought she should have at least received an Oscar nomination for ''Mother Wore Tights''.

Adaptations

''When My Baby Smiles at Me'' was presented on ''

Screen Directors Playhouse ''Screen Directors Playhouse'' (sometimes written as ''Screen Directors' Playhouse'') is an American radio and television anthology series which brought leading Hollywood actors to the NBC microphones beginning in 1949. The radio program broadcas ...

'' May 5, 1950, with Grable reprising her role from the motion picture. The film was parodied as "When My Baby Laughs at Me", on The Carol Burnett Show (1975 - Episode 8.18), with Carol as "Bunny" (Bonnie),

Rock Hudson Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer Jr.; November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985) was an American actor. One of the most popular movie stars of his time, he had a screen career spanning more than three decades. A prominent heartthrob in the Golde ...

as "Skip" (Skid), and Vickie Lawrence as "Gussie". It was also referenced in commercials for Peter Paul's No Jelly candy bar (1972).

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:When My Baby Smiles At Me (Film) 1948 films 1948 musical films 20th Century Fox films Films directed by Walter Lang Films scored by Alfred Newman Films with screenplays by Lamar Trotti American musical films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films