Lullaby of Broadway (1951) User Reviews (28)

It's Still Got That Hi Dee Hi And Boop A Doo

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 9 April 2010]

In a different perspective of the plot for Lady For A Day, Warner Brothers gave Doris Day one of her best musical films in Lullaby Of Broadway. They even tributed Busby Berkeley somewhat in the finale number.

The story involves Doris as a young performer who has spent her childhood in the United Kingdom with money sent to her by her mother who she believes is a famous Broadway star. That's in the past tense unfortunately mom who is played by Gladys George now sings in a cheap cabaret in the seamier parts of Greenwich Village.

But Doris is such a good kid that everyone tries to keep the illusion going from former vaudeville colleagues Billy DeWolfe and Anne Triola to S.Z. Sakall whom they now work for as butler and maid. She even gets involved with rising new Broadway performer Gene Nelson. But she also innocently almost breaks up S.Z. Sakall's marriage to Florence Bates. Now there's a couple to contemplate about.

In her memoirs Doris Day said that S.Z. Sakall in real life was the same lovable uncle type that he played so well in films. And yes no one could resist pinching those cheeks either.

Gene Nelson sad to say came along just a half generation too late to become a major film star. He had the moves and he had the talent, possibly he was not a creative individual in the way that Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly was. I think he was in their league as a performer and he'd be as known as they are today if he had that creative talent that they did which is why they've become the legends they are. Maybe Nelson never got the chance they did. Anyway this was his only lead in a major motion picture and it didn't make him a star because musicals were on the downside.

Gladys George has only a few scenes, but she really makes them count when she's on screen. One of her more memorable characters in earlier years was the Texas Guinan like performer in The Roaring Twenties who carries a torch for James Cagney. When that film ends she's singing in a dive and her character could be an extension of Panama whom she played in The Roaring Twenties.

As often as not for Doris Day films Warner Brothers reached into their trunk catalog and in this case got the title song and another standard written by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me. Here though they outdid themselves for Doris and Gene using stuff like Somebody Loves Me and Just One Of Those Things. When you've got George Gershwin and Cole Porter contributing to the score the rest doesn't even matter.

Watching the finale number which is the title song, sung by Doris and danced by Gene Nelson and a chorus it plays very similar to the choreographic sequences in Golddiggers of 1935 where Lullaby Of Broadway was introduced. No kaleidoscopic overhead shots that characterized those old Warner Brothers musicals from the Thirties are here, but in all other respects they seem to have copied Mr. Berkeley well.

Lullaby Of Broadway has a nice backstage plot, it's a throwback to their musicals of the Depression in many respects and it provides Doris Day with many opportunities to display singing and dancing talents. And it holds up well today.

Good and old fashioned

[ryancm · 6/10 · 9 May 2005]

If you can leave reality at the door, you're going to enjoy LULLABY OF Broadway. Doris returns from Europe hoping to surprise her mother who she thinks is a big Broadway star. She actually has fallen on bad times and is singing in a dive the the Village. When Doris arrives to her mothers supposedly grand home, the staff covers and says her mother is on tour. Instead of fretting, why doesn't she just ask what show and what city she is in? Then, of course, there would be no plot which is almost plot less anyway. Another "leave reality at the door" is when Gene Nelson at a gala says to Doris, "Hey, let's do that number we've been rehearsing" Then is seconds the full chorus and costumes and scenery appear!!! What?? Aside from that I really enjoyed this movie. Great numbers and wonderful acting by all. Too bad the story wasn't as good as the other aspects. This is part of the Doris Day collection and is certainly worth a look, implausible as it is. But then aren't all musicals?

Never Grows Old!

[Holdjerhorses · 8/10 · 8 August 2005]

How could it grow old, since all the songs were already vintage when "Lullaby" was filmed (except for "You're Dependable")? Doris Day, only five or so years into her remarkable film career is delightful and utterly natural -- despite the (for her) challenging dance numbers. She was, in fact, a good dancer: her early dreams of a career in dance were cut short by an automobile accident.

Not ten seconds after the film's opening establishing shot of a (miniature) ocean liner at sea, La Day trots out perkily in tuxedo, top hat and cane and launches into a singing / tap-dancing performance of "Just One of Those Things." It would stop the show -- and indeed DOES, on repeated viewings, for all the wrong reasons. Brilliantly choreographed for, essentially, a non-dancer, brilliantly shot and edited, and brilliantly delivered by the radiant Day . . . on closer examination one realizes all is not what it seems, here.

No doubt extensively rehearsed, "Just One of Those Things" seems rather to be "pose," "segue," "pose." The timing and precision of the leg and arm extensions, the turns, the wink, are virtually geometric exercises rather than the true fluidity of a dancer like Eleanor Powell or Ann Miller.

The "tapping" is curiously incongruous to Day's actual movement and energy -- cleverly disguised in many angles by audience members' heads or by distance (so her feet are seldom clearly visible, and then only as she enters one pose or leaves it for another). Yes, tap dancers' "taps" (even Gene Nelson's) were always pre-recorded and dubbed. But note the difference in how "Just One of Those Things" is shot and edited, compared to every other dance number, and wonder, "Why?" Much more convincing is her "Somebody Loves Me" routine in producer Ferndell's studio, with Gene Nelson. Here, the camera shows Day in full body, smoothly and convincingly tapping her way all over the screen.

She's fine in all her other dance numbers too -- particularly the treacherous stair dancing duet with Nelson in the final production number.

There are several unnecessary lapses into slow-motion in two of the production numbers, which only call attention to camera trickery and distract from the dancers. Then again, Fred Astaire occasionally used slo-mo too.

Vocally, of course, Day is superb. If all you know of her vocals is "Que Sera, Sera," go to Google and download her versions of "I Got Lost in His Arms" and "Who Are We to Say" (with Andre Previn) for a distillation of one of the 20th Century's most beautiful voices.

Gene Nelson's dancing, on the other hand, really DOES stop the show -- for all the right reasons -- in "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" with the Page Cavanaugh trio. His leap from across the floor to atop Page's piano, where he continues tapping, is heart-stopping, as is his final split-leap over the pianist's head. Amazing! The acting is fine for this sort of 50's Broadway trifle. Day is always believable. Nelson, mostly (except for an annoying tendency to giggle over his lines occasionally, for no discernible reason: "We'll have a wonderful time (giggle) falling all over each other"). Gladys George is terrific in her few scenes -- whether belting "A Shanty in Old Shanty Town" or portraying the alcoholic has-been her character has become. Her final scene meeting her daughter (Day) is economical and heartbreaking, despite the hackneyed lines ("It's tough being a mother. I need a couple more rehearsals.").

Hungarian actor S.Z. Sakall, who fled the Nazis for Hollywood, essentially played the same role in all his films. And did it brilliantly, charmingly mangling the English language to the best of his scriptwriters' abilities.

Second bananas, Billy De Wolfe and Anne Triola mug and ham jarringly -- particularly big-voiced Miss Triola, who apparently thinks she's on a stage, projecting her big eyes and big voice to the back row of a theatre, instead of acting for the cameras. She's not believable for a second.

Yet none of it finally matters. The Technicolor production is glorious to look at; the costumes (Milo Anderson) riotous (how DID Day's "broke" character pack those fabulous clothes, especially the spectacular party gown she wears to the Hubbell's party two nights after she arrives in New York, in one of her two tiny suitcases?), and the musical direction and orchestrations of Ray Heindorf and Howard Jackson sheer joy.

"The young at heart never grow old," Melinda (Day) tells Hubbell (Sakall).

Neither will "Lullaby of Broadway." Endlessly watchable. Endlessly listenable.

Doris Day Shines, As Usual

[algernon4 · 14 August 2003]

I saw this when I was a small boy, when it was revived in a neighborhood theatre, and then many years later on TV. Finally, with the advent of the VCR, I purchased this entertaining musical.

This is probably the picture that caused me fall in love with Doris Day. That personality! That smile! That Voice! From the opening number, "Just One of Those Things," to the last spectacular song and dance of "Lullaby of Broadway," this is a delight.

I especially enjoyed Doris' scenes with Gladys George (not "Cooper") as someone else reported. "It's tough being a mother. I need a couple more rehearsals." She was wonderful as Jessica Howard, has-been star of Broadway, now singing in a Greenwich Village dive.

Gene Nelson was mischievous as the lecherous dancer who chases Miss Day and Billy DeWolfe was inappropriately prissy as the "boyfriend" of Ann Triola. Of course, I always enjoy watching S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall. This was his third time appearing with Miss Day.

Doris looked fantastic in Technicolor and the many closeups they gave her underscored her natural beauty, even though her freckles were covered up. She sang very nicely and danced up a storm with Gene Nelson, something that if done today, would get Oscar nominations. I especially enjoyed "You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me" and "I Love The Way You Say Goodnight." I was disappointed that Miss Day didn't have a ballad in this picture. What an oversight!

Day and her ilk made it look too easy, even though a LOT of work went into making these films.

Singing and Dancing with Doris and Gene

[wes-connors · 6/10 · 2 August 2013]

After living in England, bubbly American singer-dancer Doris Day (as Melinda Howard) sails for New York. Aboard ship, Ms. Day meets likewise inclined Gene Nelson (as Tom Farnham), a Broadway star, homeward bound. The two are mutually attracted, but Day finds Mr. Nelson too forward. Day expects to return to her mother's mansion, but the house had been sold to blustery German brewer S.Z. Sakall (as Adolph Hubbell). A former Broadway star, Day's mother Gladys George (as Jessica Howard) has hit the skids, and is trying to lay off the sauce. Butler Billy De Wolfe (as Lefty Mack) tries to hide the truth from Day...

"Lullaby of Broadway" wisely brings Gene Nelson back for more singing and dancing with Doris Day. They had created momentary magic in a previous minor picture, "Tea for Two" (1950). Jumping on a piano and dancing incredibly with Day on a staircase, Nelson moves up to leading man, herein. While the co-stars are wonderful, the production has the appearance of quickly being thrown together, with familiar songs and reheated story lines. Strangely, Nelson's singing is dubbed. However, Day and Nelson are marvelous. One wonders what they would do at MGM, if afforded material like "Singing in the Rain" (1952).

****** Lullaby of Broadway (3/26/51) David Butler ~ Doris Day, Gene Nelson, Gladys George, S. Z. Sakall

Charming fluffy fun

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 19 July 2017]

'Lullaby of Broadway' had a lot of promise. Gene Nelson, a very talented dancer, Doris Day (my main reason for seeing it), a singer and actress personally can't get enough of, a fantastic poster, Technicolor and the involvement of veterans like SZ Sakall, Gladys George and Florence Bates.

While 'Lullaby of Broadway' could have been better overall as a film, none of the above disappoint. Three things let it down. The story is silly and uninspired, livened up by the songs and most of the staging of them. Some of it feels under-directed in some non-musical scenes and even in a couple of numbers, especially "You're Dependable", which needed a good deal of reigning in but instead makes Billy De Wolfe and Anne Triola to over-compensate.

De Wolfe and Triola do resort to mugging often, and it grates rather than entertains with some of the vaudevillian humour feeling 30+ years out of date. Triola is especially hammy, a very large slice of ham where subtlety completely eludes her.

However, the Technicolor is just glorious, with gorgeous colours. The clothes are also a feast for the eye. 'Lullaby of Broadway' benefits too from very memorable songs, particularly the title song, "Zip! Went the Strings of My Heart" and "Just One of Those Things". Most are choreographed well, with a breath-taking routine for "Zip! Went the Strings of My Heart" that is one of the best routines ever seen in any musical with Doris Day.

The script is light and fluffy but also amiable and witty, while there is enough zippy pacing to make up for the mostly underwhelming story.

Day captivates in her acting, which is natural and fresh, and especially her sublime singing. Nelson is an effectively likable leading man and proves himself a fine dancer. SZ Sakall plays his usual role but does it well, charming, cuddly and never irritating, while Florence Bates and Gladys George bring both humour and class to their supporting roles (although George also has a few scenes she has some memorably funny and truthful lines).

In conclusion, good if not great fun. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Have a day on Broadway with Doris!

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 9 July 2012]

When we first heard "Lullaby of Broadway" in "Gold Diggers of 1935", it told the story of Broadway Babies who said goodnight early in the morning. One of them must have been the character played here by Gladys George, "Greenwich Village Gertie" she calls herself, a torch singer in Washington Square who sings such songs as "In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town" and "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone". George's character could also be the speakeasy lady she played in "The Roaring Twenties", now a drunken shell of herself whose daughter (Day) thinks that her mother is a great star. Doris comes back from being away in Europe, moves into what she believes is her mother's Beekman Place home (right next to Mame Dennis, of course!), and proceeds to innocently cause scandal for a Hungarian beer manufacturer (S.Z. Sakall) and his imperious wife (Florence Bates). A mix-up over a mink coat causes Bates to think that something more is going on between hubby Sakall and newcomer Day. Then, Doris learns the truth about her mother, reels over the accusations of the press, and prepares to return to Europe.

That storyline is more than a lullaby, it is a torch song! But thanks to a light-hearted presentation by Warner Brothers, "Lullaby of Broadway" ends up being one of their better early 50's musicals, not lavish like MGM's crop, but unpretentious and fun. There's a bit of dated comedy (Billy DeWolfe & Anne Triola's routines reek of vaudeville, particularly their song, "You're Dependable") but when Doris sings and Gene dances, the film shines. Doris is a fine dancer too, but for some reason, Gene (who did his own singing in the movie version of "Oklahoma!") is dubbed by a bass singer that doesn't fit his speaking voice. Sakall can sometimes be a bit too cutesy, but Bates is delightfully comic. Her society matron manages to win sympathy because it is obvious that she only gets domineering with Sakall to prevent him from getting involved in creating disaster and truly loves him.

As for the musical numbers, Day's "Just One of Those Things" is the stand-out (she looks great in a tux!), while Nelson's athletic dancing in "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" is amazing. There's some special effects thrown into the dancing during "I Like the Way You Say Good Night" (slowing down of the film, like Fred Astaire did in "Easter Parade"), and the mechanical doll number is truly funny as well. The title song lacks strong choreography but has a great opening of only Day's head being seen until the lights come up on her in a beautiful gold dress. It is her personality exploding on screen that the audience can describe, like her first movie song hit, "It's Magic!"

Pleasant toe-tapping musical is an old-fashioned delight...

[Doylenf · 7/10 · 26 June 2011]

Overlooking the slight and highly improbable storyline, LULLABY OF Broadway is a minor showcase for Doris Day during her early years at Warner Brothers.

She acts, sings and dances with consummate ease, does some good routines with co-star Gene Nelson, and makes it easy to see why she was such a natural in front of the Technicolor cameras. Songs are sprinkled throughout to overcome the uninspired plot which has her searching for her long lost mother (Gladys George), unaware that her mother is on the skids singing in cheap bars for a living.

A reunion of mother and daughter sponsored by friend Billy DeWolfe paves the way toward a happy show biz ending, highlighted by Day and Nelson doing a nifty tap-dancing routine up and down a staircase with dozens of extras while rendering the title tune in bright fashion.

Nelson's zesty rendering of "Zing Went The Strings of My Heart" shows off his ability to sing and dance with the best of them. Too bad his career at Warners never reached full potential.

S.Z. Sakall and Florence Bates are on hand for comedy relief, making this a pleasant diversion for Doris Day fans who relish her kind of sunny disposition in musicals.

A must-see musical!

[HotToastyRag · 8/10 · 4 February 2018]

With all the Broadway Melody of . . . films from the 1930s, it's a wonder anyone could keep them straight. Thankfully, this delightful must-see musical starring Doris Day and Gene Nelson, is totally unforgettable. If you love singing, dancing, and beautiful people in leading roles, you're going to want to add this one to your list today. Sometimes, musicals of the 1950s have one or two cute songs to tide you over for the full movie, but Lullaby of Broadway has so many wonderful numbers: "You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me", "I Love the Way You Say Goodnight", "Somebody Loves Me", "Just One of Those Things", and of course, the title song.

The supporting cast is full of 1950s veterans, S.Z. Sakall, Billy De Wolfe, and Gladys George, but it's the song and dance numbers that make this a truly enjoyable viewing experience. Where else can you see Doris Day charming and gorgeous in a tuxedo or Gene Nelson paying homage to Fred Astaire and dancing with a dozen girls at once? Plus, isn't it a nice change to see Gene Nelson in the leading role? So often he was stuck in supporting roles, but in this one he, his superb dancing talents, and his gorgeous mug, get front and center stage.

To whet your appetite, and to make sure you watch this one as soon as you can get your hands on it, watch the trailer. It's got great clips of the songs and dances, and it's impossible to resist.

early Doris Day

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 20 September 2020]

One of D Day's earlier films.. she had only been around a couple years. Day is Melinda, world traveling singer. when she decides to go back home to visit Mother (Gladys George), she is in for some surprises. her mother isn't as rich and successful as she thought. and her love interest is Tom (Gene Nelson). Nelson had been in some biggies.... Oklahoma, Tea for Two, and even worked with Elvis a couple times. Keep a couple of fun eyes out for hollywood pros S.Z. Sakall and Flo Bates ! LOVE THEM! Some similarities to Apple Annie, which was remade as Pocketful of Miracles: neighborhood friends build up an aging mother to impress family and friends. Lullaby is jam-packed with song and dance, more so than the others. Billy DeWolfe, (Lefty, the butler/retired performer), became a good friend of Day's, and appeared on her television show numerous times. a fun bit where Day and Nelson dance in and out of a glass door entrance. it's all good fun. everyone is a little bit stiff and cardboard-ish, but it's a solid story. another tale where if they had just told the truth at the beginning, the whole uncomfortable part could have been avoided. but then the film would have been 10 minutes long! it's pretty good. no big magic, but it all works. even the comedic but odd bit where the dancing robots malfunction, and get out of control. Directed by David Butler, who had started as a writer and actor. made this one in the early 1950s, but soon was to move into television full time.

"The Hit Parade and Ballyhoo..."

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 28 May 2006]

Overstuffed Warner Bros. vehicle for Doris Day, here playing a nightclub singer who travels from England to New York to be reunited with her mom, a former Broadway star who has fallen on hard times; meanwhile, an elderly B-way producer hires Day for his new show, causing rumors that he's her lover! Since the many musical numbers consist of musty oldies (even for 1951) and the plot is a drag, that only leaves the stars to carry this second-biller, and Day, Gladys Cooper, S.Z. Sakall and Billy de Wolfe are all fun. Gene Nelson is off-putting as Day's romantic lead (he harbors a strangely creepy side which was probably unintentional), although his tap-dance with Doris up a steep flight of steps is breathtaking. An adequate time-filler, and Doris sparkles as usual. ** from ****

A Little Gem, It Doesn't Dazzle, But It Sparkles

[jayraskin1 · 9/10 · 16 February 2010]

I was only familiar with Doris Day from her later romantic comedies of the late 50's and 60's, many with Rock Hudson. I also was a fan of her T.V. Show and her great Hitchcock movie with Jimmy Stewart, "The Man Who Knew Too Much." This was the first of her early movies that I have seen, and she is simply sunshine in a bottle. She seems to be enjoying every minute of every scene. Her joy is infectious. It is hard to watch the film and not respond to her by cheering up, no matter how your day may be going. Her supporting cast are also delightful and seem to be enjoying themselves. It was great to see Gladys George repeating her "Shantytown" song which she sang to James Cagney in "Twentieth Century" 13 years before. Billy De Wolfe is total gay delight as butler. He explains that he is really an actor, but took the butler job because of a "crazy, mad desire to keep from starving." Anne Triola compliments him perfectly as his maid/fiancé and they do an hilarious duet together. S.Z. Sakill steals the show as the flirtatious Broadway angel who is using his wife's money behind her back to invest in shows so he can oogle the actresses. Finally, there's Gene Nelson as Doris Day's song and dance partner. I have never seen him before, but he is quite a good dancer. At the beginning a fan tells him that he's the best dancer in the world. "It's you and me against Fred Astaire," he says. He does dance in Fred Astaire's style and is about as close to Astaire as anybody is likely to get. Typically, the male leads in musicals are the biggest problems, unless,they're Fred Astaire, Gene Kelley, or James Cagney, they're usually good dancers who can't act or good actors who can't really dance. Here, we seem to have somebody who can do both. The double plot has a) Doris Day coming back to New York to see her mother who she thinks is a big star, but is only an alcoholic cabaret singer, and b)some Broadway entertainers trying to entice S.Z. Sakill to invest his wife's money in a Broadway show. Not too original, but great one liners keep it moving cheerfully along between about a dozen small scale musical numbers. The director wisely understood that with Doris Day singing, you don't need Busby Berkeley super-sets or super choruses. This is a must for Doris Day fans and a wide toothy smile for everybody else.

Good clean wholesome fun that cries out for the inventive genius of Busby Berkeley!

[movieman-200 · 6/10 · 15 June 2005]

At a scant 92 minutes, 'The Lullaby of Broadway' (1951) manages to get its job done without overstaying its welcome. The film is really a throwback musical. Based upon the 1930s extravaganzas a la Busby Berkeley, Warner Bros. trundles out a dated flick in glorious Technicolor, with an atypical backstage yarn. The film stars Doris Day – then a relatively new protégée – as Melinda Howard. Coming to America to visit her mother, whom she believes is a great star, Melinda is treated to the truth in short order. Not that that stops her from becoming a Broadway sensation, donning the top half of tux like the great Eleanor Powell, and exploding onto the screen with Cole Porter's 'Just One Of Those Things'.

Yet there's a total lack of romantic chemistry between Melinda and her dancing partner, Tom Farnham (Gene Nelson). Not that any of this stops director, David Butler from force feeding his audience the prospect of a grand amour that never genuinely materializes on screen. What saves the film from becoming a colossal gag is its score. Jam packed with a cornucopia of production numbers, including 'You're Getting to Be A Habit With Me' and Gene Nelson's tour de force, 'Zing Went the Strings of My Heart', and coupled with a supporting cast of contract players that include S.Z Sakall and Florence Bates, "The Lullaby Of Broadway" manages to keep its artistic merit above the water line of mediocrity.

Warner's DVD is a mixed blessing. As with many of its other vintage Technicolor features, there are problems with mis-registration of the three strip process that occasionally create disturbing halos and blur the image. For the most part, there is a frothy, rich look to the film that is in keeping with the magical quality of Technicolor. Rich blacks and clean white and a decided lack of film grain make the presentation quite pleasing on the eyes. The audio is mono but nicely rendered. A gallery of theatrical trailers from this and other Doris Day films is all we get for extras.

Standard Doris Day Vehicle

[rick-gleitsmann · 5/10 · 2 August 2013]

I'm watching "Lullaby of Broadway" right now during TCM's "Summer Under the Stars." The entire production looks good in color (especially Doris). But it's a 100% idiot plot. The whole Runyonesque deception that her mother is a washed-up drunk seems particularly unnecessary. Everyone is aware of this except her own daughter?

I find the Gene Nelson's character Tom, who assumes Melinda is a slut, especially creepy. Maybe it's his slick veneer or the fact that he's practically stalking her. One Hollywood essential in the 50's was the happy ending. The easiest way to end a picture was just show that a girl who says "no" really means "yes, take me away." Everybody lives happily ever after. Times have changed, at least I hope so.

As a musical, the song and dance numbers look great. I was unaware what a good dancer Doris Day was! There's no denying she is enormously talented performer, whether it's your cup of tea(for two) or not. She made a lot of show-biz pictures- all vehicles that highlight her considerable appeal (the only other performer who comes close is Debbie Reynolds). I hope she comes out of retirement long enough to make an appearance at this years TCM Festival.

A Great Day

[nk_gillen · 29 April 2004]

If you love Fifties movie-musicals that stress music over story, "Lullaby of Broadway" is the prototype. It takes moviemaking back to the Astaire-Rogers films, which highlighted dancing, music, and wisecracking dialogue. "Lullaby" isn't quite "Top Hat", but it does represent a trend where old, sentimental hit tunes are given updated arrangements and settings.

In her autobiography, "Doris Day: Her Own Story" (published in 1976), the actress describes her early years as a contract player for Jack Warner and the heated disputes she had with the autocratic movie czar over miscasting and bad scripts. But in "Lullaby," there is virtually no script to complain about. It's mainly a revue. But what a revue! From Ray Heindorf's jazzy rendition of the old title tune (from "Gold Diggers of 1935") over the opening credits to the end, this movie clicks along in high gear from one showstopper to the next.

Day also recalled in her memoirs that "Lullaby" contained, by far, the toughest dance routines of any film she ever made. One especially challenging scene called for her to perform an intricate series of steps on a huge staircase while weighed down in a gold-lame dress. At first, she balked, warning the crew to have an ambulance waiting after the first take. With encouragement from the director David Butler and others, however, she managed to complete the number.

"Lullaby of Broadway" is not the best of the Day/Warners musicals--that distinction goes to "Calamity Jane" (1953)--but it's as good as the rest. With Gene Nelson as Day's love interest, Billy De Wolfe as a vaudevillian-turned-valet, and S. Z. Sakall as a Broadway "angel."

Dependable, though not outstanding musical

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 29 May 2015]

This is not one of the great film musicals, but it's quite good. Certainly there's an abundance of great songs, such as "Somebody Loves Me" and the title song. The color photography is great and the sets are very good.

Despite the quality of her voice, I always preferred Doris Day in dramas and some of the romantic comedies of later years. She wasn't as polished her in terms of acting as she later became, but she did well. I was quite impressed with her dancing in this film, particularly the closing number on the steps.

Gene Nelson, her co-star here, never really hit the big time in terms of acting or dancing. His dancing is quite good, but after a while I began to feel it was more flash and less finesse than you might see from, for example, Astaire or Kelly. And, somehow he just didn't appeal to me as a leading man. Not bad; not great.

S.Z. Sakall is around as the older man who appears to be having an affair with young Doris Day. He's always fun to watch, though he almost always had only one character.

I always thought Billy De Wolfe was quite a funny supporting actor who never got his fair share of films. Ah well. I enjoy him when I do run across him. Florence Bates is a very good character actress and has some good supporting scenes here.

While there's not a lot to stand up and cheer about this film, neither is there much to complain about. Very middle of the road musical that's worth a watch if you are into musicals or Doris Day.

This is my favorite movie!!

[Tapstar · 10/10 · 25 December 1998]

I just loved this movie. I loved it so much that I was able to choreograph a tap dance piece to Zing With the Strings of My Heart. I took it to many competitions, and won numerous gold and first place trophies and medals. This movie deserves a 10 for excellent!

You'd Lullaby out the Theater ****

[edwagreen · 10/10 · 10 April 2012]

An absolute tremendous Doris Day-Gene Nelson musical. Why? There is a great plot here which was similar in a musical way to "Lady for A Day," which later became a Bette Davis-Ann Margret-Glenn Ford remake of "Pocketful of Miracles." Besides the wonderful plot of washed up boozy actress (Gladys George) having her daughter live abroad while she is a chanteuse at a broken singing lounge. Of course, the mayhem begins when Day plans a surprise visit and goes to the house where her mother has said she has lived all these years.

The house is inhabited by S.Z. Sakall a Broadway producer, who knew George in her day, and is penny pinching, ever suspicious wife, Florence Bates. Billy De Wolfe and Anne Triola, both formerly of the stage and a friend to the George character, are valets there so that's how George was able to give out the address.

The hilarity starts when Sakall starts taking out Day, creating a jealous Nelson and infuriating Bates, the latter suing for divorce naming Day as the correspondent!

While all this is occurring, love blossoms between Nelson and Day, and they get involved in a forthcoming show-"Lullaby of Broadway."

Day sings hit songs of the period and Nelson, of course, dances up a storm in this lively, entertaining wonderful film.

Tapping Your Feet

[willrams · 30 October 2002]

Another of my most enjoyable movie musicals with my favorite star, Doris Day, singing and dancing with Gene Nelson. I'll never forget the tap dance they did together going up a staircase-fantastic! An excellent cast includes Gladys George, and two of the funniest men around in the 50s: cute S.Z. Sakall and that buggy-eyed looney Billy DeWolfe who will tickle your funnybone. Sakall played in most of Doris' musicals and he is a character to remember! Whatever happened to Gene Nelson? He was surely a fine dancer!

The young at heart only need apply.

[bobbysamadhi · 8/10 · 8 September 2011]

Light entertainment at its best, a great guilty pleasure for your pc.

This film boasts surprisingly strong performances by a solid cast: let's say it, a cast humble enough to throw themselves into an odd sort of film: part melodrama, part musical, part fashion show for its star.

Radiating joie-de-vivre, out-singing anyone of her time, serious one moment then tongue-in-cheek the next, Day is a star, an under-rated one these days.

Gene Nelson's dancing is important to see if only to better understand Fred Astaire's. The Astaire difference was this: talent, yes, Nelson had it as well, but not the ability to bring us to the brink of something endless through his motions: to make you know he was on the edge of something vast and mysterious; to suggest a whole unseen world by dancing in this one. Bravo, Fred!

Yeah--I remember that already....

[steven_torrey · 10/10 · 6 June 2015]

Isn't here a line in a movie where one of the characters is singing an old time favorite and attempting to pass it off as new--and the auditor says something like--"Yeah, I already remember that..." This 1951 movie brought out the old songs in a revue format--so that they are not old songs in new garb--but old songs in old garb.

Doris Day sings "Just one of those things" in a tux and steals the show at the outset. Never mind she gives verve to a song about dumping a flame after a few dates. "Bye Bye mien Herr" from 'Cabaret' gives the same jazzy up-temps to the same topic of moving on quickly from one affair to another. But in any event--Doris Day knocks the song out of the park--so to speak.

The comedy team of Billy de Wolfe and Anne Triola are a delightful comedy duet--actors acting as servants so they don't starve to death.

"Lullaby of Broadway" is a delightful romp, showcasing many talents to produce something lite and frothy and surprisingly enduring. The froth disguises something dark and central to the acting profession. People who are washed up too early for the wrong reasons--yet endure beyond reasonable expectations. The song "Lullaby of Broadway" is itself a ballad/ode of what amounts to frenzied and self-destructive lifestyle. Gene Nelson pretending he can't dance when he is a great dancer--all to seduce Doris Day; well that's trickery and deceit which she rightfully resents. And Doris Day's own mother is not a world class performer but a barely and rarely sober cabaret singer in a gin joint. "Your getting to be a habit with me" is one of those nightmare scenarios of addiction that no actor wants to fall into--and yet many do. And, of course, the whole premise of the movie to fool Doris Day into thinking this palatial residence actually belongs to her mother.

Despite the dark central themes to the move, it appears light and frothy--one more deception, this time on the movie goer.

One wonders how this movie could have been made with different actors and one suspects it couldn't be made any better.

Doris is stunning!

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 27 October 2017]

Copyright 19 March 1951 (in notice: 1950) by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Strand: 27 March 1951. U.S. release: 24 March 1951. U.K. release: 29 December 1951. Australian release: 26 March 1953 (sic ). 92 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Arriving in New York from London, an unknown musical comedy actress discovers that her mother is not the Broadway star she's supposed to be.

NOTES: A re-make of "Honky Tonk" (1929) which starred Sophie Tucker and Lila Lee in the roles now played by Gladys George and Doris Day. The film was directed for Warner Bros by Lloyd Bacon.

COMMENT: Doris looks absolutely stunning in this brightly colored Technicolor musical. She's in fine voice too. And though many critics complained about the story I thought it served its musical, comic and dramatic purposes well. Besides being an obvious peg for the wonderful songs, it allows both Billy De Wolfe and S.Z. Sakall some wonderfully comic opportunities, of which naturally they take full advantage.

In addition to the dancing of the principals, I also enjoyed the ingenious De Mattiazzi specialty. Florence Bates and Anne Triola are both stand-out in the support cast. Gladys George is almost too convincing. Production values are lavish and credits A-1.

OTHER VIEWS: Gorgeously costumed and presented, here's that ultra- pleasant, effervescent and highly photogenic Doris Day, singing and dancing with great vitality and style. Mr. Nelson offers agreeable support and has one vividly choreographed solo number that cleverly leads up to a spectacular finale. Aside from the lively title number (the opening of which has been cribbed from Busby Berkeley's Gold Diggers of 1933) and a nice duet with Day on the other side of a glass door, the other musical numbers are staged in a somewhat more routine, straight style, though still most agreeable.

Unfortunately the story on which the numbers are pegged is somewhat less inventive. It's a simple variation on that old Apple Annie routine which Frank Capra filmed a couple of times and also rears its changeling head in such movies as "Lady For a Day". Still, the old story does allow S.Z. Sakall to delight his fans with unashamed mugging, and also provides a similar work-out for Billy De Wolfe (who seems somewhat jaded and understandably bored with his part here). It even slots in two songs for Gladys George. Plus some comic business for our favorite, Florence Bates.

All this seems agreeable and even promising. But why does the silly story take itself so seriously? Why do the players act it out with such straight faces? Why is the direction so heavy-handed and tortuously paced? The wind-up is brief enough, so why is the lead-in to the plot so elaborately long-winded?

Butler is certainly not the right director for this sort of frothy material. He has neither a deftly light touch nor a sense of pace and movement. He's too over-conscientiously routine. Fortunately, the movie is attractively photographed, costumed and set, even if the budget seems none too expansive. - JHR writing as George Addison.

Irresistible Doris Sings Porter, Gershwin....

[LeonardKniffel · 9/10 · 1 May 2020]

After the opening credits run while the title tune plays, Doris Day leaps onto the screen singing "It Was Just One of Those Things," tap dancing in a tux. Her energy level never wavers as she belts out songs from the American canon, by Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and Harry Warren. "Somebody Loves Me" is a real show stopper, as Day and Gene Nelson sail across the screen with a pair of glass doors as their tap dancing prop. Given that many Hollywood musicals have nonsensical story lines, this one works rather well, with the comical S.Z. Sakall, Billy DeWolfe, and Anne Triola trying to protect Day from the knowledge that her wealthy and successful mother is really a down-and-out alcoholic. Favorite line: "The young at heart never grow old." That certainly describes Doris Day, whose heart has remained as golden as her smile, which lights up the silver screen whenever the camera is on it.

Most everyone knows that this musical's title song . . .

[oscaralbert · 9/10 · 18 August 2020]

. . . was originally featured by the always eponymous Warner Bros.' GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935 as a warning to America about the dangers of Repealing the USA's 18th Constitutional Amendment (and, consequently, Prohibition itself). In its initial iteration, LULLABY OF BROADWAY pictured the tragic tale of a lady lush who flings herself off a high-rise due to Demon Rum. Sure enough, the U.S. ignored this Cassandra-like clarion caution call from Warner. The "dashboard" at F.A.B. (Facts about Booze) currently documents 73,201,434 Americans slain between late 1933 and August, 2020--fatalities in which Big Alcohol was the primary or a major contributing factor in their demise. This terrible tally includes thousands of toddlers run over by drunk drivers, millions of victims slowly tortured to death by poisoned livers and vast numbers of "all in the family" domestic abuse corpses. Even Miss Day's mom in this film staggers through Life in an alcoholic haze. Once again, things have only gotten worse in the 69 years since this second major anti-alcohol musical Public Service Announcement from the prophetic prognosticators of Warner.

Doris still a good dancer.

[gkeith_1 · 10/10 · 27 May 2015]

I called Doris a good dancer in Tea for Two, 1950, one year before this movie Lullaby of Broadway. Doris had a car accident in 1937, which strongly curtailed her dancing future. In this movie, again, her tap steps are somewhat slower than those of Gene Nelson, but I have never heard that Gene's legs had earlier been injured. Doris wasn't just a great singer; she could dance. She must have done a lot of work to even dance for these musical movies, which I must admit I probably like better than her later movies with Rock Hudson, et al. I even liked Doris in her Calamity Jane movie, in which she leaps, bounds and jumps all over the place. That is certainly athletic.

I loved Doris' gold gown in this movie; the billowing skirt was the best, but the neck straps I did not care for. Her daytime costuming was demure and ladylike as befitted the day, with high blouse necklines along with strands of white pearls.

Gene Nelson was an awesome dancer. His leaps onto the piano and over the head of the pianist were dazzling, but it's too bad he didn't learn from the Nicholas Brothers School of Leaps and Bounds. He was still a great dancer, however, and I just loved his dancing in his 1955 Oklahoma movie.

SZ Sakall and Florence Bates are always great scene stealers. They weren't children or animals, against whom other actors traditionally hate to play, but they always are unforgettable. SZ and Florence are always great at playing 'thorns in the side'. I remember Florence as Madame Dilyovska in On the Town.

De Wolfe is his usual ditsy insane self, a comic with perfect timing and verbal inflection. Anne Triola is great as his sidekick, but I detected a lot of second class citizenship where her character was concerned. She was always saying she was not as good as that all superior Lefty played by De Wolfe.

You can tell that I studied Women's Studies at university. Movies today should not be putting women's characters down as second class and inferior to men.

Lefty was such a loser, however, that he had to act as a starving butler to the local brewer. The brewer couldn't even afford to feed Lefty. Lefty should have spent his time going on auditions to try and get back into show business, or was Lefty ever really, truly in show business? Perhaps he used to sing in a crummy dive in the worst sections of the city? Putting on airs, eh, Mr. Lefty?????

I love dance movies. This is not 42nd Street. This is not The Red Shoes. It is a classic to me, however. I like to see Doris Day dance with Gene Nelson. I like to see SZ Sakall over and over again in several different movies. I still like the Nicholas Brothers, whom due to period racism I feel were not put in as many dance movies as I would have liked.

I am a theatrical historian and movie reviewer. I have a Bachelor of Arts Degree in American History, with close to a minor in fine arts and performing arts of theatre, dance and voice, plus theatrical censorship and critiquing studies.

All in all, I rate this movie as Excellent: 10/10