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"Babes on Broadway" Is Better Than You Should Expect - Even of Rooney!
By this time you know your way around on the movies' mythical Broadway, where the star seldom appears on opening night, the understudy always makes good and the show must go on, even though your heart is breaking. If you go to see "Babes on Broadway" expecting all the time-dishonored cliches, you're in for a surprise.
It's youth that puts new life into the old Main Stem - youth in the persons of Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney and a whole cast of lively youngsters. The story of "Babes on Broadway" is slight enough - just a yarn about stage-struck kids trying to crash show business. Mickey is an ambitious hoofer and Judy a young singer whose sentimentality is stronger than her ambition. Their ideas clash when they plan a benefit for a settlement house - Judy motivated by a sincere desire to help, Mickey scheming to attract a producer's attention.
With Rooney and Garland in the leads, this slender story takes on a special authenticity. Brought up in show business, they're on familiar ground here; memory, rather than pure imagination, tells them what it feels like to be on the outside looking in. Like "Babes in Arms," this picture gives Rooney the chance to run the gamut with acrobatic ease, from young love and a touch of sob-stuff to a series of hilarious impersonations, a few of which you see below. Virginia Weidler is a dangerous member of the supporting cast; as a fresh little moppet she stole "Out West with the Hardys" from Rooney three years ago. Ray McDonald, clever hoofer from the stage version of "Babes in Arms," plays one of Mickey's partners.
Youth alone doesn't make boxoffice pictures. With a cast of mere juveniles and ingenues, "Babes on Broadway" might be just another musical. But this combination of youth and talent is unbeatable.
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