Till the Clouds Roll By

Till The Clouds Roll By
theatrical release poster
Directed by	Richard Whorf Uncredited Busby Berkeley Henry Koster Vincente Minelli (Judy Garland seqs.) George Sidney ("Ol' Man River"/Finale)
Produced by	Arthur Freed
Screenplay by	Myles Connolly Jean Holloway George Wells Uncredited: Fred Finklehoffe John Lee Mahin Lemuel Ayers Hans Willheim
Story by	Guy Bolton
Starring	June Allyson Lucille Bremer Judy Garland Kathryn Grayson Van Heflin Lena Horne Van Johnson Angela Lansbury Tony Martin Virginia O'Brien Dinah Shore Frank Sinatra Robert Walker
Music by	Music: Jerome Kern Lyrics: Leonard Joy Otto Harbach Ira Gershwin P. G. Wodehouse Guy Bolton Jimmy McHugh Edward Laska Oscar Hammerstein II Jerome Kern Herbert Reynolds Dorothy Fields B. G. DeSylva
Cinematography	George J. Folsey
Edited by	Harry Stradling Sr.
Production company	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	December 5, 1946 (1946-12-05) (US)
Running time	132 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3,316,000
Box office	$6,724,000

Till The Clouds Roll By is a 1946 Technicolor American musical film made by MGM. It is a fictionalized biopic of composer Jerome Kern, portrayed by Robert Walker. Kern was originally involved with the production of it, but died before it was completed. It has a large cast of well-known musical stars of the day who appear performing Kern's songs. It was the first in a series of MGM biopics about Broadway's composers; it was followed by Words and Music (Rodgers and Hart, 1948), Three Little Words (Kalmar and Ruby, 1950), and Deep in My Heart (Sigmund Romberg, 1954).

The film is in the public domain due to MGM failing to renew its copyright.

Cast notes

Bruce Cowling

Dorothy Patrick

Dinah Shore

The working title for the film was "As the Clouds Roll By".Gene Kelly was originally intended to play Kern, with Gloria deHaven, Jacqueline White, Imogene Carpenter, a stage actress, and Jeanette MacDonald in major parts. None appeared in the film.

The first 15 minutes of the film consist of a condensed adaptation of Act I of Show Boat, with the order of some of the songs shifted - "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" is sung after "Life upon the Wicked Stage", and "Ol' Man River" was used as an Act I Finale, dissimilar to the show. "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" as sung by Lena Horne was filmed, like many of her other musical numbers in MGM films, so that it could be easily eliminated by sensitive Southern distributors.