Gypsy | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Mervyn LeRoy |
Produced by | Mervyn LeRoy |
Screenplay by | Leonard Spigelgass |
Story by |
Gypsy: A Musical Fable by Arthur Laurents Jule Styne Stephen Sondheim |
Based on |
Gypsy: A Memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee |
Starring |
Rosalind Russell Natalie Wood Karl Malden |
Music by | Jule Styne |
Cinematography | Harry Stradling |
Edited by | Philip W. Anderson |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date
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Running time
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143 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $4 million |
Box office | $11,076,923 |
Gypsy is a 1962 musical comedy-drama film produced and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The screenplay by Leonard Spigelgass is based on the book of the 1959 stage musical Gypsy: A Musical Fable by Arthur Laurents, which was adapted from Gypsy: A Memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee. Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics for songs composed by Jule Styne. The film was remade for television in 1993.
Determined to make her young, blonde, and beautiful daughter June a vaudeville headliner, willful, resourceful, domineering stage mother Rose Hovick will stop at nothing to achieve her goal. She drags the girl and her shy, awkward, and decidedly less-talented older sister Louise around the country in an effort to get them noticed, and with the assistance of agent Herbie Sommers, she manages to secure them bookings on the prestigious Orpheum Circuit.
Years pass, and the girls no longer are young enough to pull off the childlike personae their mother insists they continue to project. June rebels and elopes with Jerry, one of the dancers who backs the act. Devastated by what she considers an act of betrayal, Rose pours all her energies into making a success of Louise, despite the young woman's obvious lack of singing and dancing skills. Not helping matters is the increasing popularity of sound films, which leads to a decline in the demand for stage entertainment. With bookings scarce, mother and daughter find themselves in Wichita, Kansas, where the owner of a third-rate burlesque house books the act in hopes of keeping the vice squad at bay.