In the Good Old Summertime
| In the Good Old Summertime | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by |
Robert Z. Leonard Buster Keaton (uncredited) |
| Produced by | Joe Pasternak |
| Written by | Miklos Laszlo (play) |
| Screenplay by |
Samson Raphaelson Albert Hackett Frances Goodrich Ivan Tors Buster Keaton (uncredited) |
| Based on | Parfumerie (1937 play) |
| Starring |
Judy Garland Van Johnson S. Z. Sakall Spring Byington Clinton Sundberg Buster Keaton Liza Minnelli |
| Music by | Fred Spielman George Evans Betti O'Dell George E. Stoll Jimmy Wakely Robert Van Eps |
| Cinematography | Harry Stradling Sr. |
| Edited by | Adrienne Fazan |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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102 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,577,000 |
| Box office | $3,534,000 |
In the Good Old Summertime is a 1949 Technicolor musical film directed by Robert Z. Leonard. It starred Judy Garland, Van Johnson and S.Z. Sakall.
The film is a musical adaptation of the 1940 film, The Shop Around the Corner, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, and starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan, and written by Miklós László based on his 1937 play Parfumerie. For In the Good Old Summertime, the locale has been changed from 1930s Budapest to turn-of-the-century Chicago, but the plot remains the same.
Veronica Fisher (Judy Garland) enters Oberkugen's music shop, looking for work. Although Otto Oberkugen (S. Z. Sakall) is reluctant to take on more staff, she wins a job by persuading a wealthy matron, through her singing and musical expertise, to buy a harp at almost $25 over Oberkugen's list price. Neither she nor Andrew Larkin (Van Johnson), the shop's senior salesman, suspects that they are each other's anonymous pen pal. They bicker constantly at work although becoming increasingly attracted to each other.
Garland introduced the Christmas song "Merry Christmas" in this film; it was later covered by Johnny Mathis and Bette Midler.
Buster Keaton devised a way for a violin to get broken that would be both comic and plausible. Keaton came up with an appropriate fall, and the filmmakers then realized he was the only one who would be able to execute it properly, so they cast him in the film. Keaton also devised the sequence in which Van Johnson inadvertently wrecks Judy Garland's hat, and coached Johnson intensively in how to perform the scene. This was Keaton's first MGM film after he was fired from the studio in 1933.
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