Small Town Girl (1953 film)
| Small Town Girl | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | László Kardos |
| Produced by | Joe Pasternak |
| Written by | Dorothy Cooper (story and screenplay) Dorothy Kingsley (screenplay) |
| Starring |
Jane Powell Farley Granger Ann Miller |
| Music by |
Nicholas Brodszky André Previn Albert Sendrey |
| Cinematography | Joseph Ruttenberg |
| Edited by | Albert Akst |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
92 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,438,000 |
| Box office | $2,127,000 |
Small Town Girl is a 1953 musical film directed by László Kardos and starring Jane Powell, Farley Granger, and Ann Miller. Busby Berkeley choreographed several dance numbers. Bobby Van performed the memorable "Street Dance", in which he hopped all around town. The film features song performances by Nat King Cole. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, "My Flaming Heart", with music by Nicholas Brodszky and lyrics by Leo Robin.
Rick Belrow Livingston (Farley Granger), in love with self-obsessed Broadway star Lisa (Ann Miller), is sentenced to 30 days in jail for speeding through a small town. Quite by accident, he meets the daughter of the judge, Cindy Kimbell (Jane Powell). He persuades her to let him out for one night, so that he can visit Lisa on the premise he is seeing his "poor sick mother" (Billie Burke) on her birthday. After tracking him down and bringing him back to town, Cindy starts to fall for Livingston, but Dr. Schlemmer (S.Z. Sakall) wants her to marry his son (Bobby Van) even though he desperately wants a career on Broadway.
According to MGM records the film made $1,365,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $762,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $287,000.
In recent years, the "Jumping Song" performed by Bobby Van has been referenced in commercials and music videos, including one for Goldfrapp's song "Happiness", in which a happy man jumps through the streets, shaking hands with people and playing with garbage can lids. Peter Wolf also recreated the scene the music video for his 1987 song "Come As You Are". Hugh Jackman, in the 2014 Tony Awards, hopped in his intro and referenced Bobby Van's dance by viewing it on a TV backstage.
...
Wikipedia