''It Happened on 5th Avenue'' is a 1947 American comedy film directed by

Roy Del Ruth Roy Del Ruth (October 18, 1893, Delaware – April 27, 1961) was an American filmmaker. Early career Beginning his Hollywood career as a writer for Mack Sennett in 1915, Del Ruth later directed his first short film ''Hungry Lions'' (1919) ...

and starring Victor Moore, Ann Harding, Don DeFore, Charles Ruggles and Gale Storm. Herbert Clyde Lewis and Frederick Stephani were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story, losing to Valentine Davies for another Christmas-themed story, '' Miracle on 34th Street''.

Plot

Aloysius T. McKeever ( Victor Moore), a

hobo A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Hoboes, tramps and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; and a bum neither travels nor works. E ...

, makes his home in a seasonally boarded-up

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...

mansion, each time its owner—Michael J. O'Connor ( Charles Ruggles), the second richest man in the world—winters at his Virginia estate. McKeever winds up taking in ex- G.I. Jim Bullock ( Don DeFore), who has been evicted from an apartment building O'Connor is tearing down for a new

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

, and later 18-year-old Trudy "Smith" ( Gale Storm), who is actually O'Connor's runaway daughter. Jim soon invites war buddies Whitey (

Alan Hale, Jr. Alan Hale Jr. (born Alan Hale MacKahan; (March 8, 1921 - January 2, 1990) was an American actor and restaurateur. He was the son of actor Alan Hale Sr. His television career spanned four decades, but he was best known for his secondary lead role ...

), Hank (Edward Ryan) and their families to share the vast mansion when they are unable to find homes of their own. When Trudy encounters her father, she tells him she is in love with Jim. She has not told Jim who she really is because she wants to win his love without her wealth. She persuades her father to pretend to be a homeless man named "Mike". McKeever reluctantly takes Mike in, but treats him like a servant. When Mike becomes fed up, he gives Trudy 24-hours to get the squatters out. Trudy calls Palm Beach to seek help from her mother Mary ( Ann Harding), who is recently divorced from Michael. Mary comes to New York and pretends to be another homeless person to join the other squatters. McKeever, sensing Mary and Mike have feelings for each other, nudges them together. Eventually, Mike tells Mary he is a changed man and proposes. Mary accepts. Earlier, McKeever had given Jim, Whitey, and Hank an idea to convert unused post-war Army barracks into much-needed housing, and persuaded Jim and the others to bid for an Army camp on the outskirts of New York City. Jim and his friends raise money from hundreds of other ex-G.I.'s in the same predicament. O'Connor also wants the property, and a bidding war ensues before O'Connor finds out who his competitor is. To try to get rid of Jim, his daughter's suitor, O'Connor sees to it that the construction company Jim approaches about his conversion plan rejects it and instead offers him a well-paying job in Bolivia, on the condition that he be single. Celebrating

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

together, the residents are caught by two patrolmen, but McKeever convinces them to let the families stay until after the New Year. Jim then sadly reveals that the camp has been sold to O'Connor, and that he is considering the job offer in Bolivia, resulting in Trudy breaking up with him. When Mary and Trudy find out how Mike has manipulated the situation, Mary tells him that he has not changed after all, and that she and Trudy will leave for Florida. Ashamed, "Mike" arranges a meeting with O'Connor for Jim and his partners, who are dubious but accept. At the meeting, Mike reveals his true identity and transfers ownership of the camp to them, provided that they not reveal his identity to McKeever. That night, everyone shares a New Year's dinner before restoring the house just as they found it. Mike, Mary, Trudy, and Jim bid farewell to McKeever as he heads off to do his annual squat at O'Connor's estate in Virginia, still unaware of the truth. Mike tells Mary to remind him to nail up the board in the back fence through which McKeever gets onto his property, intending to have McKeever come through the front door next winter.

Cast

* Don DeFore as Jim Bullock * Gale Storm as Trudy O'Connor * Victor Moore as Aloyisius T. McKeever * Charles Ruggles as Michael J. "Mike" O'Connor * Ann Harding as Mary O'Connor * Grant Mitchell as Farrow *

Edward Brophy Edward Santree Brophy (February 27, 1895 – May 27, 1960) was an American character actor and comedian, as well as an assistant director and second unit director during the 1920s. Small of build, balding, and raucous-voiced, he frequently ...

as Patrolman Cecil Felton * Arthur Hohl as Patrolman Brady (uncredited) *

as Whitey Temple *

Dorothea Kent Dorothea Kent (born Dorothea Jane Schaeffer; June 6, 1916 – December 10, 1990) was an American film actress. She appeared in more than 40 films between 1935 and 1948. A former model, she often played dumb sidekicks of the heroine, and rarely ...

as Margie Temple * Edward Ryan as Hank * Cathy Carter as Alice * John Hamilton as Harper (uncredited) * Charles Lane as Landlord (uncredited) * Abe Reynolds as Finkelhoff the Tailor (uncredited)

Production

Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios i ...

was trying to shed its reputation for low-budget films by setting up a new division, Allied Artists Productions (renamed Allied Artists Pictures Corporation in 1953, replacing Monogram entirely). ''It Happened on 5th Avenue'' was Allied Artists' first production. At a time when the average Hollywood picture cost about $800,000 (and the average Monogram picture cost about $90,000), the Christmas-themed comedy cost more than $1,200,000. It was rewarded with an estimated $1.8 million box office return. The story was originally optioned by Liberty Films in 1945 for director

Frank Capra Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-born American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s ...

(who decided to direct '' It's a Wonderful Life'' instead); later that year, producer-director Roy Del Ruth acquired the story. The casting of Ann Harding and Victor Moore was announced in June 1946, Don DeFore and Gale Storm in July, and filming proceeded from August 5 to mid-October 1946. The production schedule and Christmastime climax of the story suggest the studio planned a Christmas release, but for an unknown reason, the movie's release was delayed until Easter 1947.

Songs

Four songs were featured in the movie, but Gale Storm was not allowed to sing them. She rehearsed them before filming started, but was told by director Roy Del Ruth that she would be mouthing to someone else's vocals. Storm, who had been the studio's musical star for years, recalled in her 1981 memoir: "I couldn't believe it. I thought that maybe the director didn't know I'd been singing and dancing in films, and that if I spoke to him he'd let me do my own numbers. Well, I asked him, and he said no. I asked him to look at some of my musicals, and he said no. I asked him if I could sing for him, and he said no. His theory was that if you were a dancer, you didn't sing; if you were a singer, you didn't dance; and if you were an actor, you didn't sing ''or'' dance. It was humiliating." "That's What Christmas Means to Me" was not the Varnick- Acquaviva minor hit for

Eddie Fisher Edwin Jack Fisher (August 10, 1928 – September 22, 2010) was an American singer and actor. He was one of the most popular artists during the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show, ''The Eddie Fisher Show''. Actress Eli ...

but another song written by Harry Revel. Also,

Betty Jane Rhodes Betty Jane Rhodes (April 21, 1921 – December 27, 2011) was an American actress and singer, most active in film during the late 1930s and the World War II era. She was also known as Jane Rhodes. Early years Rhodes was born in Rockford, Illin ...

recorded "You're Everywhere" in 1947.

Critical reception

''The Washington Post'' thought the celebrity endorsements (by Frank Capra, Orson Welles, Al Jolson,

Constance Bennett Constance Campbell Bennett (October 22, 1904 – July 24, 1965) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major Hollywood star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 1930s, she was the highest-paid ...

and others) used in the movie's advertising to be "high-flown" and "Hollywoodesque"; instead, the movie was a "mild, pleasant little film which probably will find many admirers." ''Time'' wrote: "Most plausible explanations for the picture's success are: 1) the presence of Victor Moore, past master of creaky charm and pathos; 2) a show as generally old-fashioned, in a harmless way, as a 1910 mail-order play for amateurs; 3) the fact that now, as in 1910, a producer cannot go wrong with a mass audience if he serves up a whiff of comedy and a whirlwind of hokum." Bosley Crowther in ''The New York Times'' praised its "geniality and humor" and the "charming performance" by Moore. ''The New Republic'' disagreed, calling it "childish stuff" and Moore "too cute for words".

Adaptations

The screenplay was adapted for a radio version on '' Lux Radio Theater'' in May 1947, with DeFore, Ruggles, Moore, and Storm reprising their roles; and a live television production for '' Lux Video Theatre'' in 1957, with Ernest Truex, Leon Ames,

Diane Jergens Diane Jergens (born Dianne Irgens; March 31, 1935 – October 9, 2018) was an American film and television actress. Early years Jergens was the daughter of Norman C. Irgens, an alderman in Minneapolis, and his wife. In 1944, at age 8, she au ...

, and William Campbell. It was remade in Hindi twice in India: '' Pugree'' (1948) and ''

Dil Daulat Duniya ''Dil Daulat Duniya '' () is a List of Bollywood films of 1972, 1972 Hindi-language comedy-drama film, directed by Prem Narayan Arora and starring Rajesh Khanna, Sadhana Shivdasani, Sadhana, Ashok Kumar, Om Prakash, Sulochana Devi, Sulochana, He ...

'' (1972).

TV broadcast

''It Happened on 5th Avenue'' was part of a package of 49 Monogram and Allied Artists features from the late 1940s and early 1950s that were licensed for television broadcast in 1954. Around 1990, the film essentially disappeared from broadcast and retail availability. Despite an Academy Award nomination, a

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

through a dedicated fan website, and many requests to Turner Classic Movies and American Movie Classics to show the movie, it was not broadcast on American television for nearly 20 years. It aired on Turner Classic Movies in 2009 and beginning in 2014, it is broadcast frequently during the holiday season. Hallmark Movie Channel also broadcast the movie in 2014.

Home media

On November 11, 2008, Warner Home Video released the film on DVD. In 2014, the film was made available for streaming and download in the digital format. On December 22, 2020, it was released on Blu-Ray by Warner Archive Collection. It is also available to be streamed on HBO Max.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:It Happened on 5th Avenue 1947 films 1947 romantic comedy films Allied Artists films American Christmas comedy films American romantic comedy films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films Fictional hoboes Films directed by Roy Del Ruth Films set in New York City 1940s Christmas comedy films Films scored by Edward Ward (composer) 1940s American films Films about veterans Films about marriage