''Step Lively'' is a 1944 American musical film directed by Tim Whelan and starring Frank Sinatra. ''Step Lively'' was based on the 1937 play ''

Room Service Room service or in-room dining is a hotel service enabling guests to choose items of food and drink for delivery to their hotel room for consumption. Room service is organized as a subdivision within the food and beverage department of high-end ...

'', by Allen Boretz and John Murray. It was a remake of the 1938 RKO film ''Room Service'', starring the Marx Brothers,

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Gold ...

, and

Ann Miller Ann Miller (born Johnnie Lucille Collier; April 12, 1923 – January 22, 2004) was an American retired actress and former dancer. She is best remembered for her work in the Classical Hollywood cinema musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Her earl ...

Plot

Theatrical producer Gordon Miller is keeping his fingers crossed that his newest play will be a success so that he can pay off his massive hotel bill. Miller and his entire cast can live at the hotel on credit thanks to the generosity of the hotel manager, Joe Gribble, who is Miller's brother-in-law. Wagner, a company auditor, arrives unexpectedly, as does playwright Glenn Russell, who has left his small town hoping to collect a large amount of (non-existent) royalties on his play. Russell ends up taking a lead musical role in his own production. Miller suddenly has mixed feelings about his own play, as his girlfriend Christine Marlowe has fallen head-over-heels for playwright Russell; and to break up the romance means sabotaging his own production.

Cast

* Frank Sinatra as Glenn Russell *

George Murphy George Lloyd Murphy (July 4, 1902 – May 3, 1992) was an American dancer, actor, and politician. Murphy was a song-and-dance leading man in many big-budget Hollywood musicals from 1930 to 1952. He was the president of the Screen Actors Guild fr ...

as Gordon Miller * Adolphe Menjou as Wagner * Gloria DeHaven as Christine Marlowe * Walter Slezak as Joe Gribble *

Eugene Pallette Eugene William Pallette (July 8, 1889 – September 3, 1954) was an American actor who worked in both the silent and sound eras, performing in more than 240 productions between 1913 and 1946. After an early career as a slender leading man, ...

as Simon Jenkins *

Wally Brown Wallace Edgar Brown (October 8, 1904 – November 13, 1961) was an American actor and comedian. In the 1940s, he performed as the comic partner of Alan Carney. Early years Wallace Edgar Brown was born in Malden, Massachusetts, the son of Her ...

as Binion *

Alan Carney Alan Carney (December 22, 1909 – May 2, 1973) was an American actor and comedian. Biography Alan Carney was born David Boughal in Brooklyn, New York, on December 22, 1909. His parents, Edward and Nellie (Kearney) Boughal, were Irish immigrant ...

as Harry * Grant Mitchell as Dr. Gibbs * Anne Jeffreys as Miss Abbott * Richard Davies

Songs

All songs composed by

Jule Styne Jule Styne (; born Julius Kerwin Stein; December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was an English-American songwriter and composer best known for a series of Broadway musicals, including several famous frequently-revived shows that also became ...

(music) and

Sammy Cahn Samuel Cohen (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993), known professionally as Sammy Cahn, was an American lyricist, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premi ...

(lyrics). • Where Does Love Begin? – Performed by Gloria DeHaven, George Murphy and chorus; Reprised by Frank Sinatra and Anne Jeffreys • Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are – Performed by Gloria DeHaven, Frank Sinatra and chorus • As Long As There's Music – Performed by Frank Sinatra • Some Other Time – Performed by Frank Sinatra and Gloria DeHaven • Why Must There Be an Op'ning Song? – Performed by Anne Jeffreys • Ask the Madame – Performed by George Murphy, Gloria DeHaven and chorus

Reviews

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

, reviewing for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', called ''Step Lively'' a star vehicle for Frank Sinatra; although the scenes with Sinatra "perceptibly hobble the farce." Crowther compared him unfavorably to Eddie Albert, stating that "when

he remaining cast He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

are left alone to play 'Room Service' they make this an up-and-coming film."

Awards

The film was nominated an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...

for

Best Art Direction The Academy Award for Best Production Design recognizes achievement for art direction in film. The category's original name was Best Art Direction, but was changed to its current name in 2012 for the 85th Academy Awards. This change resulted fro ...

(

Albert S. D'Agostino Albert S. D'Agostino (December 27, 1892 – March 14, 1970) was an American art director. He was nominated for five Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction. He worked on 339 films between 1921 and 1959. He was born in New York Cit ...

, Carroll Clark, Darrell Silvera, Claude E. Carpenter).

References

External links

* * {{Tim Whelan 1944 films 1944 musical films American black-and-white films Remakes of American films American musical films American films based on plays Films directed by Tim Whelan Films set in hotels Films set in New York City RKO Pictures films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films