''Tin Pan Alley'' is a 1940 musical film directed by

Walter Lang Walter Lang (August 10, 1896 – February 7, 1972) was an American film director. Early life Walter Lang was born in Tennessee. As a young man he went to New York City where he found clerical work at a film production company. The business piq ...

and starring

Alice Faye Alice Faye (born Alice Jeanne Leppert; May 5, 1915 – May 9, 1998) was an American actress and singer. A musical star of 20th Century-Fox in the 1930s and 1940s, Faye starred in such films as '' On the Avenue'' (1937) and ''Alexander's Ragtime ...

and

Betty Grable Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer. Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million; for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she reign ...

(their only film together) as

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

singers/sisters and John Payne and

Jack Oakie Jack Oakie (born Lewis Delaney Offield; November 12, 1903 – January 23, 1978) was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television. He portrayed Napaloni in Chaplin's ''The Great Dictator'' (194 ...

as songwriters in the years before World War I. Alfred Newman received the 1940 Academy Award for Best Musical Score for his work on the film, the second of his nine Oscars. The film was also nominated for American Film Institute's 2006 list of the

AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals is a list of the top musicals in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute at the Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Holl ...

Plot

Katie and Lily Blaine are a singing-sister act playing the vaudeville circuit. Songwriters Skeets Harrigan and Harry Calhoun see star potential in the sister act.

Cast

as Katie Blane *

as Lily Blane *

as Harry Calhoun * John Payne as Francis 'Skeets' Harrigan * Allen Jenkins as Casey *

Esther Ralston Esther Ralston (born Esther Louise Worth, September 17, 1902 – January 14, 1994) was an iconic American silent film star. Her most prominent sound picture was '' To the Last Man'' in 1933. Early life and career Ralston was born Esther Loui ...

as Nora Bayes *

Fayard Nicholas Fayard Antonio Nicholas (October 20, 1914 – January 24, 2006) was an American choreographer, dancer and actor. He and his younger brother Harold Nicholas made up the Nicholas Brothers tap dance duo, who starred in the MGM musicals ''An All-Co ...

as Dance Specialty *

Harold Nicholas Harold Lloyd Nicholas (March 27, 1921 – July 3, 2000) was an American dancer specializing in tap. Nicholas was the younger half of the tap-dancing pair the Nicholas Brothers, known as two of the world's greatest dancers. His older brother was ...

as Dance Specialty * Ben Carter as Boy * John Loder as Captain Reginald 'Reggie' Carstair *

Elisha Cook Jr. Elisha Vanslyck Cook Jr. (December 26, 1903 – May 18, 1995) was an American character actor famed for his work in films noir. According to Bill Georgaris of TSPDT: They Shoot Pictures, Don't They, Cook appeared in a total of 21 film ...

as Joe Codd * Fred Keating as Harvey Raymond

Casting

Before filming began, there was said to be a feud between Faye and Grable, although the two actresses had never met. On the first day of production, the actresses quickly got along and became lifelong friends.

Tyrone Power Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include ''Jesse James'', ' ...

and

Don Ameche Don Ameche (; born Dominic Felix Amici; May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was an American actor, comedian and vaudevillian. After playing in college shows, stock, and vaudeville, he became a major radio star in the early 1930s, which ...

were considered for the leading roles, but scheduling conflicts took them out of the running.

References

External links

* * * 1940 films 1940s romantic musical films American musical drama films American romantic drama films American romantic musical films American black-and-white films Films directed by Walter Lang Films set in London Films set in New York City Films that won the Best Original Score Academy Award 20th Century Fox films Films scored by Alfred Newman 1940s musical drama films 1940 drama films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films {{romantic-musical-film-stub