Main Street to Broadway (1953)
October 12, 1953Release Date
Main Street to Broadway (1953)
October 12, 1953Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Cast & Crew.
Tommy Morton
Tony Monaco
Mary Murphy
Mary Craig
Agnes Moorehead
Mildred Waterbury
Herb Shriner
Frank Johnson
Rosemary DeCamp
Mrs. Harry Craig
Clinton Sundberg
Mr. Harry Craig
Tallulah Bankhead
Self
Ethel Barrymore
Self
Lionel Barrymore
Self
Gertrude Berg
Tony's Neighbor
Shirley Booth
Self
Louis Calhern
Self
Leo Durocher
Self
Faye Emerson
Self
Oscar Hammerstein II
Self
Rex Harrison
Self
Helen Hayes
Self
Joshua Logan
Self
Mary Martin
Self
Lilli Palmer
Self
Richard Rodgers
Self
John Van Druten
Self
Cornel Wilde
Self
Bill Rigney
Self
Chris Durocher
Self
Arthur Shields
Actor in Fantasy Sequence
Florence Bates
Mrs. Bessmer in Fantasy Sequence
Madge Kennedy
Mrs. Cope in Fantasy Sequence
Carl Benton Reid
Judge Robbins in Fantasy Sequence
Frank Ferguson
Mr. Cope in Fantasy Sequence
Robert Bray
Lawyer in Fantasy Sequence
Frank Albertson
Self (uncredited)
Grace Albertson
Self (uncredited)
Brooks Atkinson
Self (uncredited)
Vivian Blaine
Self (uncredited)
Perry Botkin Sr.
Ukelele Player (uncredited)
John Mason Brown
Critic (uncredited)
Constance Carpenter
Self (uncredited)
June Collyer
Self (uncredited)
Stuart Erwin
Self (uncredited)
Jack Gilford
Box Office Clerk (uncredited)
Dolly Haas
Self (uncredited)
Dorothy Hammerstein
Self (uncredited)
Nedda Harrigan
Self (uncredited)
Al Hirschfeld
Self (uncredited)
Sam Jaffe
Self (uncredited)
Mike Lally
Mailman (uncredited)
Jessie Royce Landis
Self (uncredited)
Lawrence Langner
Self (uncredited)
Jeffrey Lynn
Self (uncredited)
Archer MacDonald
Graham (uncredited)
Elsa Maxwell
Self (uncredited)
Joan McCracken
Self (uncredited)
Gilbert Miller
Self (uncredited)
Ward Morehouse
Self (uncredited)
B.S. Pully
Self (uncredited)
Lydia Reed
Self (uncredited)
Dorothy Rodgers
Self (uncredited)
Jo Ann Sayers
Bride in Musical Number (uncredited)
Arthur Schwartz
Self (uncredited)
Maureen Stapleton
Self (uncredited)
Regis Toomey
Desk Sergeant (uncredited)
Leon Tyler
Boy Actor (uncredited)
Charles Williams
Bartender (uncredited)
Media.
Details.
Release DateOctober 12, 1953
StatusReleased
Running Time1h 43m
Content RatingNR
Genres
Last updated:
This Movie Is About.
Wiki.
Main Street to Broadway is a 1953 American romantic musical comedy-drama film by independent producer Lester Cowan, his final credit, in collaboration with The Council of the Living Theatre, which provided tie-up with a number of well-known Broadway names. The backstage story features Tom Morton as an aspiring playwright who hopes to stage a Broadway production, Mary Murphy, as a young lady from Indiana, and radio-TV humorist Herb Shriner in a rare acting role as a hardware store owner.
Tallulah Bankhead is featured in a parody sequence of herself. The list of Broadway luminaries also playing themselves, in smaller cameos, includes Ethel Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore (in his last film), Shirley Booth, Louis Calhern, Faye Emerson, Rex Harrison, Helen Hayes, Mary Martin, Lilli Palmer, John Van Druten and Cornel Wilde. Included is New York baseball manager Leo Durocher. Many others are unidentified, such as Vivian Blaine, glimpsed in a theater lobby.
In one scene, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II create a new song, "There's Music in You", then perform it for their friends, with Rodgers at the piano and Hammerstein singing the vocals. Mary Martin is later seen rehearsing the song for director Joshua Logan.
The black-and-white film, which has a running time of 97 minutes, was directed by Tay Garnett, screenplay by Samson Raphaelson, based on a story Robert E. Sherwood, and photographed by James Wong Howe. Sequences were filmed in New York, with shots at the Martin Beck and old Empire theaters (the Empire was set to be demolished the year the film was released). Others as story characters include Gertrude Berg, as a landlady, Agnes Moorehead, Rosemary de Camp, Arthur Shields, and, in a fantasy sequence, Florence Bates, Madge Kennedy, Carl Benton Reid, Frank Ferguson, and Robert Bray.