Review of Two Tickets to Broadway

A rare classy RKO musical, post Astaire and Rogers, that seems more like a minor MGM musical., with mostly borrowed stars. Tony Martin, as Dan Carter, serves as the alpha male who eventually collects a 'harem' of 4 beautiful young women, in Janet Leigh, Gloria DeHaven, Ann Miller, and Barbara Lawrence. Noted choreographer and occasional director Busby Berkeley was 'stolen' from MGM to direct the musicals, the most impressive(in my opinion) being Janet's beautiful ethereal dance while Tony sang "Are You a Beautiful Dream?"..........The Soundtrack credits at this site does Tony a grave injustice, crediting him with only one solo, whereas I counted at least 6 solos or duets! This included his biggest career hit "There's No Tomorrow", released the year before. Overall, Tony was the most impressive I've seen him as an actor, with lots of screen time. He is often criticized as being a wooden actor, hence was often included in films as just a singer. But, I saw none of this here..........Most of the new songs were composed by the team of Jule Styne and Leo Robin. James Kern, former attorney, singer, and screenwriter, was the director, and mostly specialized in B pictures and TV series. I don't think we can characterize this as a B movie, being close to 2 hours long, despite some of the stars being 2nd tier A movie stars. The film did poorly at the box office, perhaps mainly because of sleepy-eyed Tony's poor reputation as an actor, his 'heavy' looks, and his being a relatively obscure movie singing talent.........Gloria DeHaven had matured in looks since her early and mid-'40s films, so that I barely recognized her. Behind Janet, she was 2nd in the pecking order of Chickamauga chicks. She is cast as the complaining girlfriend of comic Eddie Bracken, who has a prominent role as Tony's unreliable, blow hard, agent. Gloria and Eddie get to sing one comical song together...........Next inline is the beautiful, charming, and talented MGM tapdancing star Ann Miller, much underrated as a potential star actress, instead of being just a dancing specialist, or second lead. She gets to exhibit her tapdancing in a scene where the girls are frolicking.........Lastly, there's young Barbara Lawrence, who neither gets to sing nor dance solo. She never really caught on with audiences despite a number of opportunities and striking looks...........Near the beginning, Janet, along with a high school glee club and band, sings "Pelican Falls": in honor of her recent high school, and as a sample of what she hopes to do on Broadway. She meets the other 3 women, who are angry with Brachen's character, on the bus from Pelican Falls to NYC,..........Janet meets 40ish Tony: a discouraged wanna be Broadway singer, who has packed his things, ready to leave for home. At the depot, their 2 suitcases get mixed up. Even after the suitcase Tony has is opened, they still manage to walk off with the wrong one! At least, they find each other and get things straitened out. They get to know each other, and soon a relationship develops. Unlike Gloria and Eddie, once they form a connection, they are a steady pair. Also, this is unlike the primary romantic pair in many musicals, where the pair have big ups and downs to generate drama. Incidentally, Janet married her 3rd husband: Tony Curtis, the year this film was released............Janet's character has a misunderstanding with Bob Crosby about the performance of 'the gang' on his show. She runs, crying, to her room, packs her bag, and boards a bus for home. Fortunately, Brachen gets on the bus before it leaves, and tells her that she is soon due to go on stage on Crosby's program. She doesn't believe, so they argue while the bus is rolling. Finally, she sees a TV with Tony singing, and then believes. There follows pandemonium as they try to get the driver to turn the bus back to NYC. Evidently, they succeeded, because soon we see her and the other girls dressed as Indian maidens, dancing around as Indians tend to do. Tony is dressed as an Indian chief, singing "Big Chief Hole-in-the Ground", recounting that he used to be a flop with chicks, until oil was discovered under his section of reservation land. Now, women flock to get to know him. He invites the 4 Chickamauga chicks into his tepee with himself. Soon we see them emerge, each with a papoose strapped to their back! Yes, Indian chiefs are often allowed several wives. Several reviewers have a problem with this skit, but I don't.........I should mention the 2 supporting actors Charles Dale and Joe Smith, who formed a comedy team while functioning as deli meat cutters and servers, at a deli frequented by the others. One of them agreed to loan the gang money to get started on their program...........Also, I should mention the Charlivel team of trapeze artists and gymnastic dancers and tumblers, who provided a break from the music. At their conclusion, Bracken directs them to the boiler room and locks them in, convincing Crosby to delay their televised performance in favor of 'the gang's' performance today.........Presently available on a DVD.