Main Cast: Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams, Gene Kelly, Betty Garrett, Edward Arnold
Release Year: 1949
Country: US
Run Time: 93 minutes
Plot
So baseball pictures never make money, eh? Try telling that to MGM, which raked in a box office gross of $4 million on their 1949 baseball musical Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Set in 1906, the film concerns the adventures and misadventures of The Wolves, a champion ball club. The team's success is contingent upon the double-play combination of "O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg." But while Goldberg (Jules Munshin) lives to play baseball, O'Brien (Gene Kelly) and Ryan (Frank Sinatra) would rather pursue their off-season vaudeville career. Both erstwhile song-and-dance men decide to stick around on the baseball diamond when they mutually fall in love with the Wolves' new owner, the lovely K.C. Higgins (Esther Williams). Though O'Brien wins K.C. for himself, Ryan is compensated with the aggressively affectionate Shirley Delwyn (Betty Garrett). Gambler Joe Lorgan (Edward Arnold), who has bet heavily against the Wolves in an upcoming Big Game, woos O'Brien away from the team with promises of a big role in an upcoming musical comedy. Having let down K.C. and the rest of the team, O'Brien vows to redeem himself by playing in the crucial game. Lorgan gets wind of this, and orders his henchmen to do away with O'Brien. Hoping to shield his buddy from harm, Ryan beans O'Brien with a pitched ball, thereby incapacitating the prodigal player. The crooks are vanquished, and K.C. forgives O'Brien. But upon learning that Ryan had knocked him out, O'Brien charges onto the diamond, thirsting for revenge. Believe it or not, this action results in no fewer than two winning home runs! We offer you this detailed synopsis because it's likely that you'll be too entertained by the film's musical numbers to pay any attention to the story. Outside of the title number and Gene Kelly's solo "The Hat My Father Wore on St. Patrick's Day," the picture's best songs are contributed by Betty Comden, Adolf Green and Roger Edens. Take Me Out to the Ball Game is so delightful as it stands that one can only wonder what the film would have looked like had MGM's first choice Kathryn Grayson--or the studio's second choice, Judy Garland--played the Esther Williams role (In a similar vein, the Frank Sinatra character was originally to have been played by real-life Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Coming between Anchors Aweigh and On the Town, Take Me Out to the Ball Game is the least accomplished of the three Frank Sinatra-Gene Kelly pictures, but it's still fun And the setting, at least, is fairly unique for a musical. It also boasts one of the busier plots of any 1940s musical -- and yet it really all adds up to just a series of connected incidents rather than a real story. This is driven home when the picture abruptly (and oddly) ends with a lyric telling the audience "the love scene must be played out/before the final fade-out" and referring to the actors by their real names rather than their character names. Still, it's mostly a fast-paced affair, and the musical sequences pack in plenty of entertainment. There's only one trademark Busby Berkeley production number, "Strictly USA," but "O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg," "It's Fate, Baby, It's Fate" and "The Right Girl for Me" are all nicely done. Kelly is cocky and acrobatic, and Sinatra has his reluctant lover routine down pat. Betty Garrett bats home her one-liners like the pro she is, and even Esther Williams comes off well here. The movie also has that great, sometimes-gaudy visual sheen that one expects from an MGM musical. Although he would continue to work sporadically as a choreographer, Berkeley would direct only one more musical. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Daniel B. Cathcart - Art Director, Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Stanley Donen - Choreography, Gene Kelly - Choreography, Helen Rose - Costume Designer, Irene Valles - Costume Designer, Busby Berkeley - Director, Blanche Sewell - Editor, Roger Edens - Composer (Music Score), Adolph Deutsch - Musical Direction/Supervision, Jack Dawn - Makeup, George Folsey - Cinematographer, Arthur Freed - Producer, Henry W. Grace - Set Designer, Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer, Warren Newcombe - Special Effects, Peter Ballbusch - Special Effects, Stanley Donen - Screen Story, Gene Kelly - Screen Story, Harry Crane - Screenwriter, Harry Tugend - Screenwriter, George Wells - Screenwriter
The ball club's status quo is turned on its head when the team winds up under new ownership, and the distress this causes the team is only increased when the new owner is revealed to be a woman, K.C. Higgins (Esther Williams). Eventually, Sinatra falls for her, and then Kelly as well, while Sinatra is the object of the affections of an ardent fan, Shirley Delwyn (Betty Garrett). And all of them must contend with a number of gangsters looking to get the team to throw one of its games for a big gambling payoff.[2]
Production
Esther Williams, a star in swimming-themed musicals, did not enjoy her experience filming with star, story-writer and choreographer Gene Kelly. In her autobiography, she describes her time on the film as "pure misery", claiming that Kelly and Stanley Donen treated her with contempt and went out of their way to make jokes at her expense. Williams asserts that Kelly was uncomfortable with the height difference between them, Williams being 5'10", while Kelly was 5'7".
Director Busby Berkeley originally planned a swimming number for Williams, but the idea was rejected by Gene Kelly. Williams did, however, form a strong bond with Frank Sinatra. Williams also claimed that she was not the first choice for the role of club-owner K.C. Higgins: Judy Garland was originally slated to star, but was replaced because of substance abuse problems.[3] Similarly, Sinatra's role of Dennis Ryan was said to have originally been intended for professional baseball player Leo Durocher.[4]
"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" - Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, reprise by Esther Williams
"Yes, Indeedy" - Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra
"O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg" - Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin
"The Right Girl for Me" -Frank Sinatra
"It's Fate Baby, It's Fate" - Frank Sinatra and Betty Garrett
"Strictly U.S.A." - Betty Garrett, Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams and Gene Kelly
"The Hat My Dear Old Father Wore upon St. Patrick's Day" - Gene Kelly
Reception
Take Me Out to the Ball Game was a box office success, going on to gross $4,000,000. It received modestly positive reviews, although some reviewers felt the cast was better than the material, and the film lacked a "consistent style and pace".[5]
Forty Little Mothers (dir,1940) ·Strike Up The Band (dir,1940) ·Blonde Inspiration (dir,1941) ·Lady Be Good (dir mus nmbrs,1941) ·Ziegfeld Girl (dir mus nmbrs,1941) ·Babes on Broadway (dir,1941) ·For Me and My Gal (dir,1942) ·Calling All Girls (chor & dir mus nmbrs,1942) ·Born to Sing (dir finale,1942) ·Cabin in the Sky (dir "Shine" seq,1943) ·The Gang's All Here (dir & chor,1943) ·Three Cheers for the Girls (chor,1943) ·Girl Crazy (dir."I Got Rhythm",1943) ·All Star Musical Revue (dir mus nmbrs,1945) ·Cinderella Jones (dir,1946) ·Romance on the High Seas (chor,1948) ·Take Me Out to the Ball Game (dir,1949)
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