CATCH A CLASSIC
Special Theme: Busby Berkeley: ‘Early Career Success’
TCM, Beginning at 5 p.m.
Legendary choreographer and musical director Berkeley William Enos — better known as Busby Berkeley — is the subject of this month’s Special Theme on Turner Classic Movies. Parts or all of the first four Mondays in May on TCM will be devoted to memorable films that Berkeley choreographed, directed or both. This evening’s five-film lineup features some of his early work on Hollywood films, to which he brought the famous skill that he had displayed on Broadway in the 1920s in his direction of large, finely regimented groups of dancers into attractive geometric patterns. Given that Berkeley’s groundbreaking visions of this sort had started becoming too large to be contained to the stage, it made sense that he would bring them to film productions like the ones airing tonight. Things kick off with 42nd Street (pictured) (1933), the iconic, Best Picture Oscar-nominated backstage musical that has been added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry due in no small part to Berkeley’s dynamic dance designs. Following that are two other 1933 films whose musical numbers Berkeley not only choreographed but also directed and are now part of the Film Registry as well: Gold Diggers of 1933, led by Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Aline Macmahon and Ginger Rogers and Footlight Parade, starring James Cagney (showing off his dancing skills on the big screen for the first time), Blondell, Keeler and Dick Powell. Gold Diggers introduced the famous standard “The Gold Diggers’ Song (We’re in the Money)” during a Berkeley-designed number that was among those risque enough to have likely led to conflict with various local censorship boards. To head off potential problems of this nature in certain areas, Berkeley directed some alternate takes for cuts of the movie sent to those areas, one of the earliest examples of this in American cinema. Finishing up tonight’s lineup are two 1934 musical comedies with numbers choreographed and directed by Berkeley: Dames, led by Keeler, Powell and Blondell, which introduced the classic tune “I Only Have Eyes for You,” and Fashions of 1934, starring William Powell and Bette Davis. — Jeff Pfeiffer