You Are My Lucky Star | Broadway Melody of 1936 | Warner Archive

Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935) #WarnerArchive #WarnerBros #BroadwayMelodyof1936
Jack Benny, Eleanor Powell and Robert Taylor star in this musical
story of a stage producer, the gossip columnist with whom he's feuding and the producer's childhood sweetheart, who's determined to land a starring spot in his new show. Producer Bob Gordon (Taylor) is so preoccupied with columnist Bert Keeler (Benny) that he fails to notice Irene Foster's talent (Powell) when she auditions for him. Determined to stop at nothing in her quest for stardom.
Directed By Roy Del Ruth, W.S. Van Dyke
Starring Jack Benny, Eleanor Powell, Robert Taylor
Subscribe to watch more Warner Archive videos: kzbin.info...
FOLLOW WARNER ARCHIVE ON SOCIAL
Facebook: / warnerarchive
Instagram: / warnerarchive
Twitter: / warnerarchive
ABOUT WARNER ARCHIVE
Warner Archive Collection is a branch of Warner Bros home entertainment that releases classic films and TV that were previously unreleased. Thousands of Films, TV movies and series on Blu-ray and DVD direct from the studio. WAC started as a MOD (manufactured on demand) eCommerce business in 2009 and have released over 2,500 titles spanning from the 1920s to present with distribution outlets that now include wholesale, licensee, and retail partners. Available at amzn.to/3gQeRvx.
Warner Archive
/ warnerarchive

[@angelobolton951]

This woman was totally the best tapper in the world. And also a beautiful woman just to look at. Today she would be called a fox!

[@bywaternyc7856]

The precision of her taps is mind-boggling!

[@beachhunting69]

The most amazing thing for me, when it comes to Eleanor's dancing, is her athletic ability. Her spins are one of a kind.Her head stays completely in the same spot, and when she comes out of the spin, it's perfectly still, eyes and chin up, smiling. PERFECTION ! I love her.

[@esmeephillips5888]

Remember that before BM36, audiences thought a female dancer was Ruby Keeler the baby elephant, or Ginger Rogers being schooled and steered by Fred Astaire. From them to Eleanor Powell was like going from prop-driven biplanes to a supersonic jet at a stroke. No wonder cinemagoers were giving spontaneous ovations when this came out. They must have asked themselves who could top it. Eighty-five years later we know who- nobody.

[@trcortese]

there are a couple of clips on KZbin of Ruby Keeler dancing with Paul Draper from a 1930s film (I forget the name). She is much lighter on her feet than in 42nd St and seems pretty capable of holding her own as a dancer. I wonder if the "baby elephant" technique had something to do with sound recording being what it was in 1933 when her now most famous movies (42nd St, Golddiggers of 1933, Footlight Parade) came out, six years after the "first talking picture" was released. And Rogers being taught by Astaire to dance seems pretty well documented. The improvement in Rogers's dancing from the beginning of their film series to the end is evident, and would seem to speak to Rogers's skill and hard work as well. It seems a shame that we have to tear down the accomplishments of some in order to build up the accomplishments of others.

[@petertaylor3600]

I suspect that's the trick to stay upright. Heads stay fixed until the rest comes round, then spin to the front so they don't lose balance.

[@kidgoldenarm]

She was a classically trained ballet dancer first and picked up tap later in life. Which is why she can spot and spin so perfectly

[@esmeephillips5888]

​@@trcortese The film is 'Colleen' (1936). It shows how fast Ruby improved when a rival tapper emerged, despite the grueling distraction of being Mrs Al Jolson😂.

[@lalva5798]

What a spectacular dancer and what a gorgeous babe. THOSE LEGS AND HIPS!! OMG!!

[@patrickchambers5999]

Don't forget those seamless stockings in 1936 on some fantastic gams! It's too bad there is nobody in 2021 who can touch her.

[@jourwalis-8875]

@@patrickchambers5999 The stockings was not seamless! On the contrary!

[@gordonkemp1620]

Gee what a swell classy dame. Ellie always puts a spring in my step with those gorgeous gams, she was a knockout dish & an unparalleled hoofer who lit up every joint she performed in.

[@MrRichiekaye]

This is entertainment! Not the crap on HBO and Netflix. This is it! LOVE IT! WANT IT NOW AGAIN!

[@trhansen3244]

I want a quality superhero movie. Maybe the new Flash movie will do for now. But what I really want is the Avengers back together again for one last film. The last film is easily the best movie ever made.

[@essbrandon]

@@trhansen3244 I don't follow superhero filmdom enough to know whose character belongs where, but I do know that Wolverine is also a great song and dance man. If you came to this clip, you must not hate musicals, so how about a combination of the two? 😄 I prefer the song and dance myself.

[@nancilucey2835]

She's my favorite female tap dancer of all!

[@CrazyLinguiniLegs]

What a great clip! And what a fantastically talented woman Eleanor Powell was! And what a beauty!

[@esmeephillips5888]

The exit is emblematic: that mischievous look, not at love-interest Taylor but at the audience, full of complicity and provocation. In the narrative it is about getting away with her French impersonation, but it is also about setting up the constant, unique relationship she had with her admirers as the only dancer ever to sustain Hollywood stardom primarily as a soloist. Aged 22, at the MGM of Mayer and Thalberg, Miss Powell was already calling her own shots.

[@esmeephillips5888]

And hats off to MGM for including that long a cappella hoof in the middle: something I don't believe had been tried in a big musical before. The studio had boomed Powell as 'Queen of Taps' and was bent on testing her ability to hold attention without musical accompaniment, like a drum solo in jazz. The gamble worked, and led to the epic a cappella challenge duet with Fred Astaire during 'Begin the Beguine'.

[@ritawing1064]

"May I get you another pianist?"🤣🤣🤣

[@michaelspilman5220]

That's Roger edens playing piano . He was a key member of what was known as the freed unit at mgm. This was producer Arthur freeds unit . From Michael from Yorkshire and proud of it .

[@ginnylorenz5265]

I did not know that! Thanks!!!

[@ShirleyDeeDesigns]

She's my favorite dancer. I took a tap class and it's not as easy as it looks. Her ballet and gymnastics experience are evident in all her dances. She's marvelous!

[@juliag.5114]

Eleanor and Fred made it look so incredibly easy, they truly were the most talented dancers of their time

[@nananini9199]

@@juliag.5114 Nicholas brothers

[@trhansen3244]

@@nananini9199 No. She was better. So was Gene. And Fred. And Patrice. And Cyd. And Patrice. Man, they had great dancers!

[@AishawithanEye]

I think I'm watching all these 1930s musical clips because we're stepping into another Great Depression... similar vibes for similar times.

[@esmeephillips5888]

In fact the great second wave of musicals- Busby Berkeley at Warner, Fred and Ginger at RKO, Eddy & MacDonald and Powell at MGM- came in 1933-35. Hopes were high that the New Deal would pull America out of its slump. The films captured that optimism. The first boom in musicals, 1928-30, had collapsed because too many were released and they used Roaring Twenties Broadway material. Its frivolity seemed out of touch once the Depression set in.

[@trhansen3244]

The cost of living today is very depressing. Thank you, Democrats!

[@bonniebelmondo381]

WOW 😅 WHAT A VAMP 😍

[@Destinyatk]

Her HAIR soooo PRETTYYYY

[@agileanalyst214]

She goes, That's my jam!

[@jimpuentes7436]

One of a kind performer. Nobody like her today. Her transformation into Mlle. Arlette for the movie seemed to change her personality and made her almost unrecognizable. Only twenty-three years old during the filming of this movie.

[@juliag.5114]

Oh God, I'm 23, I feel like I've acomplished nothing in life if I haven't starred in a movie with Robert Taylor by now!

[@danielstanwyck2812]

@@juliag.5114 give up your dream on him, julia. he's dead

[@juliag.5114]

@@danielstanwyck2812 hahahahahah

[@esmeephillips5888]

22, actually. Only one brief talking part behind her. But her comic instinct is evident and infectious.

[@esmeephillips5888]

'Thinking is more important than dancing- I got my first break by figuring out a spot to do some talking while dancing. I decided I must never wear the set smile of the average vaudeville hoofer. I planned some subtle exits with plenty of pantomime, because it isn't easy to get off a stage.' (EP to Paul Harrison, 'In Hollywood'. Syndicated interview, 10/1/1935)

[@Cheriepye]

Fred Astaire danced with her in Broadway Melody of 1940 and she out danced him. He never worked with her again.

[@jaywar69]

"In his autobiography Steps in Time, Astaire remarked, "She 'put 'em down like a man', no ricky-ticky-sissy stuff with Ellie. She really knocked out a tap dance in a class by herself." Eleanor really was in a class of her own!

[@Aiqipao]

If you're referring to that 'Begin the Beguine' tap number, nobody out-danced anybody. They were spectacular together.

[@trhansen3244]

@@Aiqipao Hold on there.

[@andrewc.2952]

What a babe. She looked great as a blond.

[@keithbalke6352]

Soooooo full of life......

[@esmeephillips5888]

The accusation that Eleanor Powell was no actress is refuted. She had been in 'book' shows on Broadway. In her first real movie role, she is as funny and elegant, at the same time, as Ginger. The so-called silly plotting of musicals often conceals a complex relationships between fact and fiction. Here, not only is a genuine star of theater playing an aspirant, but the character is pretending to be a big foreign name. Later, the story of 'Broadway Melody of 1940' is really about the professional rivalry of Astaire and Powell and his fear of being upstaged after parting from his perennial dance pupil, Ginger. The 'Lucky Star' tune is used for a ballet sequence which in truth is a little kitschy and overdressed, as ballet often is in pre-Kelly movies- this was made the same year as the high-camp 'Midsummer Night's Dream' at Warner. But as if acknowledging that some cinemagoers might find it so, Ellie uses the same tune for a virtuoso solo demonstration of fast, low-down tapping, where she almost skates across the floor. Eat your heart out, Ruby Keeler! Roger Edens, the spurned rehearsal pianist, wrote the words and music of 'All Ashore' in 'Broadway Melody of 1940', when Ellie proved she was a more than adequate singer as well as comedienne.

[@paulabroussard1824]

It seems like you have done a lot of research on Ellie. I'd love to connect with you for a book I'm working on. Could I send you a direct message?

[@poorthing]

She became an ordained minister after her career faded, making few film appearances after the 50s, she then pursued a successful nightclub act. She died in her late 60s, in 1982. Her son from her Glenn Ford marriage, Peter, was a rock singer and actor.

[@esmeephillips5888]

Her career never faded. All her films made a profit, and after she did a cameo in 'The Duchess of Idaho' and a brief overseas tour, MGM begged her to come back. But she was becoming engrossed in home life and her mission to kids. She preferred to produce and present 'Faith of Our Children', an Emmy-winning TV series which featured her son and his friends. Ellie felt she had done all she could as a creator and performer of movie dances; and she may have sensed that the Hollywood musical, like the studio system, was on its way out. I for one am glad that she left audiences yearning for more, like a good Broadway trouper.

[@errolfan]

Hmm. First time I've seen this. It shows that Eleanor was almost as talented as an actress as she was as a dancer. Until I saw the tap sequence, I wasn't sure who she was.

[@ginarange8761]

One of my fav songs.

[@juancarlosgonzalezflores4118]

que mujer tan bella, elegante fina y talentosa

[@joannaheart8167]

What a magnificent tap dancer!! Will try to watch her films. Thank you

[@CrazyLinguiniLegs]

Joanna Hari this is Eleanor Powell

[@joannaheart8167]

Oh, thank you!! I know Eleanor Powell but I couldn't recognize her here as a blonde. I definitely have to watch her act; she is so talented!!!

[@CrazyLinguiniLegs]

You're welcome :) I have never watched any of her other movies, but I thought she was just fantastic in this one.

[@esmeephillips5888]

​@@joannaheart8167 June Knight sings with Robert Taylor and dances with Nick Long Jr in 'I've Got a Feelin' You're Foolin': a little gem of a sequence. Don't blame anyone for becoming confused because BM36 was a mishmash. The script was heavily re-written at the last moment to promote Eleanor Powell from a featured attraction to the ingenue co-star. She never got a partnered dance with Long because he was felt to be too lightweight for her, like Astaire. Taylor could not hoof at all; they tried to teach him to partner June Knight, but no sale. Only George Murphy among MGM's contract talent could cut it. The big romantic duo number in this movie was assigned to a pro couple of exhibition dancers called Georges and Jalna ('I've Got You Under My Skin'), and pretty fine they are.

[@joannaheart8167]

@@esmeephillips5888 wow, you are so knowledgeable!!! I'm an old film enthusiast, as well. Have to watch the film in the future. Thank you

[@timl.b.2095]

I sure didn't recognize Eleanor, wouldn't have known if you hadn't told us!

[@trhansen3244]

Me recognized her dancer always.

[@esmeephillips5888]

You can always recognize her by progressive elimination. The best dancer left standing is Eleanor Powell: then, now and probably for ever.

[@diegoss3563]

Hermosa calidad HD para la epoca,

[@terristokes7446]

Wish they had the clip of the Dogs acting at end of this movie, they were awesome as well!

[@coreycox2345]

Acting dogs? This movie has everything, terri Stokes.

[@firhanhidayat2803]

Did you know where i can watch full movie

[@ShindlerReal]

woah

[@philipchretienkarlsson8157]

Non, non, non non, Mademoiselle Arlette, she's beeeezy !

[@micaelapaolaquarto3554]

Mademoiselle Arlette!

[@misled1982]

3:10 "yeah I did that shit, try doing it yourself...ill wait"

[@silvercoins]

from Russia with love

[@sterlingfury7970]

Act or not ...unparalleled dancer !!! I think her acting was ok 😁

[@lillinablue]

💘

[@heatherhutchinson3625]

2:43 a bunch of men watching the woman dancing.

[@kimbahyh4987]

My favourite part: 1:04 - 1:09

[@retrobilly1986]

Why didn’t she ask the band to play in the first place.😍

[@rowbyrowby]

Hee hee - she followed the movie script dialogue :)

[@agileanalyst214]

A nurse brings her a f ing cape lol

[@ShirleyDeeDesigns]

That's not a nurse it's a housekeeper or maid!

[@geoffrey5414]

It's her maid and dresser.

[@phillippvongrahl9569]

Marika Rökk was much better

[@esmeephillips5888]

Marika was an awesome triple threat, worthy to put beside Ginger Rogers, but her technical abilities were beneath Eleanor's. Also Marika did not choreograph herself and did not mash up styles and traditions of dancing as Powell did. The German cinema imitated MGM and RKO but could not liberate itself from the Weimar inheritance of cabaret and revue staging.

[@chuckharvey-jackson5790]

Tap steps edited effects are not in synch.

[@jamesart6568]

in those days they acted and danced the scene and then later put mics around the stage, then tapped the routine again for sound

[@juliag.5114]

I think they are, she just taps incredibly fast so sometimes it sounds like it's not in synch. In fact, I'm pretty sure in some of the takes they were recorded live on set because you can hear the echo (0:40 for example, it's clearly live because of the volume of their voices and of the piano)

[@timothyparker6973]

Taps could not be recorded properly on set. Miss Powell would record her taps later while watching herself dance on film to get it just right. She was a perfectionist and worked very hard. If there is syncronous issues, it was not with her.

[@yingpiccola]

She is a little hunched back, and that looked bit not elegant

[@mt20]

Where?

[@danielstanwyck2812]

@@mt20 your eyes are playing tricks on you. she is elegant from start to finish

[@kettle5946]

It’s the thing around her neck that’s deceiving you. She had great posture throughout the number.