42nd Street

42nd Street

(Lloyd Bacon, US 1933, 89 min., 35mm)

Ruby Keeler is the young ingenue in this backstage musical. She plays Peggy Sawyer, just in from Pennsylvania, trying to get her big break on Broadway. Along the way, she meets young singer Billy Lawler (Dick Powell) and gal pals Lorraine Fleming and “Anytime Annie” (Una Merkel and Ginger Rogers) and runs afoul of the established star of the play, Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels)—both onstage and off. When the show is threatened with closure, only a young starlet can come to the rescue of the production. The music, supplied by Al Dubin and Harry Warren, includes the title song, “You’re Getting to Be a Habit With Me,” and “Shuffle Off to Buffalo.”