Tea for Two (film)
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Tea for Two (1950) is a American musical film directed by David Butler. The screenplay by Harry Clork and William Jacobs was inspired by the 1925 stage musical No, No Nanette, although the plot was changed considerably from the original book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel, and the score by Harbach, Irving Caesar, and Vincent Youmans was augmented with tunes by other composers.
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[edit] Synopsis
Set in the Roaring Twenties, the story centers on Nanette Carter, a Westchester socialite with show business aspirations. She offers to invest $25,000 in a Broadway show if her boyfriend, producer Larry Blair, casts her in the starring role. What she doesn't realize is Larry is two-timing her with ingenue Beatrice Darcy, who he envisions as the lead. When he accepts Nanette's offer, she imposes upon her wealthy, penny-pinching uncle, J. Maxwell Bloomhaus, to lend her the money.
He's willing to do so, on one condition - for the next 24 hours, his niece must answer "no" to every question she's asked. Comic complications ensue when the cast arrives at Nanette's estate to rehearse, and composer and pianist Jimmy Smith, who has romantic designs on the girl, falls victim to the bet she's made with her uncle. Nanette wins, only to discover Uncle Max has lost all his money in the stock market crash. The only person still solvent is attorney William Early, and Nanette's assistant Pauline Hastings sets out to charm him into backing the show.
[edit] Production notes
The film was the first in which Doris Day received top billing and marked the first time she danced on-screen [1].
This was director Butler and leading lady Day's second collaboration, following It's a Great Feeling the previous year. The two went on to work together on Lullaby of Broadway, April in Paris, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, and Calamity Jane.
Gene Nelson won the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer.
[edit] Principal cast
- Doris Day ..... Nanette Carter
- Gordon MacRae ..... Jimmy Smith
- Gene Nelson ..... Tammy Trainor
- Eve Arden ..... Pauline Hastings
- Billy De Wolfe ..... Larry Blair
- Bill Goodwin ..... William Early
- Virginia Gibson ..... Mabel Wiley
- S.Z. Sakall ..... J. Maxwell Bloomhaus
- Patrice Wymore ..... Beatrice Darcy
[edit] Principal production credits
- Musical Direction and Orchestrations ..... Ray Heindorf
- Cinematography ..... Wilfred M. Cline
- Choreography ..... Gene Nelson, Eddie Prinz, LeRoy Prinz
- Art Direction ..... Douglas Bacon
- Costume Design ..... Leah Rhodes
[edit] Soundtrack
- "I Know That You Know" by Anne Caldwell and Vincent Youmans
- "Crazy Rhythm" by Irving Caesar, Roger Wolfe Kahn, Joseph Meyer, and Harry Warren
- "I Only Have Eyes for You" by Al Dubin and Harry Warren
- "Tea for Two" by Vincent Youmans, Irving Caesar, and Otto Harbach
- "I Want to Be Happy" by Irving Caesar and Vincent Youmans
- "Do Do Do" by George and Ira Gershwin
- "Oh Me! Oh My!" by Arthur Francis, Vincent Youmans, and Ira Gershwin
- "Charleston" by Cecil Mack and James P. Johnson
- "Here In My Arms" by Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart
- "No, No, Nanette" by Otto Harbach and Vincent Youmans
[edit] Critical reception
In his review in the New York Times, Bosley Crowther called the film "pleasant entertainment," "a sprightly show," and "quite a genial production" and added, "Miss Day and Mr. MacRae . . . complement each other like peanut butter and jelly." [2]
Time said, "[it] sheds a Technicolor tear for the good old days of plus fours, prohibition and the stock-market crash. The story . . . employs nearly every musical-comedy cliché . . . as hot-weather entertainment, Tea for Two is at its best when concentrating on the old tunes of Vincent Youmans, George Gershwin and Roger Wolfe Kahn." [3]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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