Details

Release year: 1974

Storyline

Various MGM stars from yesteryear present their favorite musical moments from the studio's 50-year history.

Top credits

Directors

Jack Haley Jr.

Writers

Jack Haley Jr.

Cast

Fred Astaire — Self - Co-Host
Gene Kelly — Self - Co-Host, Narrator, Clips from 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' - 'Singin' in the Rain' and 'An American in Paris'
Bing Crosby — Self - Co-Host, Narrator, Clip from 'Going Hollywood'
Peter Lawford — Self - Co-Host, Narrator - Clip from 1947 version of 'Good News'

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Did you know

• The film was a revelation at the time of its release. The majority of the pre-1936 MGM film library had rarely been released to television, so clips from films such as Free and Easy (1930) and The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929) were shown for the first time since their original theatrical releases. For years, films such as Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) and An American in Paris (1951) had only been shown via worn, badly spliced prints late at night on independent TV stations. For this film, the vintage footage was meticulously restored and remastered for 70mm projection, making it look better than they did upon their original releases.

• Norma Shearer made an agitated phone call to MGM senior executive Paul Rosenfeld, insisting that her reaction shots to Clark Gable's 'Puttin' on the Ritz' (from Idiot's Delight (1939)) be deleted. Unfortunately, it was too late to make any changes, and the shots remained in the film. Shearer explained to Rosenfeld in a letter, "I am presented as no more than an extra without screen credit while others who are dancers and singers perform triumphantly as stars of this production." When Rosenfeld offered to arrange a screening for Shearer, she declined saying, "I would be devastated to see myself as such an insignificant part of the whole. It is a little too late to do anything now except to express to you my wounded pride."

• The "Good Morning" number from Singin' in the Rain (1952) was originally inserted in Debbie Reynolds's hosting segment, but was ultimately deleted in favor of Donald O'Connor's "Make 'Em Laugh." The song resurfaced two years later in That's Entertainment, Part II (1976).