Sunday, March 9, 2008

42nd Street opens in Manhattan




Ruby Keeler, George Brent, Bebe Daniels. Warner Bros. promotional lobby card "42nd Street."


75 years ago to-day...

42nd Street -- "the tale of how America licked the Depression, how the Warner Brothers elected Franklin Roosevelt, and how Hollywood got to out-sing, out-dance and out-entertain Broadway. Indeed, America's pre-eminent theatrical strip, the thoroughfare in 'the heart of little old New York' that gives 42nd Street its name, was well in decline on 9 March 1933 when the movie's theme first blared out and its iconic title filled the screen at the Strand Theatre, five blocks away."

-- J. Hoberman, "42nd Street," BFI Film Classics (1993).



More below.