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Presenting Lily Mars
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Norman Taurog
Written byJack Mintz (comedy construction)
Screenplay by Richard Connell
Gladys Lehman
Based onPresenting Lily Mars
1937 novel
by Booth Tarkington
Produced by Joe Pasternak
Starring Judy Garland
Van Heflin
Cinematography Joseph Ruttenberg
Edited by Albert Akst
Music by George Stoll
Production
company
Distributed by Loew's Inc.
Release date
  • April 29, 1943 (1943-04-29)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,045,000 [1]
Box office$3,255,000 [1]

Presenting Lily Mars is a 1943 American musical comedy film directed by Norman Taurog, produced by Joe Pasternak, starring Judy Garland and Van Heflin, and based on the novel by Booth Tarkington. The film is often cited as Garland's first film playing an adult type role (although For Me and My Gal, released the previous year, is also often credited thus). Tommy Dorsey and Bob Crosby appear with their orchestras in this Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production.

Plot

Lily Mars ( Judy Garland) is a small-town girl with big-city ambitions. She contrives to audition for a Broadway producer whose father was the local physician and whose family piano her father also happened to tune. However, the producer wants nothing to do with her. She then heads to Broadway hoping to convince him to cast her, but after a series of disappointments, the best she can manage is an understudy job. [2]

Cast

Garland was given the Hollywood "glamor treatment" for this role, as seen in this promotional image for the film.

Soundtrack

Bob Crosby and Garland in trailer for this film

The soundtrack includes:

The finale, "Where There's Music", originally included parts of " St. Louis Blues", "In The Shade of the Old Apple Tree", and " It's a Long Way to Tipperary", which were deleted from the final version.

Reception

According to MGM records the film earned USD$2,216,000 in the US and Canada and $1,039,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $1,211,000. [1] [4]

References

  1. ^ a b c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ^ Presenting Lily Mars (1943), AllMovie.
  3. ^ Presenting Lily Mars, IMDb.com
  4. ^ "Top Grossers of the Season", Variety, 5 January 1944 p 54

External links