Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949)

In 1948, Busby Berkeley was hired to direct the all-American musical Take Me Out to the Ball Game but midway through production he had to withdraw due to health issues. That's when Gene Kelly stepped up to the plate and hit a homerun with a blockbuster! 

Take Me Out to the Ball Game was the first film to team Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Jules Munshin and this winning threesome were so entertaining they joined forces right afterwards for the classic On the Town, both directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly. 

The Donen-Kelly duo were also responsible for penning this story, a wholesome blend of Americana, baseball, and good ol' gambling. Gene Kelly stars as Eddie O'Brien, short-stop of the fictional Wolves pro-ball team. When playing with his buddies, first baseman Dennis Ryan (Sinatra) and third baseman Nat Goldberg (Munshin), they're unbeatable. The owner of the Wolves recently passed away and his niece K.C. Higgins (Williams) arrives to take a "hands on" approach to ownership. At first, they resent this, but then they come to admire her.... all except Eddie, who is steamed that she moved up their curfew and increased the fine for breaking it. Eddie likes to entertain the girls at night, so that cramps his style. 

Eddie likes to entertain, period. When he isn't playing ball, he is cutting capers. Off season, he and Dennis are a popular vaudeville act. When Joe Lorgan (Edward Arnold), a big gambler in town, bets heavily against the Wolves, he uses Eddie's love of show business to lure him away from training. But when Eddie learns he has been made a stooge he rallies back to help the Wolves - and his buddies - win the pennant. 

Take Me Out to the Ball Game was a box-office success on its release and raked in nearly $3,000,000. It had that magical aura that only the Arthur Freed unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer could create. This one also bore the unique stamp of Busby Berkeley, Stanley Donen, and Gene Kelly, who directed most of the dance sequences. 

Berkeley and Kelly originally wanted Judy Garland to play the leading lady but she was having substance problems, so Ginger Rogers was cast as her replacement. Ginger then backed out a month prior to filming and Esther Williams took over. What a jim dandy substitute! 

Williams was ideal for the role and perfectly cast. She was already a leading star and this role let her take a quick break from swimming - she only had one simple pool routine in the picture. However, as Williams put it in her autobiography, filming Take Me Out to the Ball Game was an experience of "pure misery." Kelly was too demanding as a director and, along with Donen, seemed to resent her. 

Betty Garrett, who had a wonderful role as a boy-crazy girl chasing the girl-shy Dennis Ryan, had a different experience. In her autobiography she wrote that "making Ball Game.. was pure joy and Frank was an absolute delight to work with." 

"Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"

"There ain't nobody my size!"

Jules Munshin was making his breakthrough screen role in Take Me Out to the Ball Game. He had previously had a bit part in Easter Parade (1948) as a waiter and, on the strength of that performance, got this role. He made a great "third wheel" and was even more entertaining in On the Town.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game included a number of pleasant - albeit forgettable - musical numbers, the best of which feature Gene Kelly dancing. "O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg" and "It's Fate Baby, It's Fate" are the most fun to watch, but the patriotic "Strictly U.S.A" number is classic MGM - lavish and entertaining. 

All in all, Take Me Out to the Ball Game is a pitch-perfect blend of song, slapstick, and sentiment and - with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra rounding the bases - the film scores big in every inning so, if you're in a baseball mood, this one's a grand slam in entertainment. 

Rich Little's Impersonation of Cary Grant

Rich Little ranks as the best impersonator of Hollywood actors and deservedly so....he can not only mimick their voices but their body language and facial expressions, too. Mr. Little was a frequent guest star on evening programs like The Perry Como Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Tonight Show, The Dean Martin Roasts, etc. throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

In this clip from 1980, Rich Little was performing at a dinner show honoring Frank Sinatra. It aired as a television special called Frank Sinatra - The First 40 Years. He does imitations of Jimmy Stewart and Jack Nicholson and then Cary Grant....only to discover that Cary Grant was in the audience! Check it out! 

If you enjoy this clip, then be sure to see Rich Little's impersonations of Humphrey Bogart and Jack Benny. He also did a marvelous skit on The Lennon Sisters Hour that featured John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Kirk Douglas, and Walter Brennan singing around a western campfire. A real hoot! 

Take Me Out to the Ballgame ( 1949 )

" Like a hotdog covered with mustard, Or an amateur hometown play, Like a circus parade or lemonade, It's strictly USA. " 

These are the lyrics to just one of the many exuberant songs to be heard in Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's baseball themed musical of 1948. 

Bobby-sox idol Frank Sinatra, and the star of the tap field, Gene Kelly, were a great pair of sailors in Anchor's Aweigh ( 1945 ), and so they teamed up again for this outing ( or should I say "inning"? ) on the baseball diamond, this time donning the knickers and knee-highs of ballplayers. When they aren't leading their team, the Wolves, to victory, they're singing and dancing on stage as vaudevillians. Eddie O'Brien ( Gene Kelly ) feels the greatest thrill when he has an audience to entertain, whereas Denny Ryan ( Frank Sinatra ) finds nothing as absorbing as a baseball game.....that is, until K.C. Higgins ( Esther Williams ), the shapely new manager of the Wolves, comes along and sends his heart flying out of the ballpark. 

MGM loaded the bases for Take Me Out to the Ballgame with a stellar cast, gorgeous Technicolor, and memorable songs by Adolph Green/Roger Edens/Betty Comden, but the film fails to make a true home run. 

Esther Williams gave an adequate performance as Miss Higgins but she failed to make a splash ( not surprisingly since she didn't have a pool to swim in ). Judy Garland could have done wonders with the part. Also, this project was Busby Berkeley's last full assignment as director and, while he directed it with his customary flair, the script he had to work with could have featured less romance and more baseball fun. However, there are a few curve balls thrown in that give it an added punch ( Kelly does an especially rousing tap sequence to "The Hat Me Dear Old Father Wore" ) and it offers a wonderful foretaste of the fun to be had in On the Town, released just four months later. 

Take Me Out to the Ballgame was a box-office success upon its release and it was because it did so well that the big brass at MGM gave Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly the green light for On the Town, Kelly's directorial debut. All three of the Sinatra-Kelly films were made within the "Arthur Freed Unit" at MGM and really showcased the wonderful talent that the studio had during the late 1940s. Helen Rose and Valles created some eye-popping turn-of-the-century costumes and the production design was top-notch. 

Also cast in the film were Betty Garrett ( who reprised her man-hungry role in On the Town ), Jules Munshin, Edward Arnold, and Tom Dugan. Keep your eyes peeled for an uncredited appearance by Danny Kaye too, he's reading a newspaper on board the train.