Easter Parade (DVD)

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You want singing and dancing? In Irving Berlin's "Easter Parade," you get singing and dancing. MGM didn't claim "That's Entertainment" for nothing. OK, that song was from "The Band Wagon" five years later, but who's counting?

"Easter Parade" gives us the best and the brightest singing and dancing stars of 1948: Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Ann Miller, and Peter Lawford. Peter Lawford? Well, three out of four ain't bad. And neither are the seventeen Irving Berlin songs we get along the way. Indeed, about fifty per cent of the movie is made up of music by Berlin, America's longest-lived and possibly most-beloved songwriter.

Berlin was already an American institution when he came to "Easter Parade," having established himself as a preeminent Tin Pan Alley composer all the way back in 1911 when he penned "Alexander's Ragtime Band." His lifetime spanned over a hundred years (1888-1989), one of the most remarkable musical careers ever enjoyed. Name the tune and he probably wrote it, from "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning," "How Deep Is the Ocean," "Blue Skies," "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody," and "Always" to "There's No Business Like Show Business," "Puttin' On the Ritz," and "God Bless America"; plus such musicals as "Annie Get Your Gun," "Top Hat," "Follow the Fleet," "Call Me Madam," "Holiday Inn," "White Christmas," and "Easter Parade." In all, he wrote over 800 popular songs, 19 Broadway shows, and 18 motion pictures. Whew!

The plot for "Easter Parade" is the slimmest excuse to show off the movie's music and dancing, a clothesline to string them all together. The time is 1912, New York City, and Astaire plays Don Hewes, one half of the successful Broadway dance team of Nadine and Hewes. Nadine, played by Ann Miller, is a conceited entertainer who decides she doesn't need Don anymore and goes off to perform in the Ziegfeld Follies alone. Don needs a new partner or his contracts are up, so in a moment of drunken despair he tells his friend Johnny (Peter Lawford) that he can take any common, ordinary showgirl and turn her into a sensational partner. In one year, he brags, he will make her into the dancing toast of New York, and they'll parade down the avenue on Easter with everyone recognizing them. It's a kind of Professor Henry Higgins, "Pygmalion" thing. The woman he chooses, almost at random, is Hannah Brown, played by Judy Garland. Naturally, it takes some doing, but Hannah eventually more than fulfills his expectations. She even fills his dreams.

The song-and-dance numbers alternately arise from the circumstances of the situation or from the stage acts of Astaire, Garland, and Miller. For instance, the first song, "Happy Easter," occurs as Astaire is walking down Fifth Avenue buying gifts and greeting people as they pass. For me, the highlight of the show is the second number, "Drum Crazy," sung and danced by Astaire in a toy store; it's dazzling. "It Only Happens When I Dance With You" is sung by Astaire to Miller as he tries to persuade his old partner to stay. "I Love a Piano" is sung by Astaire and Garland as he tries to teach the fledgling dancer about the act. "Ragtime Violin," "Alabama Choo Choo," and "Snooky Oookums" are sung as parts of the Astaire-Garland stage act. And so on. In addition to my favored "Drum Crazy," I enjoyed "Steppin' Out With My Baby," a big production number; "A Couple of Swells," which became one of Garland's own signature tunes; and, of course, the song everyone waits for, "Easter Parade," which closes the show (in surprising fashion).

Astaire is a legend, of course. His singing and acting were more than acceptable, but his dancing was never matched. Gene Kelly came close in an energetic sort of way, but was there ever a more elegant dancer than Astaire? The only trouble with Astaire was that he was so amazingly charismatic, limber, graceful, and acrobatic that anyone dancing with him was hardly noticed, even Ginger Rogers. Garland and, especially, Miller are terrific in "Easter Parade," but they fade by comparison to Astaire because our eyes are always glued to him.

I have to confess I have never been a big Judy Garland fan. Naturally, I loved her in "The Wizard of Oz," but it seemed to me that throughout her movie heyday in the forties, she was always playing the same character. The voice was consistently big and dramatic and appealing, but her characterizations were almost always alike. She was the same person transplanted from one generic musical to another, and "Easter Parade" is no exception. I know I'm in a minority here; Garland has a legion of fans. But in any case, she's fine as Astaire's awkward, naive new partner.

The only one who is out of his league is Peter Lawford as a rich college student, Johnny Harrow III. That doesn't make any difference, either. He has only one song to sing, "A Fella With an Umbrella," and he does so gamely, the rain in the scene muffling his squeaky monotone.

The movie was initially to be directed by Garland's husband, Vincente Minnelli, but Garland's psychiatrist suggested it would not be a good idea. Garland's private life was a notorious mess. So Charles Walters was brought in. Walters was an old hand at choreography and would continue to make high-profile musicals his whole life. Among his other credits were "Ziegfeld Follies," "High Society," and "The Unsinkable Molly Brown." What's more, Gene Kelly was supposed to have played opposite Garland, as he had just done in "The Pirate" (1948), but he broke an ankle and Astaire took over (never mind that he was over twice Garland's age; Hollywood has never paid much attention to such trivial conventions). Moreover, Cyd Charisse was supposed to have played Nadine, but she, too, was injured and Ann Miller stepped in. With all the changes, it's a wonder the movie ever got off the ground.