Synopsis

Entertainer Melinda Howard returns to New York from England to surprise her mother, whom she believes is living as a successful Broadway singer. Instead, she discovers that her mother's alcoholism has left her performing in a shabby nightclub. A kindly producer helps maintain the illusion, casts Melinda in his new show, and brings her together with a talented dancer.

Factoids & Trivia

• The title song was not written for this film. Harry Warren and Al Dubin's "Lullaby of Broadway" first appeared in the 1935 Warner Bros. musical Gold Diggers of 1935, where it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

• Warner Bros. presented the film in Technicolor, using the bright color design associated with the studio's lavish postwar musicals.

• The soundtrack combines contemporary musical-comedy material with older standards, including "Somebody Loves Me," "Just One of Those Things," "Zing Went the Strings of My Heart," and "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone."

• A newspaper joke about a supposed romance asks whether Melinda calls the producer "Cuddles." The line refers to the real-life nickname of S. Z. Sakall.

• The film had its New York opening on March 26, 1951, before its wider release on April 24. AFI records its running time as approximately 91 to 92 minutes.

• AFI notes that pianist Buddy Cole was reported as having a speaking part, but his appearance in the completed film was not confirmed.