Babes on Swing Street (1944) DVD-R

Starring Ann Blyth, Peggy Ryan, Andy Devine, Leon Errol, Anne Gwynne, Kirby Grant, June
Preisser
Directed by Edward C. Lilley

Print: black/white
Runtime: 69 min.
Genre: musical
Print Quality: B

At MGM, the studio's youth musicals were more rural than urban — find a barn, get some
friends together, and hey kids, let's put on a show. At Universal, for this musical for its
young contract players, the atmosphere is more urban — the kids at a settlement house,
led by Trudy Costello (Peggy Ryan), have to raise $200 a month to support scholarships so
that 10 of them can go to music school; they're helped by Carol Curtis (Ann Blyth), a wealthy
young heiress who's in love with Billy Harper (Billy Dunn), who's too poor to afford the
scholarship but also too proud to take her help. The kids decide to organize a night club for
teenagers, and try to get help from Carol's eccentric uncle Malcolm (Leon Errol, who's
never been comfortable with his upper-crust family's staid outlook on life. But standing in
their way is Carol's aunt Martha Alma Kruger, who doesn't like music and sees no reason
for her niece or any member of her family to be involved with this group of under-privileged
kids. And running interference for the teenagers is her attorney, Dick Lorimer (Kirby Grant),
who sympathizes with Carol and Malcolm and happens to like the director of the settlement
house (Anne Gwynne) a great deal.