It Happened On Fifth Avenue
starring
Don DeFore ■ Ann Harding ■ Charles Ruggles
Victor Moore ■ Gale Storm
(1947)
A Guy With 50 Bucks Meets a Girl With 50 Million!
The World's Second Richest Man Changes Places With a Hobo!
The World's Second Richest Man Changes Places With a Hobo!
| Every winter, Michael J. O'Connor, the second richest man in the world, vacates his 5th Avenue mansion for his winter home in warmer climes. Every winter, Aloysius T. McKeever, a homeless man, and his dog moves into vacated mansions. This particular winter, McKeever meets Jim Bullock, an army veteran who has recently been evicted from his apartment and offers to share the mansion with him. It's not long before the mansion has a few more guests, including two of Jim's army buddies and their wives and children; runaway heiress Trudy O'Connor; her mother and even Michael J. O'Connor, himself. I had never heard of It Happened On Fifth Avenue until I was given a DVD boxed set that just happened to contain it and some other black/white classic Christmas movies. Out of the four DVDs in the set three became favorites very quickly. With It Happened On Fifth Avenue I only had to see it once and I knew that it would be one of the handful of Christmas movies that we watch every December. Hey, we even watch it sometimes in the middle of summer when we want a break from the heat. First and foremost, It Happened On Fifth Avenue is a comedy, pure and simple family friendly comedy. There's some romance, a few misunderstandings, a bit of family bickering, and enough shenanigans to keep you laughing. One of my favorite things about the movie just happens to be how multi-generational it is. There are essentially three generations living in the house and all of them have their ups and downs, their lessons and comeuppances, and romance also isn't just for the young... You might recognize several of the actors in It Happened On Fifth Avenue. Michael J. O'Connor (Charles Ruggles) plays Hayley Mills's grandfather in The Parent Trap, Aloysius T. McKeever (Victor Moore) is Fred Astaire's best friend in Swing Time, and Don DeFore is Ozzie and Harriet Nelson's next door neighbor in the TV show The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet. There are several other bit characters who are also recognizable but those three are the most memorable in my mind. If you are looking for a good movie to watch this holiday season and you enjoy rom-coms that are funny without being trashy and you are in need of a happy ending that makes you feel good...Take my advice and follow this prescription... Take a cup of hot cocoa, grab a fuzzy blanket, and sit down to laugh away a couple of hours with It Happened On Fifth Avenue...  1 hour 56 minutes | Principal Cast Don DeFore...Jim Bullock Ann Harding...Mary O'Connor Charles Ruggles...Michael J. O'Connor Victor Moore...Aloysius T. McKeever Gale Storm...Trudy O'Connor Grant Mitchell...Farrow Edward Brophy...Cecil Felton Alan Hale Jr....Whitey Temple Dorothea Kent...Margie Temple Edward Ryan...Hank Cathy Carter...Alice Quotes Jim Bullock: I captured these handcuffs from a Japanese MP. Little did I know that this souvenir of war would become the instrument of resisting tyranny. Hank: What have you got against children? Apartment Manager: It's a rule of the house. Jim Bullock: Naturally, you can't break the rule. If he lets your kids in, everybody'd start having children. Then what would happen to the human race? Finkelhoff - the Tailor: Look, when the moths are learning I got here an all-wool suit... one moth tells the other. They're coming for a banquet. They're bringing their friends. Pretty soon, I got here a moth convention. A spray gun I gotta buy, insecticide I gotta buy... all night long, I am staying and spraying. I'm not coming home. My wife is getting mad. She's leaving for Reno. She's getting a divorce. What am I getting? Custody of the moths. Alimony I am paying. Payments I'm missing. To jail I'm going. My business I'm losing. I'm a bum. All because you are bringing in here an all-wool suit. Michael J. 'Mike' O'Connor: [to Trudy] Pay him quick before he names me correspondent. Mary O'Connor: What does your father think of him? Trudy O'Connor: Dad's going to have him arrested. Mary O'Connor: Well, whatever for? Loving you? Trudy O'Connor: No, for trespassing. Mary O'Connor: Well, that's the same thing, isn't it? To your father. Aloysius T. McKeever: Not in my twenty years of living as a guest in other people's homes have I ever been faced with a situation like this. Farrow: Mr. O'Connor, what were you doing in that closet? Michael J. 'Mike' O'Connor: I like it in there. There's nothing so restful as a nice, dark, stuffy closet. Michael J. 'Mike' O'Connor: [Last Lines] Mary. Mary O'Connor: Yes, Mike? Michael J. 'Mike' O'Connor: Remind me to nail up the board in the back fence. He's coming through the front door next winter. |
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