In the Good Old Summertime (1949) on Netflix
Approved19491h 42mComedyMusicalRomance
In Chicago, at Otto Oberkugen's music store, top salesman Andrew Larkin and newly hired Veronica Fisher clash at work. Both are caught up in an anonymous romance by mail.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb7.1/104,828 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes62%
Trailer
Plot summary
In Chicago in the early 1900s, Otto Oberkugen owns a music store, and Andrew Larkin is his best salesman. On the way to work one morning Andrew stops at the post office to read the latest letter from the pen pal who writes to him under the name Box Number 237. That same day Veronica Fisher comes to the store asking for a job. Oberkugen turns her down at first, then hires her after she talks a customer into buying a harp. As the months go by, business at the store falls off and the two of them grow contentious behind the counter. Each is also caught up in an anonymous romance by mail.
Cast
- John Albanas Audience Member (uncredited)
- Bette Arlenas Girl (uncredited)
- Mary Baylessas Supper Club Patron (uncredited)
Show all 20 cast
- George Boyceas Male Quartette Member (uncredited)
- Jack Deeryas Supper Club Patron (uncredited)
- Antonio Filaurias Italian Proprietor (uncredited)
- Joe Gilbertas Supper Club Patron (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about In the Good Old Summertime (1949)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Buster Keaton, who had been fired from MGM in 1933, was hired by director Robert Z. Leonard as a gag-writer to devise a comedic but plausible way to break a violin; Leonard realized only Keaton could perform the elaborate stunt and cast him in the film.
- Producer Joe Pasternak wrote that June Allyson and Van Johnson were set to star, but when Allyson became unavailable, MGM executive Benjamin Thau recommended Judy Garland as a replacement.
- Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg wrote "Last Night When We Were Young" in the 1930s for Metropolitan Opera star Lawrence Tibbett; Judy Garland loved the song and filmed and recorded it for the movie, but it was cut from the final print.
- Aware of Judy Garland's difficulties on earlier MGM films, producer Joe Pasternak made the set atmosphere suit her, having a single rose placed anonymously in her dressing room every morning with a card reading "Happy Day, Judy".
- Judy Garland's three-year-old daughter, Liza Minnelli, made her film debut in the film's closing shot, walking with Garland and Van Johnson.
