Words and Music (1948) - Warner Archive Collection

Mickey Rooney, Tom Drake, Betty Garrett, Janet Leigh, and a host of top musical performers headline M-G-M producer Arthur Freed’s extravagant biographical tribute to the prolific songwriting duo of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. In the early 1920s, the diminutive Hart (Rooney) teams up with Rodgers (Drake) to launch a successful 24-year music career, penning nearly 500 songs with him until Hart's death in 1943 at the age of 47. Rodgers marries his dream girl (Leigh) while Hart pines after Peggy (Garrett), eventually spiraling into depression and death after her rejection. June Allyson, Perry Como, Ann Sothern, Mel Tormé, Cyd Charisse, Judy Garland, and Lena Horne are just some of the singing sensations featured. This is the last movie in which Garland and Rooney appeared together. It also boasts the first full-length modern ballet piece in a Hollywood movie: Choreographed and danced by Gene Kelly, with Vera-Ellen as his partner, "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" provides the show-stopping seven-minute finale to the film. Among the hit songs performed are " "Blue Moon," "Thou Swell” "Manhattan," "Johnny One Note," "I Wish I Were in Love Again," "Where or When," and "The Lady Is a Tramp."