Matinee Classics - Busby Berkeley Biography & Filmography

Busby Berkeley DIRECTOR

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BUSBY BERKELEY BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Busby Berkeley, originally William Berkeley Enos, was born on November 29, 1895 in Los Angeles, California to two actors. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to New York and by age five he was introduced into their vaudeville act. During World War I, he served in the U.S. Army as a field artillery lieutenant who would conduct and direct parades. After cease fire, he was commanded to stage camp shows for the soldiers. When he returned to the U.S., Berkeley became a stage actor and assistant director in a number of small acting troops. He finally discovered his talent for staging extravagant dance routines when he was forced to take over a production of the musical “Holka-Polka”. Berkeley quickly became a known name on Broadway, choreographing seventeen Broadway productions. He decided he wanted to make his routines even larger and more spectacular, so in 1930 he moved to Hollywood to compose dance numbers for movies.

His first projects included Samuel Goldwyn’s Eddie Cantor musicals like “Whoopee!” (1930), as well as others. It was while working on these that he worked on a technique in which he would only use one camera and close-up on various dancers. When asked once why he chose to do this he responded: “Well, we’ve got all the beautiful girls in the picture, why not let the public see them?” Berkeley also implemented a technique which gave the appearance that the dancers were part of a kaleidoscope. He worked on several other Goldwyn films like “Palmy Days” (1931), “The Kid From Spain” (1932), and “Roman Scandals” (1933) before asked to direct the musical routines in Warner Brothers “42nd Street” (1933).

Warner Brothers was so happy with the success of the latter that they offered Berkeley a seven year contract, which he accepted. Quickly after, he made “Footlight Parade” (1933) and “The Gold Diggers of 1933” (1933) back-to-back. Berkeley rapidly became a household name to those who liked to watch movie musicals. From 1933 until 1937, the choreographer directed numbers for almost all of the great musicals Warner Brothers produced, not limited to “Dames” (1934),”Fashions of 1934” (1934) “Gold Diggers of 1935” (1935), and “In Caliente” (1935).

However, with the decline of the musical picture in 1938, he found less work. He directed two non-musicals for Warner Brothers, “They Made Me a Criminal” (1939) and “Fast and Furious” (1939), before going to MGM in 1940. While here he got to work with teenage stars Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney for four pictures, although in “Girl Crazy” (1943) he was fired in the middle of production, supposedly at the insistence of Garland. He also worked with other studios in the 1940's, like 20th Century Fox for “The Gang’s All Here” (1943), in which he directed the outrageous number “Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat”. While the film did make money, Berkeley and Fox disagreed on budget matters. He also helped make such pictures like “Strike Up the Band” (1940), “Lady Be Good” (1941), and “Cinderella Jones” (1946).

In the late 1940's, he moved back to MGM and created some of the amazing finale numbers for the studio’s Esther Williams ballet films. Berkeley additionally directed his last feature of the forties, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (1949), although the choreography was done by Gene Kelly. In the fifties, he did a few musical numbers for films like “Call Me Mister” (1951), “Small Town Girl” (1953), and “Easy to Love” (1953), but was pretty much forgotten by the decade’s end. He only directed one more movie, “The Blue Veil” (1951), although his name was not credited. Berkeley also was the director of four “Big Town” (1954-55) episodes and one “MGM Parade” (1956) episode. His final film as choreographer was “Billy Rose’s Jumbo” (1962).

Into the seventies, he directed the Broadway musical “No, No Nanette” as well as a thirties-style commercial. He also made his rounds, giving lectures to assorted colleges. Berkeley died in Palm Springs, California on March 14, 1976, at the age of eighty due to natural causes. While the choreographer/director earned much critical success in his early years, he never won any prestigious honors, and only had the knowledge that he was nominated for three Oscars.

Filmography

1962 Billy Rose's Jumbo

1954 Rose Marie

1956 MGM Parade

1953 Easy to Love

1953 Small Town Girl

1952 Million Dollar Mermaid

1951 The Blue Veil

1951 Two Tickets to Broadway

1951 Call Me Mister

1950 Two Weeks with Love

1950 Annie Get Your Gun