The Band Wagon is a musical comedy film, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1953, which tells the story of an aging musical star who wants to star in a Broadway play that will restart his career. But the play's director wants to make it a pretentious retelling of Faust, and brings in a prima ballerina who clashes with the show's star. It stars Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray and Jack Buchanan. Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theater combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... For alternate meanings of MGM, see MGM (disambiguation). ... 1953 (MCMLIII) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Broadway theatre is often considered the highest professional form of theatre in the United States. ... Faust or Faustus is the protagonist of a popular German tale that has been used as the basis for many different fictional works. ... A ballerina is a female ballet dancer. ... Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987), born Frederick Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska, was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. ... Cyd Charisse Cyd Charisse is an American dancer and actress. ... Oscar Levant (December 27, 1906 - August 14, 1972) was an American pianist, composer, author, comedian, and an actor, better known for his mordant character and witticisms, on the radio and in movies and television, than his music. ... Nanette Fabray (born October 27, 1920 in San Diego, California) is an American actress. ... Jack Buchanan (April 2, 1891 - October 20, 1957) was a British actor and singer. ...

The film was written by Comden and Green and Alan Jay Lerner (uncredited), directed by Vincente Minnelli, and produced by Arthur Freed. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Costume Design, Color, Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay (for Comden and Green). Comden and Green was the writing duo of Betty Comden and Adolph Green. ... Alan Jay Lerner was a Jewish-American Broadway lyricist and librettist. ... Vincente Minnelli (February 28, 1903 – January 25, 1986) was the professional name of Lester Anthony Minnelli who was born in Chicago, Illinois, the only surviving child of Mina Le Beau and Vincent Charles Minnelli, musical conductor of Minnelli Brothers Tent Theater. ... Arthur Freed (September 9, 1894 - April 12, 1973) was born Arthur Grossman in Charleston, South Carolina. ... Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... This Academy Award was first given for movies made in 1948 when separate awards were given for black-and-white and color movies. ... From Rule Sixteen of the Special Rules for The Music Awards Original Score: An original score is a substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer. ... The Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. ...

The film popularized the song "That's Entertainment", which became a standard. Other numbers in the film include "Dancing in the Dark," "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan," "Shine on Your Shoes," and "Triplets," which features Astaire, Fabray and Buchanan dancing on their knees, dressed in baby clothes. The film's most elaborate number is the "Girl Hunt Ballet," a spoof of Mickey Spillane hard-boiled detective novels, featuring Astaire and Charisse. Thats Entertainment could refer to: Thats Entertainment!, a famous song from the musical film The Band Wagon. ... Identical Triplet Sisters A multiple birth results when more than one human baby is born from a single pregnancy. ... Frank Morrison Spillane (born March 9, 1918), better known as Mickey Spillane, is an American author of crime novels. ...

Charisse's singing was dubbed by India Adams.

One musical number shot for the film but dropped before release was a seductive dance routine featuring Charisse performing "Two-Faced Woman" (with vocal, as noted above, by India Adams). Adams' recording of the song was reused for the film Torch Song for a musical number featuring Joan Crawford. The retrospective That's Entertainment III released the Charisse version to the public for the first time. Joan Crawford, photographed by Yousuf Karsh, 1948 Joan Crawford (March 23, 1905 – May 10, 1977) was an Academy Award winning American actress. ... 2004 DVD release Thats Entertainment! is a 1974 documentary film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to celebrate its 50th anniversary. ...

Many critics rank The Band Wagon (along with Singin' in the Rain, also released in 1953) as the finest of the MGM musicals. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Singin in the Rain, a 1952 Gene Kelly musical film, chronicled Hollywoods transition from silent films to talkies. The movie has an extraordinarily intelligent plot, which greatly contributes to the work being systematically classified as the best musical comedy ever. ... The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress. ...

External links

• The Band Wagon at the Internet Movie Database
• Newsweek discussion transcript about The Band Wagon