Wally Vernon

Jeanette MacDonald, having just been named "Queen of the Movies" by 22 million filmgoers in a 1939 New York Daily News opinion survey, stars in this elegant and alluring, fun-filled musical. Costarring leading man Lew Ayres, it's a rich and fitting tribute to the Broadway stage. Mary and Jimmy are a show biz couple, working the small joints in the Big Apple, hoping for a shot at the spotlights. Coincidentally, they both get a break at the same time; Jimmy earns a chance to pursue his music abroad, while Mary is cast in the road company of a big producer's new show. By the time Mary returns to New York she's already a star, and Jimmy's jealousy over her supposed romance with the producer gets the better of him. This love story, set against a terrific musical score and packed with one hit song after another, makes Broadway Serenade a powerful, triumphant success.

A story by Damon Runyon inspired this tale of a bookie who helps turn a young woman from the backwoods of Georgia into a Broadway star.