Summer Holiday

Graduation from Danville, CT High School, June 1906, Mickey Rooney as ebullient Richard hears first from Gloria De Haven as girlfriend Muriel, then joins Agnes Moorehed (“Cousin Lily”) and his dad (Walter Huston) as they board the genuine car, with another original song by Harry Warren and Ralph Blane, in the musical adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s Ah, Wilderness!, from MGM’s Arthur Freed unit, Summer Holiday, 1948.

Setting may look a little more Hollywood than the purported Danville, Connecticut, but Mickey Rooney as graduating Richard is lobbying for a smooch from girlfriend Muriel (Gloria De Haven), director Rouben Mamoulian giving them rope with a Harry Warren/Ralph Blane original, in Summer Holiday, 1948, from producer Arthur Freed for MGM.

From the top, Walter Huston as dad Nat Miller introduces the gimmick, original tunes by Harry Warren and Ralph Blane serving as exposition in the musical adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s Ah, Wilderness, bringing in Butch Jenkins, Michael Kirby, Marilyn Maxwell, Selena Royle, Frank Morgan and Agnes Moorehead, in Summer Holiday, 1948, produced by Arthur Freed for MGM.

Walter Huston and Mickey Rooney star in Summer Holiday (1948), a musical remake of the Eugene O'Neill play, Ah, Wilderness!.