Three Little Words (film)

Three Little Words
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRichard Thorpe
Written byGeorge Wells
Produced byJack Cummings
StarringFred Astaire
Red Skelton
Vera-Ellen
Arlene Dahl
CinematographyHarry Jackson
Edited byBen Lewis
Music byAndré Previn
Harry Ruby
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byLoew's, Inc.
Release date
  • July 12, 1950 (1950-07-12) (U.S.)
Running time
102 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,470,000[1]
Box office$4,526,000[1]

Three Little Words is a 1950 American musical film biography of the Tin Pan Alley songwriting partnership of Kalmar and Ruby. It stars Fred Astaire as lyricist Bert Kalmar and Red Skelton as composer Harry Ruby, along with Vera-Ellen and Arlene Dahl as their wives, with Debbie Reynolds in a small but notable role as singer Helen Kane and Gloria DeHaven as her own mother, Mrs. Carter DeHaven.

The film, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, was written by Academy-Award-winning screenwriter George Wells, directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Jack Cummings. Harry Ruby served as a consultant on the project and appears in a cameo role as a baseball catcher. The third in a series of MGM biopics about Broadway composers, it was preceded by Till the Clouds Roll By (Jerome Kern, 1946) and Words and Music (Rodgers and Hart, 1948) and followed by Deep in My Heart (Sigmund Romberg, 1954).

  1. ^ a b The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.