A young hoofer quits vaudeville to become a composer and hooks up with a Russian ballet troupe.A young hoofer quits vaudeville to become a composer and hooks up with a Russian ballet troupe.A young hoofer quits vaudeville to become a composer and hooks up with a Russian ballet troupe.
Sarita Wooton
- Vera as a Girl
- (as Sarita Wooten)
Irving Bacon
- Second Stage Manager
- (uncredited)
Leon Belasco
- Mishka - Slave in Ballet
- (uncredited)
Symona Boniface
- Woman in Audience
- (uncredited)
Wade Boteler
- Second Policeman
- (uncredited)
Glen Cavender
- Extra as Stagehand
- (uncredited)
Lew Christensen
- Ballet Dancer
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- Trivia"On Your Toes" was adapted from a Broadway musical that opened at the Imperial Theater in New York on April 11, 1936 and ran for 315 performances. Ray Bolger starred in the original stage production. The musical was revived on Broadway in 1954 and 1983.
- GoofsGeorge Balanchine's name is misspelled as "Ballanchine" in the credits.
- Quotes
Sergei Alexandrovitch: I will not give the American audiences what they want, I will give them what they ought to like.
- Crazy creditsLorenz Hart, the lyricist for the original Broadway show, receives onscreen credit, but his lyrics are never sung at all in the film.
- ConnectionsFeatured in That's Dancing! (1985)
- SoundtracksOh, You Beautiful Doll
(1911) (uncredited)
Music by Nat Ayer
Second number performed by the Dancing Dolans, repeated during the vaudeville bits
Danced by Donald O'Connor, Queenie Smith and James Gleason
Featured review
A lyricless revision of the musical concentrates on ballet and comedy.
I was disappointed in not hearing any of the great songs, such as "There's a Small Hotel," sung in this movie, apparently revised to accommodate its star Vera Zorina, who is a ballerina. Despite the onscreen credit for lyrics, the songs of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart are used as background music throughout, while two pieces suitable to ballet were used to display Zorina's ballet skills. The first, "Princess Zenobia" started as a straight ballet, but with Eddie Albert substituting for a missing performer, it turns into a burlesque of ballet, and is a hit. I was uncomfortable with the implication that straight ballet cannot be enjoyed (which is even stated in the script). The second piece, "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue," was extremely well done and worth seeing. But here also, the writers injected other material. The impresario, Alan Hale, planned on having Albert killed at the end of the ballet. We know it and Albert learns of it while still on stage and sees the killers too, all of which creates a small amount of suspense. The overall plot is a little dumb, as in most early musicals, but I did enjoy seeing a young, dancing Donald O'Connor (playing Albert as a boy) and some of the gags supplied by Frank McHugh and Leonid Kinskey.
Helpful•101
Details
- Runtime1 hour 34 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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