As Sinatra's cool, effortless ability of tossing off one-liners had yet to be mined, Frank's role in Step Lively was essentially straight man stuff - the budding playwright whose potential hot property the shyster showmen crave. Suffice to say, the crooner had considerable comic support: George Murphy, Wally Brown and Alan Carney as the shifty trio (the latter two, later promoted as RKO's answer to Abbott and Costello - teamed in a series of second string comedies throughout the mid-Forties), Walter Slezak as the flustered hotel manager and Eugene Pallette as a bullfrog-voiced spokesman for a would-be backer.
Nicely received by both critics and audiences, Step Lively's standout attraction are the lovely Styne/Cahn tunes; for 1944 movie goers, the picture gave the top-billed Sinatra his first love interest in the personable person of Gloria DeHaven, and, primarily for his female fans, his first screen kiss - the swooning response drowned out by the coast-to-coast ringing of theater cash registers.
Step Lively was also the film Sinatra was working on when his wife Nancy gave birth to their son, Franklin Wayne Sinatra (Frank, Jr.), named after President Roosevelt. In fact, Sinatra participated in a war bond benefit with Bob Hope and other celebrities to celebrate President Roosevelt's birthday immediately after Step Lively was completed.
Director: Tim Whelan
Producer: Robert Fellows
Screenplay: Warren Duff, Peter Milne, based on the play by Allen Boretz and John Murray
Cinematography: Robert De Grasse
Editor: Gene Milford
Music: Jule Styne
Cast: Frank Sinatra (Glen Russell), George Murphy (Gordon Miller), Adolphe Menjou (Wagner), Gloria DeHaven (Christine Marlowe), Walter Slezak (Joe Gribble).
BW-89m.
by Mel Neuhaus
