Humoresque

Humoresque is a 1946 American melodrama film by Warner Bros. starring Joan Crawford and John Garfield in an older woman/younger man tale about a violinist and his patroness. The screenplay by Clifford Odets and Zachary Gold was based upon the 1919 short story "Humoresque" by Fannie Hurst, which previously was made into a film in 1920. Humoresque was directed by Jean Negulesco and produced by Jerry Wald. Plot In New York City, a performance by noted violinist Paul Boray is cancelled. Something has happened which has brought Boray to rock bottom emotionally. At his apartment, he seems to be about to give up on his career; his manager Frederic Bauer is angry that Paul has misunderstood what performing would be like and admonishes him for thinking that music could no longer be part of his life. Paul's more sympathetic friend and accompanist Sid Jeffers asks Bauer to leave, and Boray says to Jeffers that he (Boray) always has wanted to do the right thing, but always has been "on the outside, looking in," and cannot "get back to that happy kid" he once was. In the past, young Paul is choosing a birthday present in a variety store run by Jeffers’ father in their neighborhood in New York City. He rejects the suggestions of his father, a grocery store owner, but settles on a violin, which his father rejects as unsuitable; his price limit is $1.50. Esther, his mother, supportive at this stage, buys the $8 violin for the boy.