Summer Holiday

Summer Holiday is a 1948 American musical-comedy film, directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Mickey Rooney and Gloria DeHaven. The picture is based on the play Ah, Wilderness! (1933) by Eugene O'Neill, which had been filmed under that name by MGM in 1935 with Rooney in a much smaller role, as the younger brother. Though completed in October 1946, this film sat on the shelf until 1948. In addition to Walter Huston, the supporting cast features Frank Morgan as the drunken Uncle Sid, (a role originated in the stage play by Gene Lockhart, portrayed onscreen by Wallace Beery in 1935 and later by Jackie Gleason on Broadway) as well as Marilyn Maxwell, Agnes Moorehead, Selena Royle and Anne Francis. One of producer Arthur Freed’s MGM musicals, it has costumes and cinematography that take full advantage of Technicolor. Plot The movie takes place in Dannville, Connecticut, starting in June 1906. It centers around 17-year-old Richard Miller, who is about to graduate from high school, go to Yale, and step into the world of adults. He has a cynical view of the world because of all the books he has been reading. He has a girlfriend, Muriel McComber, whom he loves very much (she lives across the street) but she is afraid of being kissed. He tries to convince her as they sing “Afraid to Fall in Love.” He doesn't get the kiss but they do dance across the park. Richard's father, Nat Miller, editor of the town newspaper, is a wise man with a sense of humor that serves him well in facing the challenges of parenthood. Richard has three other siblings: older brother Arthur, who is home on vacation from Yale; sister Mildred, and mischievous Tommy, the youngest.