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The Five Pennies

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Director
  
Melville Shavelson

Initial DVD release
  
December 13, 2005

Country
  
United States

7.3/10
IMDb

Genre
  
Biography, Drama, Music

Duration
  

Language
  
English

The Five Pennies movie poster

Release date
  
1959 (1959)

Writer
  
Jack Rose (screenplay), Melville Shavelson (screenplay), Robert Smith (story), Red Nichols (suggested by the life of)

Initial release
  
June 18, 1959 (New York City)

Music director
  
Sylvia Fine, Leith Stevens

Cast
  
Danny Kaye
(Ernest Loring Nichols),
Barbara Bel Geddes
(Wila Stutsman),
Louis Armstrong
(Himself),
Harry Guardino
(Tony Valani),
Bob Crosby
(Wil Paradise),
Bobby Troup
(Artie Schutt)

Similar movies
  
The Jazz Singer (1952)

The five pennies trailer


The Five Pennies is a semi-biographical 1959 film starring Danny Kaye as cornet player and bandleader Loring Red Nichols. Other cast members include Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong, Harry Guardino, Bob Crosby, Bobby Troup, Susan Gordon, and Tuesday Weld. The film was directed by Melville Shavelson.

Contents

The Five Pennies movie scenes

The film received four Oscar nominations: Best Musical Scoring (Leith Stevens), Best Original Song (Sylvia Fine—Danny Kaye's wife), Best Cinematography (Daniel L. Fapp), and Best Costumes (Edith Head).

The Five Pennies wwwgstaticcomtvthumbmovieposters3070p3070p

The real Red Nichols recorded all of Kaye's cornet playing for the film soundtrack. The other musicians in Red's band were not asked to provide their musical contributions, and the sound of his band was supplied by session players.

The Five Pennies Amazoncom The Five Pennies Danny Kaye Barbara Bel Geddes Louis

Plot

The Five Pennies The Five Pennies 1959 Christina Wehner

Red Nichols (Kaye) is a small-town cornet player who moves to New York City in the 1920s and finds work in a band led by Wil Paradise (Crosby). He meets and marries singer Willia Stutsman, a.k.a. "Bobbie Meredith" (Bel Geddes), and the two form their own Dixieland band called "The Five Pennies" (a play on Nichols' name, since a nickel equals five pennies). As their popularity peaks, their young daughter Dorothy (Susan Gordon) contracts polio, and the family leaves the music business, moving to Los Angeles.

The Five Pennies Five Pennies The

As a teenager, Dorothy (Tuesday Weld) learns of her father's music career and persuades him go on a comeback tour. The tour borders on failure until several notable musicians from Nichols' past appear to save the day.

Cast

The Five Pennies Danny Kaye Louis Armstrong The Five Pennies Amazoncom Music

  • Danny Kaye as Red Nichols
  • Barbara Bel Geddes as Willa Stutsman
  • Louis Armstrong as Himself
  • Harry Guardino as Tony Valani
  • Bob Crosby as Will Paradise
  • Bobby Troup as Artie Schutt
  • Susan Gordon as Dorothy Nichols - Ages 6 to 8
  • Tuesday Weld as Dorothy Nichols - Age 13
  • Ray Anthony as Jimmy Dorsey
  • Shelly Manne as Dave Tough
  • Ray Daley as Glenn Miller
  • Valerie Allen as Tommye Eden
  • Bob Hope as Himself (cameo)

    • The Five Pennies Original Soundtrack The Five Pennies UK vinyl LP album LP record

    The Five Pennies Wild Realm Reviews The Five Pennies

    References

    The Five Pennies Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA

    The Five Pennies IMDbThe Five Pennies themoviedb.org