Alexander's Ragtime Band (film)

Alexander's Ragtime Band
Alexander's Ragtime Band
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Henry King
Written by	Irving Berlin; Richard Sherman
Screenplay by	Kathryn Scola; Lamar Trotti
Produced by	Darryl F. Zanuck
Starring	Tyrone Power; Alice Faye; Don Ameche; Ethel Merman; Jack Haley
Cinematography	J. Peverell Marley
Edited by	Barbara McLean
Music by	Irving Berlin; Alfred Newman
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release dates	May 24, 1938 (Los Angeles, press preview); August 5, 1938 (New York, premiere);
Running time	106 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1,200,000–$2,275,000
Box office	$3.6 million (worldwide rentals)

Alexander's Ragtime Band is a 1938 American musical film released by 20th Century Fox that takes its name from the 1911 Irving Berlin song "Alexander's Ragtime Band" to tell a story of a society boy who scandalizes his family by pursuing a career in ragtime instead of "serious" music. The film generally traces the history of jazz music from the popularization of Ragtime in the early years of the 20th century to the acceptance of swing as an art form in the late 1930s using music composed by Berlin. The story spans more than two decades from the 1911 release of its name-sake song to some point in time after the 1933 release of "Heat Wave", presumably 1938.

It stars Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Ethel Merman, Jack Haley and Jean Hersholt. Several actual events in the history of jazz are fictionalized and adapted to the story including the tour of Europe by Original Dixieland Jass Band, the global spread of jazz by U.S. soldiers during World War I, and the 1938 Carnegie Hall performance by The Benny Goodman Orchestra.

The story was written by Berlin himself, with Kathryn Scola, Richard Sherman (1905–1962) and Lamar Trotti. In 1944, a federal judge ruled that most of the story by Berlin and collaborating writers had been plagiarized from a 1937 manuscript by author Marie Dieckhaus,^[5] but that decision was reversed on appeal.^[6]

Alexander's Ragtime Band was 20th Century Fox's highest-grossing film of the 1930s and was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning the award for Best Music, Scoring.

^ Bradley, Edwin M. (2020). Hollywood Musicals You Missed: Seventy Noteworthy Films from the 1930s. McFarland. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-4766-7358-5.
^ "Top Films and Stars". Variety. 4 January 1939. p. 10. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
^ "Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938) – Notes". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on 2012-02-17. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
^ Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autry (March 30, 2010). George Lucas's blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. It Books. pp. 212–213. ISBN 978-0-0619-6345-2.
^ Cite error: The named reference New York Times 1944 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference Dieckhaus 1946 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[1] Bradley, Edwin M. (2020). Hollywood Musicals You Missed: Seventy Noteworthy Films from the 1930s. McFarland. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-4766-7358-5.

[2] "Top Films and Stars". Variety. 4 January 1939. p. 10. Retrieved 18 March 2023.

[3] "Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938) – Notes". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on 2012-02-17. Retrieved January 7, 2012.

[Lucas2010-4] Block, Alex Ben; Wilson, Lucy Autry (March 30, 2010). George Lucas's blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success. It Books. pp. 212–213. ISBN 978-0-0619-6345-2.

[New_York_Times_1944-5] Cite error: The named reference New York Times 1944 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Dieckhaus_1946-6] Cite error: The named reference Dieckhaus 1946 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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