On Friday, December 5 at 7:00 pm, the public is invited to the Marion Music Hall for the month’s Classic Film Friday Presentation: It Happened on Fifth Avenue. The event is co-sponsored by the Sippican Historical Society and the Marion Council on Aging, and is offered to the public, free of charge. Directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Victor Moore, Ann Harding, Don DeFore, Charles Ruggles and Gale Storm, this little-known 1947 gem received an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Original Story (but lost to another holiday-themed classic, Miracle on 34th Street).
A heartwarming comedy set in New York City, it tells the tale of Aloysius T. McKeever, a genial homeless man whose clever resourcefulness has sustained him for years. Each winter, when millionaire-businessman Michael J. O’Connor vacates his Fifth Avenue mansion until springtime, Aloysius moves in and lives like a king until O’Connor’s return. Aloysius usually operates alone, but this time out he takes in an unplanned assortment of other downtrodden guests, who soon turn the O’Connor mansion into a fancy flophouse. When O’Connor’s rebellious daughter, Trudy, comes home unannounced without revealing her true identity, complications arise. Running time for It Happened on Fifth Avenue is 116 minutes, and the film will be followed by a brief talk-back session by David Pierce. The Marion Music Hall is located at 164 Front Street, and ample parking is available across the street at Island Wharf. For more information, contact the SHS at 508-748-1116.