April 14, 1937: "Babes In Arms" Premieres On Broadway

Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in the film version

April 14, 1937: Babes In Arms premieres on Broadway, at the Shubert Theatre. Written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, its text is not memorable. Most of its actors, led by Mitzi Green, aren't, either. But it did include brothers Harold and Fayard Nicholas, black men known for spectacular dance routines, as you can see if you check out the 1939 film version, with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland.

It was the 1st of 10 movies that Rooney and Garland would make together. Typically, they would be teenagers deciding to put on a show together, while their parents are either absent -- due to death, or being out of town -- or looking on bemusedly.

The songs include "Where Or When," "My Funny Valentine" and "The Lady Is a Tramp." Considering those 3 songs alone, and what they would eventually mean to his repertoire, in retrospect, Frank Sinatra was right when he sang, "When I was 21, it was a very good year."

"Where Or When" would also be a hit in 1960 for Dion & the Belmonts.

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April 14, 1937 was a Wednesday. The baseball season began 5 days later. Football was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. The Stanley Cup Finals were in progress, and, the next day, the Detroit Red Wings beat the New York Rangers, 3-0 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, to win the Stanley Cup. So there were no scores on this day.