It Happened on 5th Avenue

It Happened on 5th Avenue

Aloysius T. McKeever is a hobo who makes his home in a boarded-up Fifth Avenue mansion. He takes in ex-G.I. Jim Bullock and Trudy Smith, the runaway daughter of Michael J. O’Connor, the second richest man in the world. Mc Keever comes up with an idea to convert unused post-war Army barracks into much-needed housing.

About It Happened on 5th Avenue in brief

Summary It Happened on 5th AvenueAloysius T. McKeever is a hobo who makes his home in a boarded-up Fifth Avenue mansion. He takes in ex-G. I. Jim Bullock and Trudy Smith, the runaway daughter of Michael J. O’Connor, the second richest man in the world. Mc Keever comes up with an idea to convert unused post-war Army barracks into much-needed housing. To try to get rid of his daughter’s suitor, he offers him a well-paying job in Bolivia, on the condition that he be single. It Happened on Fifth Avenue was Allied Artists’ first production. It was released on Christmas Eve, 1946, with an estimated box office box office return of 1.8 million. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story, losing to Valentine Davies and another Christmas-themed story, Miracle on 34th Street.

Among the four songs in the movie, What Means to Me was not released until Easter 1947, but was not the movie’s release date for an unknown reason. The movie was originally optioned by Frank Capra in 1945 for director Roy Del Ruth, but later that year Liberty Films acquired the option. The casting of Victor Moore, Ann Harding, Don DeFore and Gale Storm was announced in June 1946, and filming proceeded from August 5 to August 5, 1946. The production and Christmastime climax of the movie was not announced until mid-October 1946, but for unknown reasons, the studio announced a Christmas release for Easter 1947.