Uploaded June 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
In this 1938 MGM short “Billy Rose’s Casa Mañana Revue” half the film consists of spectacular scenes from Casa Manana Revue staged by John Murray Anderson during the second edition of the Fort Worth Frontier Centennial when the title of the show was called Fort Worth Frontier Fiesta (1937). The other half of the film was shot on sound stages at MGM, with Lee Dixon, Virginia Grey, Peggy Ryan, Lester Dorr, Billy Rose and others. Scenes were filmed in the MGM studio with sets and costumes that mirrored the Fort Worth show. These shots were cleverly combined with the Fort Worth footage.
None of the music from the stage show is heard in the short; instead we hear music from MGM’s “Born To Dance,” “Broadway Melody of 1938” and others. Although “The Night Is Young and You’re So Beautiful” (by Billy Rose, Dana Suesse and Irving Kahal) is performed in the short, it was filmed in Culver City and the made to look like part of the “Gone With The Wind” number in the stage show. The song was the hit of the first Casa Manana Revue (1936) and was on Your Hit Parade for several weeks in 1937.
By eliminating the Culver City scenes I have been able to piece together the scenes that were actually made in Fort Worth. I added music, some of which was written for Casa Manana, but what I really want to find is the raw footage from Fort Worth that may include the original score. The Fort Worth camerawork is quite good, but perhaps it was shot as silent footage.
In this 1938 MGM short “Billy Rose’s Casa Mañana Revue” half the film consists of spectacular scenes from Casa Manana Revue staged by John Murray Anderson during the second edition of the Fort Worth Frontier Centennial when the title of the show was called Fort Worth Frontier Fiesta (1937). The other half of the film was shot on sound stages at MGM, with Lee Dixon, Virginia Grey, Peggy Ryan, Lester Dorr, Billy Rose and others. Scenes were filmed in the MGM studio with sets and costumes that mirrored the Fort Worth show. These shots were cleverly combined with the Fort Worth footage.
None of the music from the stage show is heard in the short; instead we hear music from MGM’s “Born To Dance,” “Broadway Melody of 1938” and others. Although “The Night Is Young and You’re So Beautiful” (by Billy Rose, Dana Suesse and Irving Kahal) is performed in the short, it was filmed in Culver City and the made to look like part of the “Gone With The Wind” number in the stage show. The song was the hit of the first Casa Manana Revue (1936) and was on Your Hit Parade for several weeks in 1937.
By eliminating the Culver City scenes I have been able to piece together the scenes that were actually made in Fort Worth. I added music, some of which was written for Casa Manana, but what I really want to find is the raw footage from Fort Worth that may include the original score. The Fort Worth camerawork is quite good, but perhaps it was shot as silent footage.
