Summer Holiday

Two artists who know all about translating America into Americana -- Arthur Freed, who produced Meet Me in St. Louis, and Rouben Mamoulian, who directed the original Broadway production of Oklahoma! -- work some turn-of-the-century magic again with Summer Holiday. This Technicolor -glorious version of Eugene O'Neill's beloved coming-of-age play Ah, Wilderness! boasts Harry Warren/Ralph Blane tunes as spirited as the 4th of July. The splendid cast is headed by Mickey Rooney (who played the youngest brother in 1935's Ah, Wilderness!) as a lad from a warm, eccentric family who graduates from high school and into Life, complete with grand ideas, chorus girls and his first beer. The Stanley Steamer is waiting. Hop in!