Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven

Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven (1948)

Where the Buckaroos "Take" Flatbush...

Eddie Tayloe's grandfather leaves him six thousand dollars and the money belt it came in, freeing Tayloe to leave his dull newspaper job in Texas and move to New York to become a playwright. Along the way, his car breaks down and a girl walking along the highway asks for a lift. It turns out she's a nice girl, named Perry, running away from a job at a gasoline station. Soon they're off to New York together, but part ways once they arrive. Time passes and Eddie is failing to sell his play; Perry is failing to find a job. Odd circumstances, involving an old pickpocket named Mandy, bring them together again.

Date of release
1948-07-16
TMDB
5.8 / 10 (4)
Runtime
1h 16m
Genres
Comedy
Director
William Castle

Casting

Interesting facts

Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven is a 1948 American black-and-white romantic comedy film directed by William Castle and starring Guy Madison, Diana Lynn, James Dunn, and Florence Bates. A reporter in Dallas, Texas goes to New York with the dream of becoming a playwright. En route, he picks up a hitchhiker who wants to visit Brooklyn and live with horses. The two encounter a variety of zany characters living in Brooklyn before returning to Texas together to live on a horse ranch. The script was based on the best-selling 1943 novel Eddie and The Archangel Mike by Barry Benefield.

Production

The screenplay was adapted from the best-selling 1943 novel Eddie and the Archangel Mike by Barry Benefield. Critic Don Graham notes that a poll taken in the early 1940s indicated that Texas, Brooklyn, and Heaven were the places that had the biggest box-office appeal; he opines that the screenplay was therefore crafted around the title concept.

This was director William Castle's first comedy film. Jordan notes that many elements of the characters' lives parallel Castle's own life experiences.

The two lead actors, Guy Madison and Diana Lynn, received top billing over the title. A special note in the opening credits states: "Mr. Guy Madison appears by arrangement with David O. Selznick". The film marked the second screen appearance for Audie Murphy, who has a bit part as a copy boy. Murphy received $500 for the part and was allowed to keep four shirts that he wore for a promotional ad.

Ervin Drake and Jimmy Shirl wrote the music and lyrics for the title song, "Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven".

Filming took place from mid-January to mid-February 1948. Graham notes that the establishing shots of downtown Dallas in the beginning of the film include a view of the Texas School Book Depository in Dealey Plaza, which later played an infamous role in the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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