Carnegie Hall

6.4 / 10 | 2h 24m | United States

1947 | Music | Drama

A mother (Marsha Hunt) wants her son (William Prince) to grow up to be a pianist good enough to play at Carnegie Hall but, when older, the son prefers to play with Vaughn Monroe's orchestra. But Mama's wishes prevail and the son appears at Carnegie Hall as the composer-conductor-pianist of a modern horn concerto, with Harry James as the soloist. Frank McHugh is along as a Carnegie Hall porter and doorman, and Martha O'Driscoll is a singer who provides the love interest for Prince. Throughout the story a brigade of classical music names from the 20th century appear - the conductors Walter Damrosch, Bruno Walter, Artur Rodzinski, Fritz Reiner and Leopold Stokowski; singers Risë Stevens, Lily Pons, Jan Peerce and Ezio Pinza, plus pianist Artur Rubinstein, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky and violinist Jascha Heifetz.