42nd Street is a 1933 American Warner Bros. musical film directed by Lloyd Bacon with choreography by Busby Berkeley. The songs were written by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics), and the script was written by Rian James and James Seymour, with Whitney Bolton (uncredited), from the novel by Bradford Ropes.
The film is a backstage musical, and was very successful at the box office. 42nd Street was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1934, and in 1998 it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2006 this film ranked 13th on the American Film Institute's list of best musicals.
It is 1932, during the early days of the Depression, and Broadway producers Jones (Robert McWade) and Barry (Ned Sparks) put on Pretty Lady, a musical starring beautiful Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels). Brock is involved with industrialist Abner Dillon (Guy Kibbee), who is the show's "angel" (financial backer). But while she is busy keeping Dillon both hooked and at arm's length, she still secretly meets her old vaudeville partner and lover, the out-of-work Pat Denning (George Brent).
Spiraling leapers, wearing Nike sneakers
Some of them laugh, some of them sing
Some of them don't do a goddamn thing
Trip-skipping drifters, grafters and lifters
Chicks with big tits, school boys with zits
Moonlight circus of earthly delights
Pimpmobile cruising the soft velvet night
Deals going down, midnight in town
Down into the subways, the underground tunnels
A musician is playing, a drunk stumbles and mumbles
Out in the park it's scary with frights
Somebody shot out all the streetlights
Hookers and bookies, floozies and boozers
All kinds of misfits, perverts and losers
Out of the limo that looks like a boat
The pimp steps out in a mink fur coat
Sporting a Fedora, that creates its own aura
A ruby-tooth grin and a diamond stick pin
A deal's going down this side of town
People walk on fleet feetOn the way down 42nd Street
Except for the bums, down for the count
That one's dead but no one's found out
And look at the bitch, with her dress up ass
When she moves that thing, she must move it fast
Cop with a nightstick, checking around
A neon lit junkie slides to the ground
Here comes a flasher, a jogger, a punk
Check out that guy, drunk as a skunk
Blinking, reflection, lights melt in the rain
The sidewalks are empty, nothing's the same
4 A.M. people are crashing
Where the hookers are huddled
Colored raindrops are splashing
The deals have gone down, the bimbo's split town
Burned from the hustle, burned from the hype
But under the lights, I'm feeling alright
Come and meet
Those dancing feet
On the avenue I'm taking you to
Forty-Second Street
Hear the beat
Of dancing feet
It's the song I love the melody of
Forty-Second Street
Little nifties from the fifties
Innocent and sweet
Sexy ladies from the eighties
Who are indiscreet
Side by side, they're glorified
Where the underworld
Can meet the elite
Forty-Second Street
Little nifties from the fifties
Innocent, sweet
Sexy ladies from the eighties
Who are indiscreet
Side by side, they're glorified
Where the underworld
Can meet the elite
Forty-Second Street
Forty-Second Street
Naughty, bawdy
Gaudy, sporty
Forty
Had a crazy time down on 42nd street
Ya now the people there are always in the heat
If you don`t tell no lies, look `em in the face
But just one slip of the lip, you`ll be gone without a trace
Too many people say they won`t give a glance
But they`re just too scared and wouldn`t stand a chance
Down on the 42nd street, down on the 42nd street
Well me and the boys, we had to get away
From all the small town clowns, always got something to say
So we packed our bags and headed for the lights
Nothin`s better than a blow-out New York night
When I hit that place that everyone seems to hate
Gonna be myself and make damn sure we stay
Down on the 42nd street, down on the 42nd street
Had a crazy time down on 42nd street
Ya now the people there are always in the heat
If ya wanna lose your mind, end up in lost and found
I know I`ll see you there, makin` all the rounds
Too many people say they won`t give a glance
But they`re just too scared and wouldn`t stand a chance
Peggy and Ensemble:
In the heart of little old New York,
You'll find a thoroughfare.
It's the part of little old New York
That runs into Times Square.
A crazy quilt that "Wall Street Jack" built,
If you've got a little time to spare,
I want to take you there.
Come and meet those dancing feet,
On the avenue I'm taking you to...
Come and meet those dancing feet,
On the avenue I'm taking you to,
Forty-Second Street.
Hear the beat of dancing feet,
It's the song I love the melody of,
Forty-Second Street.
Little "nifties" from the Fifties,
Innocent and sweet;
Sexy ladies from the Eighties,
Who are indiscreet.
They're side by side, they're glorified
Where the underworld can meet the elite,
Forty-Second Street.