Which 1949 MGM musical casts Sinatra as sailor Chip in New York City?
Answer
On the Town
The 1949 MGM musical that casts Frank Sinatra as sailor Chip in New York City is On the Town.
The film follows three sailors enjoying a 24-hour shore leave in New York during World War II. Sinatra plays Chip, while Gene Kelly plays Gabey and Jules Munshin plays Ozzie. Their characters set out to experience the city and meet women before returning to duty.
On the Town began as a 1944 Broadway musical by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, based on Jerome Robbins’s ballet Fancy Free. MGM adapted it for the screen, and the film opened on December 8, 1949. Gene Kelly also co-directed it with Stanley Donen.
The title can be confused with Sinatra’s other sailor film, Anchors Aweigh, released in 1945 and also starring Gene Kelly. On the Town is the New York shore-leave story, and its best-known surviving musical number is “New York, New York.”