This one's for you Dale




Sometimes it can start with something as simple as a question: "what's your favorite Holiday movie"?
As the years have gone by, I have acquired a small collection of Holiday films and each year as Thanksgiving approaches, I find myself going back to those movies and planning out a schedule of which ones to watch, before
Christmas makes it's final descent.

Every once in awhile I come across an obscure Holiday film and this year was no exception. A good friend
recommended a movie this year that had somehow had fallen way below my radar. The film in question is "It
happend on 5th Avenue". This movie was originally released in 1947 in black and white.

This movie tells the story of a traveling hobo, Aloysius T McKeever (Victor Moore) who takes up residence, along with his dog, Sammy, inside what appears to be a boarded-up mansion long ago abandoned by it's owners.
Like clockwork he returns to the mansion each year Novemer 13th,after the occupants leave for the Winter months.

In his mind he is providing a service to the owners . He uses their electricity, dusts the furniture, winds the clocks, takes bubble baths, and even wears the gentleman's clothes in order to get them a bit of air. He has a system for entering & leaving the house in order to remain undetected, when security makes it's rounds.

During one of these outings, he comes across a man, Jim Bullock (Don DeFore), out in the park, recently evicted by the infamous Michael O'Connor, from his apartment. Normally he would not invite anyone to come back to the house, but in this case he makes an exception and invites this stranger to stay with him.

It is due to this change in his regular routine that things unexpectedly start to happen.
Soon a young woman, Trudy O'Connor (Gale Storm) shows up,appearing to be a thief and before long, through a series of circumstances , she is taking up residence in the house as well.

Jim eventually runs across a few of his Army buddies and their families in serious need of an apartment and you can imagine what happens next......


Before long the owner of the mansion, Michael J. O'Connor (Charles Ruggles) comes looking for his daughter and that is when things start to get really interesting......


This movie was an unexpected delight. It is funny, charming,and has great appeal.
If you are looking for a movie that isn't your typical Holiday fare, look no further.
It Happened on 5th Avenue is a treasure to be discovered.