Look for the Silver Lining (film)

Look for the Silver Lining is a 1949 American biographical musical film directed by David Butler and written by Phoebe Ephron, Henry Ephron and Marian Spitzer. A biography of Broadway singer-dancer Marilyn Miller, it stars June Haver and Ray Bolger. It was nominated for an Academy Award for best scoring for a musical picture in 1950.

Although the film was popular and made a profit, Haver's performance of Marilyn Miller has been somewhat overlooked in comparison to the more memorable portrayal of Miller by Judy Garland in Till the Clouds Roll By, the 1946 MGM musical biography of the composer Jerome Kern. The film was released by Warner Bros. on July 30, 1949.

Plot
Ohio girl Marilyn Miller ends up joining the vaudeville act of her family, even though she is underage. Her idol, the dancer Jack Donahue, helps her career, as does new dance partner Frank Carter, who elopes with Marilyn after he returns home from World War I.

Frank is killed in a car crash. Marilyn no longer wishes to perform, but changes her mind at the urging of Jack and a New York impresario, Henry Doran, who also persuades Marilyn to marry him. Marilyn returns to the stage, but after a dizzy spell causes her to collapse, she acknowledges that she's been advised by doctors to slow down at the risk of her health. Marilyn insists that, without performing, her life would feel meaningless.

It is Jack Donohue who first spots Marilyn's talents, picking her "at random" from the audience one night and they ad-lib their way through a duet. Donohue keeps turning up on the same bills as the Miller Family, to Papa Miller's great annoyance. Marilyn reads too much into the relationship and thinks Donohue is going to propose. She is stunned to find out he is happily married---and that his "surprise" is an introduction to a British impresario who can give her her big break.

After her marriage, she and Frank Carter establish a tradition of him giving her a china elephant as a good luck charm before each opening night. On the night Frank dies, the elephant arrives by mail, broken in two pieces. The show is a hit,but the bad news comes backstage afterward. Marilyn buries herself in her work, and marries second husband Henry Doran more for business and companionship. But when doctors order her to retire, the film hints that the second marriage may be her salvation from boredom.

Cast

 * June Haver as Marilyn Miller
 * Ray Bolger as Jack Donahue
 * Gordon MacRae as Frank Carter
 * Charlie Ruggles as Caro "Pop" Miller
 * Rosemary DeCamp as Mama Miller
 * Lee and Lyn Wilde as Claire and Ruth Miller
 * Dick Simmons as Henry Doran
 * S. Z. Sakall as Shendorf
 * Walter Catlett as himself
 * George Zoritch as Ballet Specialty
 * Will Rogers Jr. as Will Rogers
 * Lillian Yarbo as Violet (uncredited)
 * Marlo Dwyer as Mitzi (uncredited)
 * Vernon Dent as Heckler (uncredited)
 * Phyllis Coates as Rosie (uncredited)
 * William Forrest as William Taylor, producer (uncredited)
 * Fred Kelsey as Stage Doorman (uncredited)
 * Hank Mann as Stagehand (uncredited)
 * Pierre Watkin as Theatregoer (uncredited)
 * Leo White as Xmas Party Attendee (uncredited)

Box office
According to Warner Bros. records, the film earned $3,089,000 domestically and $1,041,000 foreign.