The Gene Krupa Story
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (November 2017) |
The Gene Krupa Story | |
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![]() 1959 theatrical poster | |
Directed by | Don Weis |
Written by | Orin Jannings |
Produced by | Philip A. Waxman |
Starring | Sal Mineo Susan Kohner James Darren Susan Oliver Red Nichols Bobby Troup Anita O'Day Shelly Manne Buddy Lester |
Cinematography | Charles Lawton Jr. |
Edited by | Edwin H. Bryant Maurice Wright |
Music by | Leith Stevens |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 101 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Gene Krupa Story (also known as Drum Crazy) is a 1959
Plot
![]() | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (April 2011) |
The young Gene Krupa brings home a set of drums and puts them in the family room. His mother and three of his brothers stand by as his father makes it clear, as he has many times before, that he abhors the idea of Gene playing
During rehearsals for some of his initial club performances, Krupa meets a girl named Ethel, who is immediately struck by his drumming. At a swim party, the two have a long conversation about many things. Ethel confides that, after graduation, she wants to go to New York City to study and write music. The two begin to fall in love.
When he gets home, Gene finds that his father has died. Feeling obligated, he goes to study for the priesthood, but at the seminary he feels lost and unable to devote his whole self. He imagines “syncopated versions” of
At home, his old pals are playing in a local speakeasy. Krupa gently rubs the drum set's crash cymbal between his thumb and forefinger; his friend Eddie asks him to sit in with the gang for the summer. Gene struggles with this, still feeling he should be committed to the church. He does quit the seminary, though, and plays with the band. His mother stops in one evening and expresses her disappointment in him. Ethel suggests Krupa's and Eddie's music is better than the dives they play in, that they should go to New York.
The three friends make the jump to New York where the guys struggle to find decent jobs. Ethel lands work as a switchboard operator. Gene and Ethel reaffirm they are in love; Eddie, who was at one time planning to marry her, has been aware of Ethel's feelings for a long time. He harbors no ill-will about it. At an upscale party, in a leap of faith, Krupa takes over the drums and performs with the bandleader
He and Eddie play on recording sessions and in various high-class clubs. After a performance of “
Upon release, Gene speaks with Ken Le May about working in his band, only to be rejected because of the public's perception of Krupa as an addict. He is forced to play in a series of dives and strip joints. Ethel finds him in one of these places and tells him that, through Eddie, she has learned Tommy Dorsey is forming a new band. Dorsey's people have to know how to read music; Gene has never learned that skill and Ethel encourages him to finally do so. He does, under the tutelage of a member of the New York Philharmonic.
Though Dorsey already has a drummer, Eddie gives the bandleader the idea to highlight Krupa in a "special return appearance". The performance starts out great, but hecklers begin jeering him. To the audience's surprise the Tommy Dorsey Band drummer (played by
Cast
- Sal Mineo as Gene Krupa
- Susan Kohner as Ethel Maguire
- James Darren as Eddie Sirota
- Susan Oliver as Dorissa Dinell
- Yvonne Craig as Gloria Corregio
- Lawrence Dobkin as Speaker Willis
- Celia Lovsky as Mother
- Red Nichols as himself
- Bobby Troup as Tommy Dorsey
- Anita O'Day as herself
- Shelly Manne as Davey Tough
- Buddy Lester as himself
Production notes
Krupa himself played the drums on the soundtrack for the film, and for the sequences in which Mineo, as Gene, plays the drums.[3]
Considerable liberty was taken with the actual timeline of events in Gene's life; for example, the picturing of Bix Beiderbecke arriving at a party in Krupa's New York apartment in approximately 1934, whereas Beiderbecke had died in August 1931.
Susan Oliver and Yvonne Craig share a title card in this film. They would each go on to portray green skinned slave girls on Star Trek.
See also
References
- ^ "The Gene Krupa Story (1959)". Archived from the original on November 24, 2017.
- ^ "The Gene Krupa Story". Turner Classic Movies.
- ^ The Gene Krupa Story at Rotten Tomatoes