It Happened on 5th Avenue (titled onscreen as It Happened on Fifth Avenue) is a 1947 American romantic comedy film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Don DeFore, Ann Harding, Charles Ruggles, Victor Moore and Gale Storm. The film follows a clever vagrant as he helps several strangers take shelter in a vacant New York City mansion during the Christmas holidays, unwittingly inviting the mansion's owner and his family to stay with them.
Every winter, Michael J. O'Connor, the second richest man in the world, vacates his 5th Avenue mansion for his winter home in warmer climes. Every winter, Aloysius T. McKeever, a homeless man, moves into the vacated mansion. This particular winter, McKeever meets Jim Bullock, an army veteran who has recently been evicted from his apartment and offers to share the mansion with him. It's not long before the mansion has a few more guests, including two of Jim's army buddies and their wives and children; runaway heiress Trudy Connor; her mother, and even Michael J. O'Connor, himself.
Credits:
Don DeFore as Jim Bullock
Ann Harding as Mary O'Connor
Charlie Ruggles as Michael J. "Mike" O'Connor
Victor Moore as Aloysius T. McKeever
Gale Storm as Trudy O'Connor
Grant Mitchell as Farrow
Edward Brophy as Patrolman Cecil Felton
Alan Hale Jr. as Whitey Temple
Dorothea Kent as Margie Temple
Edward Ryan Jr. as Hank
Cathy Carter as Alice
Arthur Hohl as Patrolman Brady (uncredited)
John Hamilton as Harper (uncredited)
Charles Lane as landlord (uncredited)
0be Reynolds as Finkelhoff the tailor (uncredited)
Quote from Aloysius T. McKeever: And I would like to feel that you're all my friends. For to be without friends is a serious form of poverty.
FYI:
The stew made in this film is called Slumgullion Stew, which is similar to American Goulash with ingredients of beef, pasta, and tomato sauce.
Jim is offered a job at Wheeler Construction in Bolivia at a salary of $12,000 per year, which in 2025 would be $171,000.
The men are getting paid $1 an hour for shoveling snow. One dollar in 1947 is worth $14.50 in 2025.
The runaway girl gets a job at the music store and was paid $30 per week. Adjusted for inflation in 2025, that's $435.00 per week.
Soundtrack:
It's a Wonderful Wonderful Feeling
Lyrics by Harry Revel
Music by Harry Revel
Performed by The King's Men then
Performed by Gale Storm, Don DeFore and Victor Moore
[Sung over the main titles/opening credits, then later as Trudy, Jim and Mac are walking through the park arm in arm in running into Mike.]
