So This Is Love (subtitled The Grace Moore Story[4]) is a 1953 American musicaldrama film directed by Gordon Douglas, based on the life of singer Grace Moore. The film stars Kathryn Grayson as Moore, and Merv Griffin.[5] The story chronicles Moore's rise to stardom from 1918 to February 7, 1928 when she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera.
Plot
Grace Moore (Kathryn Grayson) dreams of being a great opera singer. She starts out singing at a nightclub, where she meets her boyfriend Buddy (Merv Griffin). She takes singing lessons and Buddy pressures her to marry him and move out of the city. Grace, however, cannot give up on her career.
At one point her dreams may be dashed, as poor singing instruction has inflamed her vocal cords. Under the direction of a new, better voice coach, she is told to rest and not speak for three months. She does so, but Buddy Nash marries another woman while Grace is secluded in a cabin.
Upon Grace's return to New York City, she is able to sing again and continues her lessons. She is hired as an understudy in a musical and takes over when the leading lady (Marie Windsor) falls ill. Grace's performance impresses the producers so much that she is made a star on Broadway. Her next boyfriend, Bryan Curtis (Douglas Dick), dates her for two years before insisting they marry, to which Grace agrees.
When Grace auditions for the Metropolitan Opera, she is told that she lacks experience and that her youth, charm and voice are better suited to musical comedies. She wagers Otto Kahn (Roy Gordon), the Manager of Metropolitan Opera, that she will perform there within two years. She quits her musical contract and books passage to Europe in order to get better vocal training. Bryan says he can't compete with her dream and ends their engagement.
Two years later Grace has returned and sings in a starring role at the Metropolitan. She is a success and has finally achieved her dream to be an opera star.
According to her 1959 autobiography My Story, actress Mary Astor wrote that in late 1952, she had been initially cast by Warner Brothers in So This Is Love (then titled The Grace Moore Story) for the role of Aunt Laura Stokley. Before actual filming began, Astor had even made some camera tests but had to bow out of the film after breaking her leg from a fall in her home. The role went to Rosemary DeCamp. (My Story: An Autobiography by Mary Astor pgs. 219-220 Windham Press)
Release
So This Is Love was the first major film to premiere in Tennessee, Moore's home state.[6]
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