Fundoo Times
Given here is the story of the musical film, Easter Parade. Find out the plot and summary of Easter Parade in this article.

Easter Parade

Turn your Easter celebrations more special and memorable by playing the musical film, Easter Parade. Released in 1948, this is an American musical movie, featuring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire in the lead roles. The music, given by Irving Berlin, included some of the best known songs of those times, such as "Steppin' Out With My Baby" and "We're a Couple of Swells." The movie revolves around a dancing couple who perform in a number of shows. While one star leaves, the other vows to pick up an ordinary female and turn her into the new star for next Easter parade. With a number of twists and misunderstandings, this movie is a must watch on Easter. Watch out for the classic songs!

Story
The movie starts off with Broadway star Don Hewes (Fred Astaire) buying presents for his dancing partner and girlfriend, Nadine Hale (Ann Miller) and ends up with a cuddly Easter rabbit. On offering the gift, he learns that Nadine has been offered to perform as a solo star at a show. Don persuades to change her mind and almost succeeds. But with the entry of Don's best friend, Johnny (Peter Lawford), Nadine reveals the truth that she is attracted to Johnny and hence, she and Don are no more a team. Don heads to a bar and as expected, Johnny too follows him. He tries to convince him to talk to Nadine but to no success.

To prove that Nadine is not important to him, Don tells that he can convert any dancer into a star. After Johnny leaves, he picks up an innocent girl dancing on the stage, Hannah Brown (Judy Garland) promising to make her a star in the next Easter parade. Practice starts and Hannah performs a duet with one of the members of the band. Trying to make Nadine out of Hannah, Don teaches her dance in the same manner, gets her the same dresses and gives her an exotic stage name, Juanita. But as expected, Hannah makes umpteen mistakes in her debut performance and the show results in a big disaster.

Johnny is attracted towards Hannah in their first meeting. Realizing his mistake, he starts afresh with Hannah to suit her personality. They succeed and their next performance gets a better response than their previous one. Popularly known as "Hannah & Hewes", they perform as a couple a number of times. At an audition for one show, the couple meets Nadine wherein Hannah comes to know that Nadine was Dons' former partner and wants to know if the two are still in love. Though selected, Don turns down the offer stating that Nadine and Hannah would not work well together. Here enters Johnny and takes Hannah out for a dinner and confesses his love for Hannah. Hannah spits out that she loves Don. However, Hannah and Johnny stay close to each other.

Nadine performs and Don goes to see it but is highly unimpressed. Later, he meets Hannah and tells that both would be starring in a show and invites her to celebrate. Hannah agrees and goes, but gets upset when she is only asked to give a rehearsal. She reveals that he does not notice her and all her efforts have gone in vain. Don stops her, kisses her and admits that he too loves her. Both perform in a variety of shows and become popular. Nadine gets jealous and asks Don to perform on one of their old numbers. He agrees but Hannah gets upset. Misunderstandings continue as Don is thrown from the apartment by the house detective.

Hannah meets Johnny only to resolve the misunderstandings. The nest morning, Don receives a number of gifts as it is Easter only to be unaware that they are from Hannah. As Don and Hannah walk down the Easter parade, Don proposes to Hannah and the rest, as they say, is history.