#OTD in 1949, the MGM musical "On the Town" premiered. Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and Jules Munshin star as sailors who are given 24-hour liberty to experience New York for the first time. USS Nicholson (DD-442) stands in as their ship. #MovieMonday | U.S. Naval Institute

ON THE TOWN ('49) is undoubtedly one of the key works in the development of the Hollywood musical thanks to Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly. In addition to shooting in New York, their use of modern dance to advance the plot was innovative for its time. This style of dancing also set the precedent for Kelly's later works like AN AMERICAN IN PARIS ('51) and INVITATION TO DANCE ('56). #SummerUnderTheStars | Turner Classic Movies: TCM

On the Town is a 1949 Technicolor musical film with music by Leonard Bernstein and Roger Edens and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. It is an adaptation of the Broadway stage musical of the same name produced in 1944 (which itself is an adaptation of the Jerome Robbins ballet entitled Fancy Free which was also produced in 1944),although many changes in script and score were made from the original stage version; for instance, most of Bernstein's score was dropped in favor of new s