TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at 12:30 and 10 a.m. ET is Leslie Kardos' The Strip (1951), with Mickey Rooney, Sally Forrest, William Demarest, James Craig, Kay Brown and Tom Powers

By David in TN
friday, november 21, 2025 at 7:11:00 p.m. est

TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at 12:30 and 10 a.m. ET is Leslie Kardos' The Strip (1951), with Mickey Rooney, Sally Forrest, William Demarest, James Craig, Kay Brown and Tom Powers.

Film Noir Guide: "When his girlfriend (Forrest) is found shot and his ex-boss (Craig) is murdered, jazz drummer Rooney is questioned by homicide detective Powers and, via flashback, we hear his side of the sordid tale."

"Wounded in Korea, Rooney leaves the hospital with a new set of drums and heads for Hollywood and, he hopes, a career in music. Along the way he meets bookie Craig, who gives him a job as a phone man in a horse-betting parlor.

"Rooney, while escaping a police raid, runs into Forrest, a pretty wannabe actress, who works as a cigarette girl and dancer in a Sunset Strip dance joint owned by Demarest (Uncle Charlie in TV's My Three Sons). Rooney falls hard for her and signs on as a drummer at the club just so he can be close to her.

"Trying to make an impression, the little drummer makes the mistake of introducing her to Craig, hoping he'll be able to help her break into the movies. But the suave bookie has more on his mind than being helpful, and Forrest doesn't seem to mind the attention. Fearing he's losing his girl, the obsessed Rooney begins following them around."

"This standard crime drama works well thanks to a good performance by Rooney, who did his own drumming, and some terrific jazz from Louis Armstrong and His Band. Crooner Vic Damone appears as himself."

It's hard to believe that Mickey, an ancient show biz veteran, was only about thirty years old when he made this, a pretty conventional b-picture, scriptwise, but unusual in terms of its famous musical cast (Louis Armstrong and his band, et al.), and the mixing of a B-crime movie and musical. During the early '50s, Rooney churned out a few similar B-pictures (Drive a Crooked Road). Aside from Mickey, these pictures were usually forgettable. Today, you could run the story lines via AI. Two notable aspects: Mickey reportedly learned how to play the drums for his role as a drummer, and the original song, by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, and Oscar II, "Give Me a Kiss to Build a Dream on," was up for the Oscar I, for Best Original Song.


"Edna (Kay Brown) has eyes for Stanley (Mickey Rooney) an aspiring drummer who is in trouble with the mob. In addition to this he is in love in another girl and therefore has no interest in Edna." Kay Brown has a sweet voice, but no phrasing. She just sings one run-on sentence.