They Shall Have Music

Frankie is a boy living in New York. His home has broken up and his street is poor. He does not get on with his stepfather. One day the man breaks the boy’s violin. Frankie runs away from home after it. Wandering the streets he gets into a concert hall. The violinist Jascha Heifetz is on the stage. The music he hears moves him deeply. He then finds a music school. The school gives free lessons to poor children. Frankie starts sleeping in the basement. In time he becomes part of the place. But the school itself is in danger of closing. Jascha Heifetz and Joel McCrea take the leads, with Andrea Leeds and Walter Brennan also in the cast, in Archie Mayo’s American film of 1939.