The Barkleys of Broadway is a 1949 American Technicolor musical comedy film from the Arthur Freed unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that reunited Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers after ten years apart.

Directed by Charles Walters, the screenplay is by Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Sidney Sheldon, the songs are by Harry Warren (music) and Ira Gershwin (lyrics) with the addition of "They Can't Take That Away from Me" by George and Ira Gershwin, and the choreography was created by Robert Alton and Hermes Pan.

Rogers came in as a last-minute replacement for Judy Garland, whose frequent absences due to a dependence on prescription medication cost her the role.

Sometime later, Bert Felsher, the musical's director, feels Josh and Dinah's temperamental relationship is affecting the show.

He and Ezra Millar, a musical composer and friend of the Barkleys, introduce the couple to Shirlene May, who has been hired as Dinah's understudy.

From there, the Barkleys announce their separation as Josh proceeds to perform solo in his next musical while Dinah auditions for Jacques's play.

At Dinah's audition, Ezra attempts to persuade her into performing at a hospital benefit concert by claiming Josh will not be attending, but she declines.

The Barkleys of Broadway was conceived under the working title You Made Me Love You, with Judy Garland in the lead role opposite Fred Astaire, a repeat of their pairing in Easter Parade (1948).

In fact, producer Arthur Freed had Comden and Green working on the script for the new film even before Easter Parade was finished.

[2] Three other Harry Warren-Ira Gershwin songs were intended for the film but never used: "The Courtin' of Elmer and Ella," "Natchez on the Mississippi," and "Poetry in Motion.

Betty Comden and Adolph Green were nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical.