{{Infobox film | name = Footlight Parade | image = Footlight Parade (1933 theatrical poster).jpg | caption = Original 1933 theatrical release poster for Footlight Parade produced by the Cleveland School and Continental Lithograph Corp. in Cleveland. | director = Lloyd BaconBusby Berkeley(musical numbers) | screenplay = Manuel SeffJames Seymour | story = Uncredited:Robert LordPeter Milne | producer = Robert Lord | starring = James CagneyJoan BlondellRuby KeelerDick Powell | cinematography = George Barnes | editing = George Amy | music = Harry Warren (music)Al Dubin (lyrics)Sammy Fain (music)Irving Kahal (lyrics) | studio = | distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures | released = {{Film date|1933|09|30|premiere'|1933|10|21|general}} | runtime = 102 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $703,000 (est.)Warner Bros financial information in The William Shaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 15 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551 | gross = $2.4 million }}Footlight Parade is a 1933 American pre-Code musical film starring James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell and featuring Frank McHugh, Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert and Ruth Donnelly. The film was written by Manuel Seff and James Seymour based on a story by Robert Lord and Peter Milne, and was directed by Lloyd Bacon, with musical numbers created and directed by Busby Berkeley. The film's songs were written by Harry Warren (music), Al Dubin (lyrics), Sammy Fain (music) and Irving Kahal (lyrics), and include "By a Waterfall", "Honeymoon Hotel" and "Shanghai Lil". In 1992, Footlight Parade was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Plot Chester Kent (James Cagney) replaces his failing career as a director of Broadway musicals with a new one as the creator of musical numbers called "prologues", short live stage productions presented in movie theaters before the main feature is shown. He faces pressure from his business partners to continuously create a large number of marketable prologues to service theaters throughout the country, but his job is made harder by a rival who is stealing his ideas, probably with assistance from someone working inside his own company. Kent is so overwhelmed with work that he doesn't realize that his secretary Nan (Joan Blondell) has fallen in love with him and is doing her best to protect him as well as his interests. Kent's business partners