Joan B and her Two Sisters

We returned from the Christmas holiday week to discuss Three Girls About Town (1941), which stars Joan Blondell as Hope Banner and Binnie Barnes as sister Faith.  The girls work as hostesses in a convention hotel, and are pooling their funds to get their younger sister Charity (Janet Blair) through private school.  Of course, complications arise - first, Charity runs away from school and decides that Hope's boyfriend, reporter Tommy Hopkins (John Howard) is just perfect for her.  Then, to top it all off, the girls discover a corpse in one of the hotel rooms, and decide the best way to avoid a scandal at the hotel (and lose the business of a convention of morticians) is to get the body out of the hotel without anyone's knowledge.  A task that is much easier said than done.

The film has the feeling of the The Marx Brothers meet Weekend at Bernie's, with the dead body being toted all over the hotel, and passed off as a very tired man.  Though the plot is rather strained (you KNOW the body is going to end up in one of the morticians' display caskets), it has some amusing moments - a scene in which John Howard and our dead friend sit in on a poker game, and our "lucky stiff" (yes, that's what they said), keeps winning poker hands is actually very funny. Naturally, as long as he is winning, Tommy and friend can't leave; and try as he might to lose, Tommy just can't get the wrong cards.

Another amusing bit has Hope trying to rid herself of a persistent drunk, who is singing in the hallway outside the dead man's room.  To shoo him away, Hope tells him that there is "a singer is in the next room - Dick Powell".  Joan Blondell was married to Powell at this point, so the "in" joke would have been very obvious for the audience.  (The Blondell-Powell union lasted until 1945, when Powell left after falling in love with June Allyson).

Another bit of trivia - our trio of actresses were not originally considered for the parts of the Banner sisters:  the studio first wanted Constance Bennett, Joan Bennett and Virginia Bruce.  While it would have been amusing to see the Bennett sisters together, Virginia Bruce, who was already 30, would have been far too old (lovely as she was) to pass for the approximately 17 year old Charity.  Janet Blair, who was just 20 when the film was released, was far closer to Charity's age.  Blair certainly looks older than 17 in this, but Charity is purposely dressing up to look older.  It does work better to try to make Blair look older than it would have done to make Bruce look like a kid playing dress-up.  And while our heroines, Hope and Faith are accused by the local woman's group of being indecent, it's Charity who is actually a bit of slut.  One looks forward to Charity getting her comeuppance - she is truly an unethical brat.

Also seen in bit parts are Charles Lane as an undertaker, Una O'Connell as a scrubwoman, and a VERY young Lloyd Bridges (blink and you'll miss him) as a reporter.  We especially enjoyed seeing Bridges appear - he's quite handsome, and while you only get a glimpse of him, his voice is distinctive.

The film was directed by Leigh Jason.  We were familiar with one of his films - Dangerous Blondes, which we discussed in September, and we hope to be looking at some of his films with Barbara Stanwyck (The Mad Miss Manton and The Bride Walks Out) in the future.  Jason had a lengthy career, which extended from the silent era to 50's television.  He appears to have finally retired in 1961; he died in 1979, at age 74.

We'll return next week with a film with a more historical focus. We hope you will join us then.

Cary Meets a Dancing Caterpillar

Once Upon a Time (1944) is not one of Cary Grant's best known films.  A war-time film, with no mention of the conflict, it is a fairy tale designed to entertain and allow escape from the horrors of that war.  The film is based on a 30 minute radio play "My Client Curley," by Norman Corwin (which was based on a short story by Lucille Fletcher Herrmann).  It aired on the Columbia Workshop on March 7, 1940, with Fred Allen in the lead role (the radio play was redone in 1946, this time with Robert Montgomery in the lead).  It's hard to imagine Cary Grant in a role which Fred Allen initiated, but the studio originally wanted Humphrey Bogart, then Brian Donlevy for that part. Either would have resulted in a very different film.

The action opens on Jerry Flynn (Cary Grant), a Broadway producer, who after three flops is about to lose his theatre. He's literally down to his last nickel, so when he sees two young boys performing on the street, he tosses the coin to them.  The boy who is obviously in charge of the operation, Arthur "Pinky" Thompson (Ted Donaldson), insists Jerry gets his nickel's worth, and look into the shoebox, which his friend holds.  Pinky plays "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" on his harmonica, as Jerry peers into the box.  There, Jerry sees Curley, young Pinky's pet caterpillar.   And Curley is dancing in time to the music.  Jerry hatches a plan - he will sign Pinky on as a client, sell Curley to the highest bidder, and use the proceeds to save his theatre. 

Having Cary Grant play Jerry contributes to making this film sympathetic.  It's hard to dislike Grant, but Jerry is eminently unlikeable.  He's vain and greedy - yes, he is having a bad stretch, but he is quite willing to betray a child to save himself.  At one point, he even slaps Pinky, but Grant is an actor who is able to come back from that incident, and make us believe that Jerry is repentant.  It is hard to think of either Bogart or Donlevy being able to re-engage the audience after that particular incident.  Though both are magnificent actors, both had been on the wrong side of the law too often to engender that kind of sympathy. 

Another almost-ran in the film was Rita Hayworth, but she went on suspension rather than accept the role of Pinky's sister Jeannie.  It's not hard to see why.  Janet Blair does her best with Jeannie, but there is precious little to work with.  Regardless, Blair had a respectable career, starting as one of the Three Girls About Town (1941).  She was Rosalind Russell's choice for Eileen in My Sister Eileen (1942),  and even ventured into television as Henry Fonda's wife in The Smith Family.  She died in 2007 of pneumonia, at age 85.  

The film shines all its light on Grant and Donaldson; while we have wonderful actors in the cast, including James Gleason as Jerry's right-hand man, McGillicuddy (aka The Moke) and William Demarest as a reporter named Brandt (who dislikes Flynn intensely), they get almost nothing to do.  But young Ted Donaldson shines in his first role - he is sweet and engaging as Pinky, but never sloppy.  He (and Grant) make us believe in a dancing caterpillar we never actually see.  This TCM article discusses the long, friendly relationship between Grant and Donaldson, with Grant (and then wife Betsy Drake) even attending Donaldson's high school graduation.  Years later, Donaldson would pen a heartfelt letter (synopsized in Evenings with Cary Grant) to Grant, thanking him for his friendship.  Donaldson would continue in films until 1953, appearing in the Rusty series and as Peggy Ann Garner's younger brother in the wonderful A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, as well as voicing Bud on the radio version of Father Knows Best. But, like so many child actors, he found no demand for her services as a teen and young adult, so left acting to write.  This chapter in Growing Up on the Set will provide some insight into Donaldson's later life.

We'll end this week's discussion with a clip of Cary Grant trying to get an "angel", in the form of a banker who is about to foreclose on the Flynn Theatre. While not a great film Once Upon a Time is worth a look, just to see Cary Grant. We'll return after the holiday!

Rita Entertains the Troops

Tonight and Every Night (1945) is the story of a small London theatre, the Music Box, which was able to continue performing every night during World War II, despite the constant bombings that plagued the city.  The film opens late in the war, with the arrival of a "Life" magazine reporter, who is doing a story on this remarkable achievement.  As he interviews performer Rosalind Bruce (Rita Hayworth), an American who was there from the beginning, we flash back to her recollections of the start of the war.

The music and dance in this film are the stage shows that our cast, Rosalind, Judy Kane (Janet Blair), Tommy Lawson (Mark Platt) and their colleagues put on at the theatre.  The songs aren't "book songs" - they don't advance the action of the story at all, which is unfortunate, as we would have liked a little more backstory concerning our performers. Why are both Rosalind and Judy in England? And what about Tommy? We know he worked in a store, but we would have liked to have learned more.  We also are given a love triangle: Judy loves Tommy, Tommy loves Rosalind, and Rosalind loves RAF Pilot Paul Lundy (Lee Bowman), and a story of friendship: the relationship between Judy and Rosalind is one of true loyalty to each other.  But, at times, we yearned for more depth about our characters, and it just wasn't forthcoming.

The story line is actually factually based.  The Windmill Theatre (which still exists) in London had the motto "We Never Closed", as it remained open throughout World War II.  The full story of the Windmill was told in the 2005 film Mrs. Henderson Presents, starring Judi Dench.  Our version of the story was based on a play about the Windmill called Heart of the City (the name of the theatre was changed due to copyright issues).  This article on the TCM Website will provide a bit more information about the history of Tonight and Every Night. 

There are some particularly good numbers in this film.  We were particularly taken with Janet Blair's rendition of the title song.  Staged as Judy summons London residents from a filmed newsreel, the number is imaginative, and beautifully done.  We especially liked the change from b&w to color as the performers emerge from "reel" to "real" life.  Also amazing is Mark Platt's improvisational audition.  Confessing that he dances at home to whatever is on the radio, theatre owner May "Tolly" Tolliver (Florence Bates) moves a radio dial to summon up a variety of different musical styles.  Finally, Tommy performs an impressive dance to speech by Adolph Hitler!  You can see that number in the clip below:
The film does a good job of painting a picture of life during the Blitz - the bravery of the performers in not only remaining in London, but performing despite extreme danger is made very clear.  We learn of other theatres that are damaged or destroyed, and we are affected by the casualties of the bombing.  Though the war was almost at an end when the film was released (January of 1945), filming probably occurred during the summer of 1944, as the Allied forces were invading the European mainland.  Rita Hayworth's daughter Rebecca was born in December of 1944, and Hayworth was pregnant during film. Dance scenes were filmed immediately, before the pregnancy would show.  Later scenes camouflaged  her condition with loose fitting clothing and muffs.  It's especially apparent in the "The Boy I Left Behind" number, where she wears long underwear, and the song "What Does an English Girl Think of a Yank". Rita's singing is dubbed again, but the dancing is all her.  And, as always, she is magnificent.

In closing, here is the lovely Ms. Hayworth in "You Excite Me", widely touted as one of her best routines in any of her films: