| Variety Girl | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | George Marshall |
| Written by | Monte Brice Edmund Hartmann Frank Tashlin Robert L. Welch |
| Produced by | Danny Dare |
| Starring | Mary Hatcher Olga San Juan DeForest Kelley Frank Ferguson Glenn Tryon Nella Walker Torben Meyer Jack Norton William Demarest |
| Cinematography | Lionel Lindon Stuart Thompson |
| Edited by | LeRoy Stone |
| Music by | Joseph J. Lilley Troy Sanders |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $3.6 million (US rentals)[2] |
Variety Girl is a 1947 Americanmusical comedy film directed byGeorge Marshall and starringMary Hatcher,Olga San Juan,DeForest Kelley,Frank Ferguson,Glenn Tryon,Nella Walker,Torben Meyer,Jack Norton, andWilliam Demarest. It was produced byParamount Pictures. Numerous Paramount contract players and directors make cameos or perform songs, with particularly large amounts of screen time featuringBing Crosby andBob Hope. Among many others, the studio contract players includeGary Cooper,Alan Ladd,Paulette Goddard,Ray Milland,William Holden,Burt Lancaster,Robert Preston,Veronica Lake,William Bendix,Barbara Stanwyck andPaula Raymond.
The opening caption reads, "This picture is dedicated to Variety Clubs, International, "The Heart of Show Business", which beats constantly in behalf of the under-privileged children of the world ... regardless of race, creed or color".[3] The story revolves around two young girls who exchange identities, causing confusion at theVariety Club (show-business charity) and the Paramount studio.
The elaborate closing song, "Harmony," begins with Bing Crosby andBob Hope singing and dancing on stage in matching checkered suits and straw hats, eventually moves to a merry-go-round withGary Cooper in cowboy regalia seated on a plastic horse while talking through a couple of stanzas withBarry Fitzgerald, then gradually incorporates the entire cast, which includes almost everyone under contract to Paramount at the time, in a rousing finale launched byWilliam Holden andRay Milland chasing a scantily-clad woman across a soundstage.
The film includes a five-minute colorPuppetoon segmentRomeow and Julicat byGeorge Pal inTechnicolor which is in black and white in most prints.[citation needed]
Variety wrote that the film "emerges a socko entertainment . . . [Hope] and Crosby click with their "Harmony" routine, a socko number for all its paraphrasing of the "Friendship" routine out ofDu Barry Was a Lady whichBert Lahr andEthel Merman made famous.[5]The New York Times review of October 16, 1947 concluded: "The people who carry along the story are not to be overlooked for they bring to the effort the right spirit of good-natured abandon. Mary Hatcher, who was discovered inOklahoma!, is a very welcome addition to the screen's songbird assembly, and she has a wide-eyed innocent look which won't hurt her either.Variety Girl is hodge-podge, to be sure. But let's not quibble about its lack of form, because it is a hearty slam-bang entertainment wherein the good very definitely outweighs the poor."[6] Mae Tinée of theChicago Daily Tribune wrote, "It would be difficult to select any one of this amiable aggregation for special honors."[7]
The song "Tallahassee" appeared in theBillboard charts with recordings by Bing Crosby andThe Andrews Sisters (#10 position) and byDinah Shore andWoody Herman (#15 spot).[9]