Show Girl in Hollywood

Show Girl in Hollywood (1930)

Genres - Comedy, Drama, Music  |   Sub-Genres - Parody/Spoof  |   Release Date - Apr 20, 1930 (USA - Unknown), Apr 20, 1930 (USA)  |   Run Time - 77 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson

This wonderful Warner Bros. epic was one of the earliest talkie musicals with a Hollywood background -- and the last of its kind until 1933's Sitting Pretty. Alice White stars as pert chorine Dixie Dugan, a character she'd played in 1928's Show Girl (and one which would spin off into a long-running comic strip). This time, Dixie is brought to Hollywood to appear in a music titled The Rainbow Girl. Thanks to the urgings of her egotistical director (John Miljan), the normally down-to-earth heroine begins acting like a haughty screen queen. Her temperamental behavior causes a shut-down of the production, ruining the comeback attempt of fading star Donna Harris (played by Blanche Sweet, who at 36 looks far younger than her "over-the-hill" character, who's supposed to be 32!) When Donna nearly commits suicide, Dixie realizes what a jerk she's been, and the show -- er, the movie -- goes on. A surprisingly accurate scene from Show Girl in Hollywood, showing a musical number "in production" on the sound stage has since been excerpted in several TV documentaries on the early sound era. The film originally ended with a Technicolor sequence depicting the premiere of the fictional The Rainbow Girl, with several Warner Bros. employees (Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, Loretta Young and Walter Pidgeon) in attendance.

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Keywords

filmmaker, nightclub, producer [showbiz], showgirl, stars [celebrities]