My Gal Sal | |
---|---|
Directed by | Irving Cummings |
Written by | Seton I. Miller Darrell Ware Karl Tunberg Helen Richardson (uncredited contributing writer) |
Based on | story "My Brother Paul" from the book Twelve Men by Theodore Dreiser |
Produced by | Robert Bassler |
Starring | Rita Hayworth Victor Mature Carole Landis |
Cinematography | Ernest Palmer |
Edited by | Robert L. Simpson |
Music by | Leigh Harline Cyril J. Mockridge |
Color process | Technicolor |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 103 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $1.7 million (US rentals) [1] [2] |
My Gal Sal is a 1942 American musical film distributed by 20th Century Fox and starring Rita Hayworth and Victor Mature. The film is a biopic of 1890s German-American composer / songwriter Paul Dresser and singer Sally Elliot. It was based on a biographical essay, sometimes erroneously referred to as a book, by Dresser's younger brother, novelist Theodore Dreiser (Dreiser was the original German family name). Some of the songs portrayed as Dresser's work were actually written by him, but several others were created in the 1890s style for the film by the Hollywood songwriting team of Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin. [3]
Sally Elliott, a musical star meets up with Indiana boy Paul Dresser, a runaway who after a brief stopover with a medicine show arrives in the Gay Nineties era of New York City. He composes the title tune for the fair lady and becomes the toast of Tin Pan Alley. [4]
Indiana boy Paul Dresser runs away from home to become a musician against the wishes of his strict father who is determined Paul will become a minister instead. After being run out of town and left for dead for mistakenly being associated with a conman, he is found by Colonel Truckee - a travelling snake oil salesman - and his medicine show.
There, he meets Mae Collins, who encourages him to join them. During one of his performance, Sally Elliot laughs at Paul which offends him, and her companion, Fred Haviland gives him two tickets to her show, which Paul and Mae attend. However, they are kicked out for being too boisterous. Paul decides that night that he's leaving the medicine show for good and bids Mae goodbye.
Upon his return to New York, he overhears a man playing piano and finds out that Sally has stolen the song he played at the medicine show but added her own lyrics. Paul decides to hire the man he overheard playing the piano as his publisher and joins him in reclaiming his rights over the song. Paul ends up becoming Sally's personal songwriter for her shows.
Paul begins falling for her, despite her engagement to Fred. After writing songs in Sally's apartment the day following the party to celebrate the success of 'Come Tell Me Whats Your Answer (Yes or No)' - the two kiss. From there they achieve success after success. When Paul shows up late to one of many celebration parties with the Countess Mariana Rossini, Sally blows up at Paul and gives him the cold shoulder. Following more petty quarrelling, he proposes marriage to Sally and she accepts.
That night, Paul returns to his apartment and finds the Countess' husband has challenged him to a duel. Enraged at the idea of it alone, Paul storms over to the Countess' home to confront the Count - only to find it was all a ploy by the Countess to see him again. Sally witnesses him returning from the Countess' party and assumes the worst. She breaks their engagement and refuses to sing his music ever again, until Paul sends a man with a song dedicated to her under a pen name which she performs with great success. When he reveals that he was the one who wrote it - after much bickering - the two decide to reconcile.
Choreographer Hermes Pan appears as Hayworth's dance partner in the "Gay White Way" number.
20th Century Fox head Darryl F. Zanuck purchased the story of My Gal Sal from Theodore Dreiser for $50,000 in the summer of 1942. Zanuck initially had the script and the lead role of Sally Elliott tailor-made to fit the talents of Fox's biggest female star at the time, Alice Faye. Faye was going to star with Carole Landis, George Montgomery, and John Shepperd. [5]
However, Faye stated that she was tired of starring in costume musicals and turned the film down. Afterward, the part was offered to Betty Grable, who was becoming known as a successor to Faye at Fox, but who turned it down, believing Fox was over-working her.
Zanuck thereafter had the script rewritten and redirected to showcase Irene Dunne, but her busy film schedule meant holding up production on My Gal Sal for eighteen months. Zanuck subsequently approached the legendary famous diva of early silent and talkies film star Mae West with the role, but she too turned it down. Zanuck considered grooming newcomer Carole Landis for the part, but her screen test failed to impress the producers. Despite not winning the part of Sally Elliott, Landis did end up playing the secondary lead of Mae Collins in the film, because she had already been publicized as appearing in the film.
Zanuck finally approached Harry Cohn, head of Columbia Pictures, about borrowing Rita Hayworth for the film. Zanuck had been impressed with Hayworth's performance in the 1941 film version of Blood and Sand , also for Fox. Cohn, on the other hand, was hoping to buy My Gal Sal from Fox and cast Hayworth in the part upon the film's transfer to Columbia. Zanuck, however, rebuffed at selling the film, but instead offered Hayworth an exclusive two-movie contract to star in My Gal Sal and Tales of Manhattan (1942). Cohn eventually agreed to loan Hayworth to Fox for both movies. [6]
Victor Mature's role was originally meant to be played by Don Ameche. [7]
My Gal Sal received positive reviews upon its 1942 release.
'The trade news publication "Daily Variety said the film was a very "lively, merry musical treat. A pricture crammed with color, songs, and movement, carrying broad appeal for all theatergoers, both young and old." Hayworth was proclaimed to have done a "beautiful job" as Sally, while Victor Mature turned out an "impressing performance" as Dresser.
Life magazine stated: My Gal Sal hits a current demand, both in the movies and in radio, for the nostalgic delights of the 1890s."
The film went on to become one of the most-successful Fox films during 1942.
Some of Rita Hayworth's lines were sampled in the Pet Shop Boys 1996 track "Electricity." The film happened to be playing on television while the track was being recorded, and was not publicly identified until 2019. [8]
The film won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Color (Richard Day, Joseph C. Wright and Thomas Little). It also was nominated for Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture (Alfred Newman). [9]
The film was reissued in 1949 together with The House on 92nd Street to capitalize on the publicity of Hayworth's marriage to Prince Aly Khan. [10]
A Letter to Three Wives is a 1949 American romantic drama directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and starring Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell and Ann Sothern. The film was adapted by Vera Caspary and written for the screen by Mankiewicz from A Letter to Five Wives, a story by John Klempner that appeared in Cosmopolitan, based on Klempner's 1945 novel.
Elizabeth Ruth Grable was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model and singer.
Rita Hayworth was an American actress, dancer, and pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and appeared in 61 films in total over 37 years. The press coined the term "The Love Goddess" to describe Hayworth, after she had become the most glamorous screen idol of the 1940s. She was the top pin-up girl for GIs during World War II.
Victor John Mature was an American stage, film, and television actor who was a leading man in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. His best known film roles include One Million B.C. (1940), My Darling Clementine (1946), Kiss of Death (1947), Samson and Delilah (1949), and The Robe (1953). He also appeared in many musicals opposite such stars as Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable.
Alice Faye was an American actress and singer. A musical star of 20th Century-Fox in the 1930s and 1940s, Faye starred in such films as On the Avenue (1937) and Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938). She is often associated with the Academy Award–winning standard "You'll Never Know", which she introduced in the 1943 musical film Hello, Frisco, Hello.
Paul Dresser was an American singer, songwriter, and comedic actor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Dresser performed in traveling minstrel and medicine-wagon shows and as a vaudeville entertainer for decades, before transitioning to music publishing later in life. His biggest hit, "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" (1897), was the best selling song of its time. Although Dresser had no formal training in music composition, he wrote ballads that had wide appeal, including some of the most popular songs of the era. During a career that spanned nearly two decades, from 1886 to 1906, Dresser composed and published more than 150 songs. Following the success of "Wabash", many newspapers compared Dresser to popular composer Stephen Foster. "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" became the official song of Indiana in 1913. The Paul Dresser Birthplace in Terre Haute is designated as a state shrine and memorial. Dresser was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
Harry Cohn was a co-founder, president, and production director of Columbia Pictures Corporation.
"On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" is a song written and composed by the American songwriter Paul Dresser in 1897. It is among the best-selling songs of the 19th century, earning over $100,000 from sheet-music revenues. Written and composed by American songwriter Paul Dresser, it was published by the Tin Pan Alley firm of Howley, Haviland and Company in October 1897. The lyrics of the ballad reminisce about life near Dresser's childhood home by the Wabash River in Indiana, United States. The song remained popular for decades, and the Indiana General Assembly adopted it as the official state song on March 14, 1913. The song was the basis for a 1923 film of the same title. Its longtime popularity led to the emergence of several lyrical versions, including an 1898 anti-war song and a Swedish version that was a number-one hit.
Cover Girl is a 1944 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Charles Vidor, and starring Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly. The film tells the story of a chorus girl given a chance at stardom when she is offered an opportunity to be a highly paid cover girl. It was one of the most popular musicals of the war years.
Hermes Pan was an American dancer and choreographer, principally remembered as Fred Astaire's choreographic collaborator on the famous 1930s movie musicals starring Astaire and Ginger Rogers. He worked on nearly two dozen films and TV shows with Astaire. He won both an Oscar and an Emmy for his dance direction.
The Loves of Carmen is a 1948 American adventure drama romance film directed by Charles Vidor. The film stars Rita Hayworth as the gypsy Carmen and Glenn Ford as her doomed lover Don José.
Blood and Sand is a 1941 American Technicolor film drama starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Rita Hayworth and Nazimova. Directed by Rouben Mamoulian, it was produced by 20th Century Fox and was based on the 1908 Spanish novel Blood and Sand by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez. The supporting cast features Anthony Quinn, Lynn Bari, Laird Cregar, J. Carrol Naish, John Carradine and George Reeves. Rita Hayworth's singing voice was dubbed by Gracilla Pirraga.
Nob Hill is a 1945 Technicolor film about a Barbary Coast, San Francisco, United States saloon keeper, starring George Raft and Joan Bennett. Part musical and part drama, the movie was directed by Henry Hathaway. It remains one of Raft's lesser known movies even though it was a big success, in part because it was a musical.
My Gal Sal is a 1942 American musical film.
Pal Joey is a 1957 American musical comedy film directed by George Sidney, loosely adapted from the Rodgers and Hart musical play of the same name, and starring Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra, and Kim Novak.
Alleen Mae Beller, also known as Sally Starr, was a prominent 1950s and 1960s celebrity television personality. Using a cowgirl persona, she appealed to local TV audiences of several generations of children through American radio, Broadway stage, movies and as a recording artist for more than sixty years. Fans remained loyal in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, and embraced her cowgirl personality as part of their own family identity, and sometimes referred to her as "Aunt Sally" or "Our Gal Sal."
Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake is a 1942 American south seas adventure film directed by John Cromwell and starring Tyrone Power. The film was adapted from Edison Marshall's 1941 historical novel Benjamin Blake. It is notable as the last film Frances Farmer appeared in before her legal problems and eventual commitment to psychiatric hospitals until 1950.
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