Three for the Show | |
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Directed by | H. C. Potter |
Written by | Edward Hope Leonard B. Stern |
Based on | Home and Beauty by W. Somerset Maugham |
Produced by | Jonie Taps |
Starring | Betty Grable Jack Lemmon Gower Champion Marge Champion |
Cinematography | Arthur E. Arling |
Edited by | Viola Lawrence |
Music by | George Duning |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 93 minutes 89 minutes (Sony print) |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $1.25 million (US) [1] |
Three for the Show is a 1955 Technicolor and in CinemaScope musical comedy remake of Too Many Husbands . It stars actress Betty Grable, in her last musical, opposite Jack Lemmon, Gower Champion and Marge Champion. It is based on the 1919 play Home and Beauty by W. Somerset Maugham, which was retitled to Too Many Husbands when it came to New York. [2]
Singing-and-dancing stage star Julie (Betty Grable) is told that husband Marty (Jack Lemmon) is reported missing in action during the Korean War. After a long waiting period, she makes plans to marry Vernon (Gower Champion), who is Marty's best friend. After the marriage, Marty (who crashed but survived on an island) turns up at one of Julie's shows. Upon discovering Julie's new marriage, Marty demands his rights as her first husband.
Julie finds that she is legally married to both Marty and Vernon. She soon realises that she must choose who she wants to be with, if only to avoid being branded a bigamist. But Julie loves the idea of having two husbands and so she decides to try to live with them both, to the annoyance and disapproval of Marty and Vernon who both know that her idea will not work out.
Meanwhile, Julie's close friend Gwen (Marge Champion) has a secret crush on Marty and hopes to be with him, if only Julie could make her up mind as to who she wants. After a long serious decision and a talk with them both, Julie decides that she is more in love with Marty and she leaves Vernon, who has now fallen for Gwen.
The New York Times called the film a "slight but cheerful item" and said "Three for the Show does serve to bring Betty Grable back to the screen. Luminously blonde and shapely enough to give the megrims to most of the readers of fan magazines, Miss Grable proves she can fill a musical, assignment as neatly as she does her pleasantly revealing wardrobe. [3]
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Gwyneth Evelyn "Gwen" Verdon was an American actress and dancer. She won four Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances, and she served as an uncredited choreographer's assistant and specialty dance coach for theater and film. Verdon was a critically acclaimed performer on Broadway in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, having originated many roles in musicals, including Lola in Damn Yankees, the title character in Sweet Charity, and Roxie Hart in Chicago.
Elizabeth Ruth Grable was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model and singer.
Jill St. John is an American retired actress. She is best known for playing Tiffany Case, the first American Bond girl of the James Bond film franchise, in 1971's Diamonds Are Forever. Additional performances in film include Holiday for Lovers, The Lost World, Tender Is the Night, Come Blow Your Horn, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination, Who's Minding the Store?, Honeymoon Hotel, The Liquidator, The Oscar, Tony Rome, Sitting Target and The Concrete Jungle.
Gower Carlyle Champion was an American actor, theatre director, choreographer, and dancer.
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My Favorite Wife, is a 1940 screwball comedy produced by Leo McCarey and directed by Garson Kanin.
Marjorie Celeste Champion was an American dancer and actress. At fourteen, she was hired as a dance model for Walt Disney Studios animated films. Later, she performed as an actress and dancer in film musicals, and in 1957 had a television show based on song and dance. She also did creative choreography for liturgy, and served as a dialogue and movement coach for the 1978 TV miniseries, The Awakening Land, set in the late 18th century in the Ohio Valley.
Bring Your Smile Along is a 1955 American Technicolor comedy film by Blake Edwards. It was Edwards' directorial debut and the motion picture debut of Constance Towers. Edwards wrote the script for this Frankie Laine musical with his mentor, director Richard Quine. Songs Laine sang in the film included his 1951 hit "The Gandy Dancers' Ball."
The 29th Academy Awards were held on March 27, 1957, to honor the films of 1956.
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Joan Shawlee was an American film and television actress. She is known for her recurring role as Fiona "Pickles" Sorrell in The Dick Van Dyke Show, a career-defining turn in Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot (1959) playing Sweet Sue, the abrasive martinet in charge of Marilyn Monroe's all-girl jazz band, and as the flamboyant Madame Pompey in the 1957 Maverick episode "Stampede" with James Garner. She was sometimes credited under her birth name.
Too Many Husbands is a 1940 American romantic comedy film about a woman who loses her husband in a boating accident and remarries, only to have her first spouse reappear—yet another variation on the 1864 poem Enoch Arden by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The film stars Jean Arthur, Fred MacMurray and Melvyn Douglas, and is based on the 1919 play Home and Beauty by W. Somerset Maugham, which was retitled Too Many Husbands when it came to New York. The film was directed by Wesley Ruggles.
The Girl Most Likely is a 1958 American musical comedy film about a young woman who becomes engaged to three men at the same time. The film, a remake of Tom, Dick and Harry (1941), was directed by Mitchell Leisen, and stars Jane Powell, Cliff Robertson, and Keith Andes. The choreography is by Gower Champion.
Show Boat is a 1951 American musical romantic drama film, based on the 1927 stage musical of the same name by Jerome Kern (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II, and the 1926 novel by Edna Ferber. It was made by MGM, adapted for the screen by John Lee Mahin, produced by Arthur Freed and directed by George Sidney.
Lovely to Look At is a 1952 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Mervyn LeRoy, based on the 1933 Broadway musical Roberta.
My Sister Eileen is a 1955 American CinemaScope comedy musical film directed by Richard Quine. It stars Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett, and Jack Lemmon.
Meet Me After the Show is a 1951 Technicolor musical film starring Betty Grable and released through 20th Century Fox. The film was one of Grable's last musical films for Fox during her box office reign of the past decade.
Marilyn is a 1963 documentary film based on the life of the 1950s to early 1960's actress and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe. The film, directed by Harold Medford, was released by 20th Century Fox, and was narrated by Rock Hudson.
3 for Tonight is a musical revue in two acts with music by composer Walter Schumann and lyrics by Robert Wells. In addition to the original material by Schumann and Wells, the revue also included the song "In That Great Gettin' Up Mornin" by Jester Hairston and two songs by Jack Norworth, "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" and "Shine on, Harvest Moon". The musical opened on Broadway on April 6, 1955, at the Plymouth Theatre where it closed after 85 performances on June 18, 1955. On June 22, 1955, the cast performed the musical live on television for national broadcast on CBS. Produced by Paul Gregory, the production was staged by Gower Champion who also starred in the musical with his wife Marge Champion, Harry Belafonte, Betty Benson, and Hiram Sherman. The show won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical in 1955.