Bathing Beauty (1944)

A contrived misunderstanding leads to the breakup of a songwriter and his fiancée. She returns to work as a gym teacher at an all-girls school, but a legal loophole allows the man to enroll as one of her students.

Director:

George Sidney

Writers:

Kenneth Earl (story), M.M. Musselman (story),

Stars:

Red Skelton, Esther Williams, Basil Rathbone

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Red Skelton	...	Steve Elliot
Esther Williams	...	Caroline Brooks
Basil Rathbone	...	George Adams
Bill Goodwin	...	Professor Willis Evans
Jean Porter	...	Jean Allenwood
Nana Bryant	...	Dean Clinton
Carlos Ramírez	...	Carlos Ramirez
Ethel Smith	...	Ethel Smith - Music Teacher
Xavier Cugat Orchestra	...	Cugat Orchestra (as Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra)
Lina Romay	...	Lina Romay
Harry James Orchestra	...	Harry James Orchestra (as Harry James and His Music Makers)
Helen Forrest	...	Helen Forrest
Donald Meek	...	Chester Klazenfrantz
Jacqueline Dalya	...	Maria Dorango
Francis Pierlot	...	Professor Hendricks

Storyline

Songwriter Steve Elliott is about to marry Caroline Brooks. A strange woman who's been paid by Steve's agent to say she's his wife interrupts the ceremony. An angry Caroline gets her old job back teaching at a girl's college. Determined to win her back, Steve enrolls in the school to become its only male student.

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Plot Keywords:

teacher | college | impersonation | marital separation | los angeles california | 

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Taglines:

M.G.M's Mammoth Technicolor Musical Spectacle!

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Genres:

Comedy | Musical

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish French

Release Date:

July 1944 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Co-Ed

Filming Locations:

Lakeside Country Club - 4500 W. Lakeside Drive, Toluca Lake, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,361,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was initially to be titled "The Co-Ed" with Red Skelton having top billing. However, once MGM execs watched the first cut of the film, they realized that Esther Williams' role should be showcased more, and so changed the title to "Bathing Beauty", giving her top billing and featuring her bathing-suit clad figure on the posters.

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Quotes

Themselves: But he doesn't like pools!
Themselves: Wait till you see what's in it!
George Adams: Don't tell me it's a woman - he'd never fall for a bathing suit.
Themselves: Wait till you see what's in it!

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Connections

Featured in Sports on the Silver Screen (1997)

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Soundtracks

"Tico-tico no fubá"
(1917) (uncredited)
Music by Zequinha De Abreu
Enlish lyrics by Ervin Drake (1943)
Played by Ethel Smith on organ with the MGM Studio Orchestra

User Reviews

A lavish water spectacle...

One MGM musical of the time launched a career that flourished for the balance of the decade… A champion swimmer and a tall, strikingly pretty woman, Esther Williams had played small roles in two MGM films when she was starred in "Bathing Beauty." She played a swimming teacher at a girls' school whose husband (Red Skelton) enrolls at the school to be near her...

The plot was merely an excuse for knockabout antics by Skelton and especially for Williams' aquacades… The pattern was fixed for the rest of the series of popular light musicals she starred in: Williams as a smiling mermaid moving balletically underwater to the strains of a pleasing melody…

Bathing Beauty's finale is a lavish water spectacle with the star as the focal point of intricate underwater formations…