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Storyline
Miss Ethel 'Dynamite' Jackson is a chorus girl who mistakingly receives an invitation from the State Department to represent the American theatre at an arts exposition in Paris, France. There's only one problem, the invitation was meant for Miss Ethel Barrymore. Meanwhile, S. Winthrop Putnam, the bureaucrat who made the mistake tries unsuccessfully to correct his mix-up. It's too late, for Dynamite Jackson is off to Paris, where the two meet and marry, or so they think! Written by
Kelly
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Taglines:
Sparkling as Champagne! The Year's Musical Eye-ful!
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Did You Know?
Trivia
Doris Day writes in her autobiography that she only encountered trouble or tension on two of her Warner Bros. films, "Young at Heart" and "April in Paris". On "Paris", she writes that leading man Ray Bolger and director David Butler clashed early on, with Butler accusing Bolger of trying to steal scenes away from Day. Doris says that, being a relative newcomer to films, she was unaware of Bolger's tricks and managed to stay out of the line of fire.
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Goofs
Near the end, when Doris Day "stomps" on Ray Bolger's foot, she doesn't hit even close to his foot.
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Quotes
S. Winthrop Putnam:
Do you know what my title is? Assistant Secretary to the Assistant to the Undersecretary of State. It's taken me ten years to get this far. If this falls through I'll be right back where I started: Assistant Assistant Secretary to the Assistant to the Undersecretary of State.
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Connections
Referenced in
Family Guy: April in Quahog (2010)
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Soundtracks
"The Place You Hold in My Heart"
(uncredited)
Music by
Vernon Duke
Lyrics by
Sammy Cahn
Sung by
Doris Day and
Ray Bolger See more »
Exceedingly thin Warner Bros. musical, blanketed in tacky lustre and stock footage, involves an inept assistant's assistant in Washington, D.C. who is in charge of sending out the invites to attend a Theatre Arts Festival in Paris, France; somehow, an invitation meant for Ethel Barrymore is sent instead to a chorus girl named Ethel Jackson (nicknamed "Dynamite", though we are never told why). The dancer is promptly uninvited, and then re-invited, by the assistant, who falls in love with her on the ship sailing to Europe. Doris Day is as perky as ever, and her early scenes celebrating with her chorus friends and with the shipboard kitchen crew are delightful ("Don't stop!" she tells the fellas, "I'm tickin'!"). Unfortunately, she has to contend with rubber-faced, bug-eyed Ray Bolger in the romance department, and it's all Miss Day can do to keep her spirits up. Bolger never found stardom in the movies sans his Scarecrow character; he does a very fine solo dance routine early on, but otherwise comes across as a joyless sourpuss, snapping at underlings and mugging at the camera (no gentleman would ever try to upstage Doris Day!). Doris sings the title song very prettily, but the other tunes are fairly forgettable. As for the happy ending, I can only hope the filmmakers were joking and that Day's "Dynamite" Jackson lures a replacement suitor aboard the ship heading back to the U.S.A. ** from ****