Cover Girl (1944)

Rusty Parker wins a contest and becomes a celebrated cover girl; this endangers her romance with dancing mentor Danny.

Director:

Charles Vidor

Writers:

Virginia Van Upp (screenplay), Marion Parsonnet (adaptation)

Stars:

Rita Hayworth, Gene Kelly, Lee Bowman

Won 1 Oscar. Another 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rita Hayworth	...	Rusty Parker / Maribelle Hicks
Gene Kelly	...	Danny McGuire
Lee Bowman	...	Noel Wheaton
Phil Silvers	...	Genius
Jinx Falkenburg	...	Jinx Falkenburg
Leslie Brooks	...	Maurine Martin
Eve Arden	...	Cornelia Jackson
Otto Kruger	...	John Coudair
Jess Barker	...	John Coudair as a Young Man
Anita Colby	...	Miss Colby
Curt Bois	...	Chef at Danny McGuire's
Jean Colleran	...	Cover Girl: American Magazine
Francine Counihan	...	Cover Girl: American Home
Helen Mueller	...	Cover Girl: Collier's Magazine
Cecilia Meagher	...	Cover Girl: Coronet

Storyline

Rusty Parker, a red-headed leggy dancer at Danny McGuire's Night Club in Brooklyn, wants to be a successful Broadway star. She enters a contest to be a 'Cover Girl' as a stepping-stone in her career. She reminds the publisher, John Coudair, of his lost love, showgirl Maribelle Hicks. He was engaged to Maribelle, although his wealthy society mother made fun of her. Maribelle left John at the altar when she saw the piano at her wedding. It reminded her of the piano-player she truly loved. Rusty is Maribelle's granddaughter and there are musical sequences with Maribelle dancing to songs from the beginning of the 20th century. Rusty lands on the cover of her grandmother's former fiancé's magazine (as a bride). She is pursued by Coudair's pal, the wealthy theatrical producer, Noel Wheaton. He produces a lavish musical to star Rusty, surrounded by real cover girls of the mid 1940's. Rusty runs down a huge spiral into the arms of dozens of men who seem clumsy next to her ethereal dancing. ...

---

Plot Keywords:

stage show | alter ego | fashion magazine | guilty feelings | pearl in an oyster | 

---

Taglines:

The Most Memorable Musical of 1944!

---

Genres:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

---

Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 April 1944 (USA)

Also Known As:

Las modelos

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In order to acquire the services of Gene Kelly for this picture, Columbia had to surrender its screen rights to the musical hit Best Foot Forward (1943) to MGM.

---

Goofs

The guests at the 1904 wedding are the same people, wearing the same clothes and hairstyles, as the guests at the 1944 wedding. Of particular note are the young girl wearing a giant red flower as a hat, and the white-haired old lady with white boa feathers on the side of her head.

---

Quotes

Danny McGuire: What are you crying about, Chicken?

---

Connections

Featured in AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Gene Kelly (1985)

---

Soundtracks

MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW
(uncredited)
Music by Jerome Kern
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin and E.Y. Harburg
Sung and Danced by Gene Kelly, Rita Hayworth (dubbed by Martha Mears); Phil Silvers

User Reviews

Beautiful Rita, Kern score and Phil Silvers dancing!!!

Two of these things are to be expected, the third is a complete surprise (that would be Phil Silvers dancing).

This is a delightful, if longer than it needs to be musical. A sub-plot with flashbacks and probably the worst Jerome Kern number ever written (Poor John), do not contribute enough to make them worthwhile. It's as if they wrote the movie, realized they didn't have enough material to produce a full-length picture, and added these other scenes to "fill it out". They don't work.

It's funny to see a 1940's musical with Gene Kelly (on loan from M-G-M)clearly taking a backseat to his leading lady. His second act number where he dances with himself is one highlight of the film. Other strong points are "Make Way For Tomorrow" and the lovely, "Long Ago And Far Away" (although I thought it odd that the latter number did not have a dance sequence attached to it). "Put Me To The Test", a number where Rita and Gene get to dance together, is a very good number, but the title song does nothing for me, although it is staged wonderfully.

Rita Hayworth is absolutely breath-taking. Her dancing is excellent, and this is clearly a role that suits her. Some of her hair pieces, however are awful. In a few scenes, the color of them do not match the color of her natural hair. Very distracting.

Phil Silvers is wonderful as Genius, Gene and Rita's friend and co-worker. Seeing him dance, especially as well as he did, was a wonderful surprise.

The major problem I had with this movie was that I never believed the relationship between the three leads. I didn't believe that Kelly and Hayworth were in love, or that Kelly and Silvers were real friends. Can't quite put my finger on it, but I didn't buy it.

Excellent supporting work by Eve Arden, Otto Kruger, Edward Brophy and Leslie Brooks.

6 out of 10