Du Barry Was a Lady (film)

Cast

Source: The New York Times

Plot

The entertainer May Daly's nightclub act includes her portrayal of Madame Du Barry of days of yore. Equally smitten with her are coatroom attendant Louis Blore and master of ceremonies Alec Howe, but unfortunately for both, May persists in holding out for a wealthy husband, her current interest being a rich but snooty gent, Willie.

A telegram arrives notifying Louis that in the Irish Sweepstakes he is the winner of a prize of $150,000. Louis immediately and publicly declares his love for May, who is teased by Alec that she now has no reason to stay with Willie and avoid Louis, who is a sweeter fellow. Then after accidentally swallowing a drugged drink, Louis falls into a deep sleep and dreams that he is King Louis XV, holding court with Madame Du Barry (May) and holding off her colorful suitor, The Black Arrow (Alec).

After swordplay and the sentencing of the Black Arrow to the guillotine, Louis awakens from his dream. He realizes that May is in love with Alec and generously offers them a wedding gift of $10,000. May declines, saying she has changed her mind about money's importance. Everybody ends up happy until a tax collector comes to demand that Louis pay him $80,000.

Songs

Musical numbers featured Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra (featuring Buddy Rich and Ziggy Elman), Dick Haymes, Jo Stafford, The Pied Pipers, Six Hits and a Miss, and the Music Maids. Lucille Ball's singing voice was dubbed by Martha Mears in most of the picture, but her real voice is heard in "Friendship".

Production

MGM originally purchased the rights to Du Barry was a Lady for $80,000 as a vehicle for Ann Sothern Publicity posters (as seen above right) and the doll behind screen credits clearly bear Sothern's likeness. When Sothern turned down the revised role, MGM decided to cast Lucille Ball. Sothern reportedly turned down the role because she was pregnant with her daughter, Tisha Sterling.

The film used very little of the original Cole Porter score. According to Time Out, "this adaptation of the Cole Porter musical ditches most of the songs - and the lusty bawdiness that went with them - to fashion a vehicle for Skelton and Ball, in the process interpolating more 'suitable' numbers."

According to TCM, "MGM bought the rights to a popular stage property... then proceeded to make so many changes that it’s hardly the same show. Much of the Cole Porter score was scrapped for the film version...it retained only a few of the original songs and substituted new material by studio songwriters. The movie also cut out the racier overtones in the musical’s story." New characters were added, and many of the original characters' names were changed. The basic outline remained the same, although the relationships of some of the characters were different. In the film, Ginny (another singer) pines away for Louis, who is too infatuated with May Daly to notice, and it is only at the end that he realizes that Ginny loves him.

The dream sequence was purposely delayed by more than forty-five minutes, with vaudeville-type acts performed as a floor show before the sequence got underway. The Louis XV/Mme. DuBarry scenes, unlike the play, featured very little singing.

Lucille Ball later hired Karl Freund to be the Director of Photography on I Love Lucy.

Critical response

Bosley Crowther, in his review for The New York Times, wrote: "they have caught most of the humor of the original, with a lot of Red Skelton's own thrown in. And they have added Rags Ragland and Zero Mostel to be funny when Mr. Skelton is not... particularly they have given the whole show a Technicolor sheen, an eye-filling opulence and splendor, which is fabulous in these rationed times."

Box office

According to MGM records the film earned $2,572,000 in the US and Canada and $924,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $857,000.