Ziegfeld Girl (film)

Synopsis

The story deals with three showbiz hopefuls - Susan Gallagher (Judy Garland), Sandra Kolter (Hedy Lamarr) and Sheila Regan (Lana Turner) - and their efforts to attain the lofty status of "Ziegfeld Girl."

Every year Florenz Ziegfeld stages his famous play, the Ziegfeld Follies, and, as every year, he's looking for new talents. Among the others, are employed three young girls: Sandra, a beautiful European beauty, Sheila, a spicy American beauty without artistic experience and Susan, a devilish little girl that comes from the hard school of vaudeville, a daughter of art. The three girls will have a hard time with the world of Broadway, discovering that all that glitters is not gold.

It will end with Sandra who'll give up Broadway's world for the love of her husband, a violin virtuoso. Sheila will remain crushed by the mirage of Luxury Park Avenue: alcoholic addicted, she'll be dismissed even from her beau. The only one who'll make a career will be Susan, who demonstrates that, even to go down The Ziegfeld stairs, it must take talent and it's not strictly necessary to be beautiful.

Cast

Musical Numbers

1. "Overture" — played by Orchestra and sung by Chorus
2. "Laugh? I Thought I'd Split My Sides" — sung and danced by Judy Garland and Charles Winninger
3. "You Stepped Out of a Dream" — sung by Tony Martin and Chorus
4. "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" — sung by Judy Garland
5. "Caribbean Love Song" — sung by Tony Martin and Chorus
6. "Minnie from Trinidad" — sung by Chorus and danced by Antonio and Rosario, then sung and danced by Judy Garland and Chorus
7. "Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean" — performed by Charles Winninger and Al Shean
8. "Ziegfeld Girls/You Gotta Pull Strings" — sung by Judy Garland and Chorus
9. "You Stepped Out of a Dream" (reprise) — sung by Tony Martin
10. "You Never Looked So Beautiful" — sung by Judy Garland and Chorus

Deleted song

A musical number sung by Judy Garland, "We Must Have Music", was deleted from the final film. Only a fragment of this survives, as it was used in an M-G-M short subject A New Romance of Celluloid: We Must Have Music (1942).

Box office

According to MGM records the film earned $1,891,000 in the US and Canada and $1,210,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $532,000.

Accolades

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: