Story of movie Ziegfeld Girl Film : Ziegfeld Girl is a 1941 American musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring James Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, Lana Turner, Tony Martin, Jackie Cooper, Eve Arden, and Philip Dorn. The film was directed by Robert Z. Leonard and featured musical numbers by Busby Berkeley.
| Ziegfeld Girl | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Robert Z. Leonard |
| Produced by | Pandro S. Berman |
| Written by | William Anthony McGuire (story) Marguerite Roberts (screenplay) Sonya Levien (screenplay) |
| Starring | James Stewart Judy Garland Hedy Lamarr Lana Turner |
| Music by | Herbert Stothart |
| Cinematography | Ray June Joseph Ruttenberg |
| Edited by | Blanche Sewell |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
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Running time | 132 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,468,000 |
| Box office | $3,101,000 |
Set in the 1920s, the film tells the parallel stories of three women who become performers in the renowned Broadway show the Ziegfeld Follies. It was intended to be a 1938 sequel to the 1936 hit The Great Ziegfeld, and recycled some footage from the earlier film.
Screenplay
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 girls."
Every year Florenz Ziegfeld stages a new edition of his lavish Broadway revue, the Ziegfeld Follies, and, as every year, he's looking for new talents. Among the others, are employed three young girls: Sandra, a European beauty, Sheila, a spicy American beauty without artistic experience and Susan, a young girl who comes from the hard school of vaudeville, a daughter of art. The three hopefuls 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: addicted to alcohol, 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.
- James Stewart as Gilbert Young
- Judy Garland as Susan Gallagher
- Hedy Lamarr as Sandra Kolter
- Lana Turner as Sheila Regan
- Tony Martin as Frank Merton
- Jackie Cooper as Jerry Regan
- Ian Hunter as Geoffrey Collis
- Charles Winninger as 'Pop' Gallagher
- Eve Arden as Patsy Dixon
- Edward Everett Horton as Noble Sage
- Philip Dorn as Franz Kolter
- Paul Kelly as John Slayton
- Dan Dailey as Jimmy Walters
- Fay Holden as Mrs Regan
- Al Shean as Al
Deleted song
A musical number sung by Judy Garland, "We Must Have Music", was deleted from the final film. Only a fragment survives, as it was used in an MGM short A New Romance of Celluloid: We Must Have Music (1942).
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.
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
- 2006: AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals – Nominated
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