The queens of burlesque here are mother and daughter, without a gold-digging bone in their body, and they are as cultured as culture can be. Adele Jergens is a veteran burlesque queen who demoted herself back to the chorus after walking out on a high society marriage where her in-laws could not accept her, sending daughter Marilyn Monroe to school, only to see her become a burlesque queen as well. Marilyn Monroe is in love with Cleveland millionaire Rand Brooks and Jergens fears that our daughter will go through the same thing that she did. But she is surprised when meeting Brooks' well mannered mother (Nana Bryant) who has a few surprises up her own sleeve.
Certainly, there's some slinky costumes and a lot of legs shown, but there's nothing beyond a G-rated style of schtick, some nice, if quickly forgotten, musical numbers. it's a really nice opportunity to see Monroe several years before her career really took off, demoted to smaller roles after her early lead. She's charming and sweet, and herend Jergens characters are definitely both sincere. Jergens gets the best acting opportunities, a far cry from her hard boiled musical comedy star in "Down to Earth" who threatened to knock out Rita Hayworth teeth.
Other than a teeny tiny bit of unpleasantness where Monroe's background is exposed, this is just a completely nice story, basically unbelievable but irresistible. It's easy to see this getting a major re-release when Monroe stardom took off. Nana Bryant's sudden musical number in the last real is a complete to light as is the presence of the bird like Almira Sessions in a bit part as one of her society friends. This could never be compared to the big musicals of 1948 among them "Easter Parade", "Romance on the High Seas", "The Pirate" or "That Lady in Ermine", but it's just as fun even without frills.
Certainly, there's some slinky costumes and a lot of legs shown, but there's nothing beyond a G-rated style of schtick, some nice, if quickly forgotten, musical numbers. it's a really nice opportunity to see Monroe several years before her career really took off, demoted to smaller roles after her early lead. She's charming and sweet, and herend Jergens characters are definitely both sincere. Jergens gets the best acting opportunities, a far cry from her hard boiled musical comedy star in "Down to Earth" who threatened to knock out Rita Hayworth teeth.
Other than a teeny tiny bit of unpleasantness where Monroe's background is exposed, this is just a completely nice story, basically unbelievable but irresistible. It's easy to see this getting a major re-release when Monroe stardom took off. Nana Bryant's sudden musical number in the last real is a complete to light as is the presence of the bird like Almira Sessions in a bit part as one of her society friends. This could never be compared to the big musicals of 1948 among them "Easter Parade", "Romance on the High Seas", "The Pirate" or "That Lady in Ermine", but it's just as fun even without frills.