Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)

Director:

Dorothy Arzner

Writers:

Vicki Baum (story)
Frank Davis (writer)

Release Date:

30 August 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Heartbreak Behind Gayety of a Girly-Girl Show!

Plot:

Judy O'Brien is an aspiring ballerina in a dance troupe. Also in the company is Bubbles, a brash mantrap...

Plot Keywords:

Burlesque | Ballerina | Chorus Girl | Beautiful Woman | Drunkenness

Awards:

1 win

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Maureen O'Hara	...	Judy O'Brien
Louis Hayward	...	Jaes 'Jimmy' Harris Jr.
Lucille Ball	...	Bubbles / Tiger Lily White
Virginia Field	...	Elinor Harris
Ralph Bellamy	...	Steve Adams
Maria Ouspenskaya	...	Madame Lydia Basilova
Mary Carlisle	...	Sally
Katharine Alexander	...	Miss Olmstead
Edward Brophy	...	Dwarfie Humblewinger
Walter Abel	...	Judge
Harold Huber	...	Hoboken Gent
Ernest Truex	...	Bailey #1
Chester Clute	...	Bailey #2
Lorraine Krueger	...	Dolly
Lola Jensen	...	Daisy

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #6247)

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Lucille Ball and 'Maureen O'Hara' became inseparable friends while filming Dance Girl, Dance, and became life-long friends afterward, up Till Ball's death in 1989. Maureen was having lunch with Lucille when Lucille first saw her future husband Desi Arnaz.

Quotes:

Bubbles: Listen, squirt! I don't fall in gutters. I pick my spots.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie (1993) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Morning Star

B movie dance movie

Maureen O'Hara is Judy, who wants to be a ballerina. Lucille Ball is Bubbles, who wants money. Both are in the chorus. How they move towards achieving their dreams is the focus of this charming and ahead of its time film from Dorothy Arzner. Support is from Louis Hayward, irritating as Jimmy the heir to a fortune who is initially smitten by Bubbles (he gives her a soft toy of Ferdinand the Bull, which Judy immediately takes for her own mascot), but slowly comes round to Judy; and the reliable Ralph Bellamy, as choreographer Steve, who Judy mistakenly sees as a predator to avoid when he is only trying to help her. The viewer of this film can have a lot of fun putting the pieces of this jigsaw together. Much has been made by feminists of Judy's speech in the club about the exploitation of women; however I'm not so sure it is as significant as some suggest. And whatever Arzner's focus, the movie does have the traditional 'happy ending(s)'. That is a bit of a disappointment. Ball comes across best of the two girls in both film conclusion and actress performance. I'm not sure O'Hara/Judy would ever be happy with what they got.