Meet Me After the Show (1951)

Director:

Richard Sale

Writers:

Scott Darling (story)
Erna Lazarus (story)

Release Date:

15 October 1951 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

Delilah Lee is the star of husband Jeff Ames' Broadway show when she starts to suspect he has been exchanging more than contracts with the show's vampish backer. Alimony and amnesia become the order of the day.

Plot Keywords:

Amnesia | Foreign Legion | Remake | Beautiful Woman | Broadway New York City

Cast

Betty Grable	...	Delilah Lee
Macdonald Carey	...	Jeff Ames
Rory Calhoun	...	David Hemingway
Eddie Albert	...	Chris Leeds
Fred Clark	...	Timothy 'Tim' Wayne
Lois Andrews	...	Gloria Carstairs
Irene Ryan	...	Tillie, Delilah's Maid
Steve Condos	...	Specialty dancer
Jerry Brandow	...	Specialty dancer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
The Condos Brothers	...	Themselves

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Quotes:

Jeff Ames: I whipped her into shape with my bare hands!
Tim Wayne: You did? *Nice* job!

Movie Connections:

Remake of He Married His Wife (1940)

Soundtrack:

BETTING ON A MAN

Kind of Forgettable

This 1951 film is another backstage musical, a typical format for Betty Grable. Unfortunately, this musical suffers from a mediocre score. Even though the composers were the well-known Jule Styne and Leo Robin, none of the songs in this film come anywhere close to the quality of their other compositions (e.g. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes).

In part of the first production number, Grable does a very good, skillful tap dance joined by two male dancers. This was the time when tap dancing was giving way to jazz as the predominant style of dance in film, brought on by Jack Cole and Bob Fosse. While Grable was certainly technically proficient enough for that style in the other production numbers, in my opinion, it just doesn't seem to suit her persona.

What is choreographer Jack Cole's production number, "No Talent Joe", all about? With a chorus of muscle men attired in classical Greek costumes and tan makeup suggesting statuary, and herself wearing a beachcomber outfit, Grable sings a Latin/Calypso song. What a mishmash!

I suggest this might have been a homo-erotic fantasy interjected by choreographer Cole. He did a similar thing when choreographing 1953's "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", with Jane Russell surrounded by gyrating nearly naked athletes.

Two other interesting points of trivia. The Miami film sequence is footage lifted directly from Grable's 1941 film, "Moon Over Miami". Also, take a good look at the set, props and the women's costumes in the last production number of the film. You will see very similar in 1953's "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" in the "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" production number. This probably due to the fact that Charles Le Maire and Travilla did costumes for both films, while Cole did the choreography for both.

While most musicals are excusably weak in the plot department, the plot is this film is downright dumb. Viewing this film would be enjoyable only for the die-hard Betty Grable fan. It's been resurrected recently on the Fox Movie Channel. Record it and skip everything but the musical numbers.