Lady Be Good (1941 film)
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| Lady Be Good | |
|---|---|
 Eleanor Powell |
|
| Directed by | Norman Z. McLeod |
| Produced by | Arthur Freed |
| Written by | Jack McGowan Kay Van Riper John McClain |
| Starring | Eleanor Powell Robert Young Ann Sothern Berry Brothers |
| Music by | Roger Edens Jerome Kern Oscar Hammerstein II George and Ira Gershwin |
| Cinematography | George J. Folsey Oliver T. Marsh |
| Editing by | Fredrick Y. Smith |
| Distributed by | MGM |
| Release date(s) | September 1, 1941 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 112 min |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Lady Be Good is the title of an MGM musical film which was released in 1941.
The film starred dancer Eleanor Powell along with Ann Sothern, Robert Young, Lionel Barrymore, and Red Skelton. It was directed by Norman Z. McLeod and produced by Arthur Freed. This was the first of several films Powell made with Skelton.
Although Powell received top billing, the main stars of the film are Sothern and Young. They play respectively Dixie Donegan, a would-be lyric writer and Eddie Crane, a struggling composer, who almost by accident write a hit song - Lady Be Good. They go from success to success, writing Gershwin and Kern songs, and marry. But when Eddie starts spending more time in rich New York society than composing, they grow apart and divorce. They eventually realise they are still in love and can't do without each other.
The film takes its title and theme song ("Oh, Lady be Good!") from the 1924 George and Ira Gershwin Broadway musical, Lady Be Good, but otherwise has no connection to the play. According to film historian Robert Osborne in his introduction to a broadcast of the film on Turner Classic Movies in August 2006, the film was devised as a vehicle to launch Sothern as a musical star at MGM, however since she and Young were known primarily as light comic stars, Powell was brought in for a supporting role but given the top billing in order to attract audiences.
This film's most notable sequence involves an epic tap dance routine by Powell to the melody of Gershwin's "Fascinating Rhythm" (another song taken from the play). This musical number was later featured in two films in the That's Entertainment! documentary series -- in one of the films (That's Entertainment! III), behind-the-scenes footage was shown, revealing how this scene was accomplished. In order to allow Powell to dance between a series of pianos without interruption, pieces of the set had to be quietly removed off-camera as she worked her way across the stage. This musical sequence was directed by Busby Berkeley. Another sequence features Powell doing a dance routine with a dog that she herself trained for the number.
The film won an Academy Award for Best Song for "The Last Time I Saw Paris" which was composed by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II.
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