Doll Face

Doll Face

Film poster
Directed by Lewis Seiler
Produced by Bryan Foy
Written by Harold Buchman (adaptation)
Gypsy Rose Lee (play The Naked Genius)
Leonard Praskins (writer)
Cinematography Joseph LaShelle
Edited by Norman Colbert
Release dates
  • December 31, 1945 (1945-12-31)[1]
Running time
 80 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $3 million[2]
Box office $2.5 million[3]
Title card
Chorus performs "Dig You Later (A-Hubba Hubba Hubba)" in the Show-within-a-show.

Doll Face is a 1945 American film directed by Lewis Seiler starring Vivian Blaine as "Doll Face" Carroll.

The film is also known as Come Back to Me in the United Kingdom.

Plot summary

"Doll Face" Carroll is an entertainer looking to expand her reportoire. After a failed audition, where she is recognized as a burlesque performer from the Gaiety Theatre, her manager and fiancé Mike Hannegan suggest she writes an autobiography to project a more literate image and he hires Frederick Manly Gerard as a ghostwriter. Doll Face agrees on the condition she is allowed to dedicate the book to Mike with "For the love of Mike".

Another performer in the burlesque show, Chita Chula, remarks that if the book is a success and Doll Face leaves the show it will probably have to close down. Mike then decides to produce a Broadway show of his own with the financial aid of the performers themselves. Frederick offers to put up any money missing. Chita Chula (portrayed by Carmen Miranda) is sceptical she can pull it off, but Mike assures her she'll "probably wound up being another Carmen Miranda!", something Chita Chula perceives as an insult.

Mike leaks word on the book to the press and, riding the publicity, argues the show got all the press it needs and that the book, although all but finished, needs not to be published. Doll Face, however, decides to go through with it and goes to Jamaica with Frederick for some final touch-ups. Boat engine trouble leaves them marooned on an island and when Mike finds them he misreads the situation and breaks up with her. Without "Doll Face" as headliner, the Gayety Theatre struggles and Mike is forced to finally shut it down.

Doll Face releases her book The Genius DeMilo and when Mike sees she dedicated the book to Frederick instead of him, he regrets leaving her. After Doll Face refuses to talk to Mike he sends a lawyer to stop her show in the middle of opening night since she is under contract not to appear in any show not produced by him. She agrees to see him and he asks her forgiveness. They reunite, she tricks the producer of her show to give Mike a 25% share and co-producer credit so the show can continue.

Differences from play

The film is based on the 1943 play The Naked Genius written by Gypsy Rose Lee.

Production and filming

The working titles of this film were The Naked Genius and Here's a Kiss. Playwright and renowned stripper Gypsy Rose Lee is credited onscreen as Louise Hovick, which was her real name. Although a 6 Apr 1944 Hollywood Reporter news item noted that producer George Jessel offered Lee a role in the picture, she does not appear in the finished film. In June 1944, Hollywood Reporter announced that Carole Landis would star in the film, and that Jackie Gleason would have the "comedy lead." According to July 1945 Hollywood Reporter news items, William Eythe was scheduled to play the "romantic lead," and fifteen-year-old singer Hazel Dawn had been included in the cast. Dawn's appearance in the completed picture has not been confirmed, however. Dennis O'Keefe was borrowed from Edward Small's company for the film, which marked the screen debuts of Martha Stewart and Lex Barker. Producer Bryan Foy, filled in for director Lewis Seiler for three days while Seiler was ill.

The Motion Picture Production Code refused to allow the studio to use The Naked Genius as either the title of the film or of "Doll Face's" autobiography. The Production Code Administration also strongly protested the depiction of "Doll Face" as a stripper and disapproved several screenplays submitted by the studio. In late Jul 1945, Production Code Administration head Joseph I. Breen cautioned studio public relations head Jason S. Joy: "Please have in mind that any time you undertake to identify a character as a 'strip tease' artist, you run the risk of giving enormous offense everywhere. People, pretty generally, look up [sic] the business of the burlesque shows--and, more importantly, the strip tease--as, possibly, the very lowest form of public entertainment, and this same viewpoint is reflected in the reaction of the Censor Boards."

According to the studio records, Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson submitted the song True to the Navy for inclusion in the film, and a production number featuring it was filmed. McHugh and Adamson had previously submitted the song to Paramount, however, which used it in their 1945 release Bring on the Girls. Paramount refused to license the song for use in Doll Face, and the number, which cost between $60,000 and $75,000 to film, had to be cut. In a December 1945 letter to Twentieth Century-Fox studio president Spyros Skouras, studio attorney George Wasson speculated that Paramount refused to license the song because Twentieth Century-Fox had obtained the distribution rights to Tales of Manhattan, which Paramount had desired, and because Twentieth Century-Fox had succeeded in getting clearance for the use of the title Sentimental Journey, which Paramount also wanted. The legal records also reveal that Irving Weissman filed suit against the studio, claiming that the song "Dig You Later (A Hubba-Hubba-Hubba)" had been plagiarized from one of his compositions. The case was dismissed in Sep 1948 by a federal court judge, but Weissman again filed suit through a state court. The disposition of the second suit has not been determined.[4]

Cast

Soundtrack

Reviews

The studio Twentieth Century-Fox reportedly paid Louise Hovick (Gypsy Rose Lee) much money for the rights to The Naked Genius. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that "some one (not Miss Hovick) made a terrible deal. [...] the only distinction in its writing is a persistence in grammatical mistakes. The only remarkability about its pattern is a monotonous fidelity to form."[5] and "Forget the plot, and concentrate on the production numbers performed with gusto by Blaine, Como, and Carmen Miranda."[6]

The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that "The film has its faults, chiefly technical (...) Dennis O'Keefe makes a handsome, hard-hitting manager and performs with great sincerity. Perry Como sings in an even more attractive manner than hitherto, and Vivian Blaine is more than adequately attractive, if a trifle too polished, as the "burleycue" blonde. Carmen Miranda appears in a straight part with only one singing number. The innovation is not a success, but the fault is the director's not Carmen's."[7]

Nicky performs "Red Hot and Beautiful" at the burlesque Gayety Theatre. 
Doll Face performs "Red Hot and Beautiful" to an enthusiastic crowd. 
Nicky performing "Here Comes Heaven Again" 
Doll Face on her way to make the final ajustments to her autobiography. 
Frankie and Nicky perform "Somebody's Walking in My Dream". 
Frankie performing "Somebody's Walking in My Dream" 
Frankie and Nicky perform "Somebody's Walking in My Dream". 
A worried Mike searching for Doll Face. 
Mike finds Doll Face and Frederick. 
Nicky and Frankie rehearses "Dig You Later (A-Hubba Hubba Hubba)". 
Frederick suspects Doll Face is unhappy. Chita suggests he should know. 
Rehearsing Nicky's "Here Comes Heaven Again" proves too much for Doll Face. 

References

  1. ↑ Release dates for Doll Face, IMDb. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  2. ↑ Carmen Miranda 'Doll House' Star
  3. ↑ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century-Fox: A Corporate and Financial History Rowman & Littlefield, 2002 p 221
  4. ↑ http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=24388
  5. ↑ Bosley Crowther. "Doll Face (1946) The Screen; To Aid Stage Relief", The New York Times, March 28, 1946. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  6. ↑ Bosley Crowther. "Doll Face (1946) Review Summary", The New York Times. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
  7. ↑ NEW FILMS REVIEWED "Doll Face" The Sydney Morning Herald - July 8, 1946
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