Musical Monday: The Powers Girl (1943)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
The Powers Girl (1943) – Musical #839

Studio:
United Artists

Director:
Norman Z. McLeod

Starring:
George Murphy, Anne Shirley, Carole Landis, Alan Mowbray, Jean Ames, Mary Treen, Rafael Alcayde, Helen MacKellar, Harry Shannon
Themselves: Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, Peggy Lee, Dennis Day
Billed as Powers America Beauty Pageant Model: Jayne Hazard, Lillian Eggers, Linda Stirling, Evelyn Frey, Eloise Hardt, Patsy Mace, Barbara Slater, Rosemary Coleman, Edna Johnson, Rebel Randall, Teala Loring

Plot:
Photographer Jerry Hendricks (Murphy) takes a photo of school teacher Ella Evans (Shirley) in a compromising position, which ends up on the cover of a magazine. The photo causes Ella to lose her job, so she travels to New York City to live with her model sister, Kay (Landis). Kay realizes her sister never signed a release for the photo, and sets her sights on get-rich-quick plan by suing the magazine. Jerry intercepts Kay and makes promises that she could become a Powers model.

Trivia:
• The story is based on the modeling agency founded by John Robert Powers. The agency was founded in 1923 and still exists in 2026. Alan Mowbray portrays Powers in this film.
• John Robert Powers published books on beauty and modeling. Producers John W. Rogers and Charles R. Rogers purchased the rights to his book for this film, according to the American Film Institute.
• Priscilla Lane was originally announced as the star of the film but had to drop out due to illness, according to the American Film Institute.
• Originally announced as an original story for Warner Bros., by the Hollywood Reporter in 1941. The story was planned to be a large budget color production starring Ann Sheridan with a plot about the John Robert Powers modeling agency. Instead it shifted to a short film topic, according to the American Film Institute.
• Carole Landis’s final film before going on her “Four Jills” tour in Europe to entertain troops during World War II, according to Carole Landis’s biographer.
• Carole Landis was loaned to United Artist for this film.
• First film appearance of Peggy Lee, who appears with Benny Goodman’s band.

Highlights:
• Bandleader Benny Goodman and his music
• The segment which introduces real Powers Models girls
• The “Out of This World” dance number, because it’s one of the few musical numbers in this MUSICAL.

Notable Songs:
• “Let’s Dance” performed by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra
• “Out of This World” performed by Dennis Day
• “Three Dreams” performed by Dennis Day
• “One O’Clock Jump” performed by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra
• “The Lady Who Didn’t Believe in Love” performed by Peggy Lee with Benny Goodman and His Orchestra

My review:
With a cast that includes musicals stars like George Murphy, Anne Shirley, Carole Landis and bandleader Benny Goodman, you would think THE POWERS GIRL (1943) would be a tune a minute. But alas, this musical is slim on music. We receive nary even a tap from dancer George Murphy! We did get one random dance number from the ensemble.

Even worse, I started this film thinking it would be fun and frothy, and it was just annoying filled with mistaken identity, sisters battling for the same man, and no real resolution on the initial issue of not having a photo release for a picture that lost Ella her job.

In the film, photographer Jerry Hendricks (Murphy) takes a photo of school teacher Ella Evans (Shirley) in a compromising position – being held by the town drunk after she slips and falls in the mud. The photo ends up on the cover of a magazine, causing Ella to lose her teaching job.

Ella travels to New York City to live with her model sister, Kay (Landis). Kay realizes her sister never signed a release for the photo, and sets her sights on get-rich-quick plan by suing the magazine. Jerry intercepts Kay and makes promises that she could become a Powers model.

While this film doesn’t have much music, there is some music performed by bandleader Benny Goodman and singer Dennis Day, who plays himself. At this time, Day was best known as the singer on Jack Benny’s radio program. Though I’m not a Dennis Day fan, it’s almost a relief when he does sing, so that we get the music we were promised! Though to be clear, it is not a complaint that the only music we hear is by jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman. I love seeing big band leaders in films of this era. It’s always a highlight, especially when they get to do a bit of acting. An additional highlight is 23-year-old Peggy Lee singing with Goodman’s band in her first film appearance.

The film has top tier stars who are all wasted. I don’t like to see George Murphy play a jerk. Anne Shirley’s character is simply sweet (and with extremely blonde hair) and Carole Landis doesn’t play a very nice character.

While this story is frankly annoying, there are a few tidbits that make this film fun.

For starters, the tie in of the John Robert Powers modeling agency is interesting. This modeling agency was prominent during this time period and is still active today. I enjoy when contemporary businesses or current events steer the plot in classic films. I especially enjoyed when the film highlighted a bevvy of real John Robert Powers models.

Filmed at the height of World War II, the film also ties into the war effort. George Murphy’s character is ecstatic that he’s drafted to help escape his problems.

THE POWERS GIRL (1943) is also yet another example of having to watch a terrible quality version of the film just to see it. The sound was alright, but it was visually terrible quality. My favorite cinematography Stanley Cortez worked on this film, but you unfortunately couldn’t adequately see his work due to the only versions uploaded online.

I’ll admit, I was looking forward to this film and it was a disappointment. I just still can’t believe George Murphy didn’t sing or dance. What a shame.

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