Musical Monday: Cover Girl (1944)

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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:
Cover Girl (1944) – Musical #33

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Charles Vidor

Starring:
Rita Hayworth, Gene Kelly, Otto Kruger, Eva Arden, Lee Bowman, Phil Silvers, Leslie Brooks, Jess Barker, Edward Brophy (uncredited), Stanley Clements (uncredited), Thurston Hall (uncredited), Barbara Pepper (uncredited), Milton Kibbee (uncredited)
As themselves: Jinx Falkenburg, Anita Colby,
Other models: Jean Colleran, Francine Counihan, Helen Mueller, Cecilia Meagher, Betty Jane Hess, Dusty Anderson, Eileen McClory, Cornelia B. von Hessert, Karen X. Gaylord, Cheryl Archer, Peggy Lloyd, Betty Jane Graham, Martha Outlaw, Susann Shaw, Rose May Robson

Plot:
Danny (Kelly) runs a nightclub in Brooklyn, NY, with beautiful Rusty Parker (Hayworth) as his lead dancer. Both are ambitious to make it big in show business, and it’s Rusty who hits it big. Vanity magazine is searching for a new face to be the cover model for a special anniversary magazine, and it’s Rusty who wins the contest. While she receives attention around New York City and is offers to appear in Broadway shows, Danny and her friends at her nightclub do not take kindly to her rise in fame.

Trivia:
• The song “Long Ago (and Far Away)” was written by Ira Gershwin and Jerome Kern for this film.
• Rita Hayworth’s singing voice is dubbed by Martha Mears
• Columbia Pictures originally wanted to borrow Dennis Morgan from Warner Bros. for the role of Danny.
• Columbia’s first Technicolor musical picture.
• Janet Blair was originally announced as a secondary lead.
• The dance numbers were filmed simultaneously by three cameras: one for close-ups, one for long shots and one for medium shots. This was to help cut down the number of takes needed for the dance sequences, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
• The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Color Cinematography and Best Color Art Direction, and for Best Song for “Long Ago and Far Away.” The picture won the Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture.
• Models Jinx Falkenburg and Anita Colby make cameos as themselves.

Highlights:
• Rita Hayworth dancing
• The makeover montage for the cover photo shoot with Rita Hayworth
• The “Cover Girl” montage as each cover girl poses with a close up of her playing behind her

Notable Songs:
• “Cover Girl” performed by the chorus
• “Long Ago and Far Away” performed by Gene Kelly and Rita Hayworth, dubbed by Martha Mears

My review:
Before DEVIL WEARS PRADA, there was COVER GIRL.

You may be wondering – what’s the connection? A girl gets her big career break and everyone around her, including her boyfriend who knew she wanted to succeed, gives her grief for it.

Danny (Kelly) runs a nightclub in Brooklyn, NY, with beautiful Rusty Parker (Hayworth) as his lead dancer. Both are ambitious to make it big in show business, and it’s Rusty who hits it big. Vanity magazine is searching for a new face to be the cover model for a special anniversary magazine, and it’s Rusty who wins the contest. She largely wins the contest, because Rusty is the spitting image of her grandmother, who the magazine publisher (Otto Kruger) was in love with. While she receives attention around New York City and is offers to appear in Broadway shows, Danny and her friends at her nightclub do not take kindly to her rise in fame.

I hadn’t seen this movie since I was in high school and was happy to revisit it. I didn’t remember enjoying it and now I see why. All Rita Hayworth’s character wants is to succeed, just like the rest of their friends, and everyone else is sour grapes about it. It’s quite irritating.

On one hand, I understand why Danny, as Rusty’s boyfriend, would be hurt that she seems to be pulling away with her success. But in scenes in the movie she will flat out say, “I won’t be at rehearsal” and then they are shocked she’s not there.

Rita Hayworth is wonderful and the shining star of this film. Not only is she stunning, but COVER GIRL gives her the opportunity to put her dancing skills on display. Though Hayworth started out as a dancer, getting to see them on film feels more rare than you would think. Hayworth is one of the few actresses who was able to dance with both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly in films. Though Kelly became a huge musical star at MGM, it was Hayworth that was the larger star here.

However, this film is considered Gene Kelly’s breakout film. Though he doesn’t have heavy screentime, this film is the first time Kelly played a role in choreographing the dances for a Hollywood film. He also demonstrates one of his signature innovative dances. In nearly every film starting in COVER GIRL and following, he will either perform a dance with unique elements – think tap dancing in roller skates in IT’S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER – or one of his lengthy, showstopping dances like in AMERICAN IN PARIS or SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN. In COVER GIRL, Gene Kelly dances with a mirror image of himself.

To me though, while our stars are excellent, the major highlight is actor Otto Kruger. Kruger plays a reminiscent magazine publisher, who is swayed to hire Rita Hayworth, because she’s the spitting image of his old lost love. Kruger’s character very easily could have been written as a sort of Svengali, and I’m thankful he wasn’t. Instead, his character is charming and sweet, and he plays the role with a wonderful twinkle in his eye. And what a treat to see Kruger in Technicolor too! One of my favorite scenes is when Kruger is standing beside the camera directing Rita Hayworth, which goes against what the photographer is saying.

Eve Arden also shines in this movie. Not only is she her usual hilarious and dry self, but she also looks stunning in Technicolor.

The one downside of this cast is Phil Silvers, who I never like to see in a cast listing. I honestly can’t stand him, and the movie would be be better without him.

Outside of the wonderful cast, I do have to say that the large majority of the songs are just okay. The only really good song is “Long Ago and Far Away,” which understandably became a hit following the film. The “Cover Girl” song was great too, but you can’t go wrong with a montage of girls on magazine covers. There is one song about rationing that would be cute … if Phil Silvers hadn’t performed it. The “Poor John” number is pretty awful too. Martha Mears dubbing Rita Hayworth in a cockney singing voice is just bad.

To go back to my DEVIL WEARS PRADA comparison, it just frustrates me that Rita Hayworth gets so much hate for trying to succeed. Otto Kruger’s character puts it well to Gene Kelly: “If you were (in love with her), you wouldn’t allow her loyalty to you keep her in obscurity.”

Do I think that she should have ended up with the “other man,” Lee Bowman? No not really, because she didn’t love him. But should she have ended up with Gene Kelly who didn’t support her goals? No, I don’t think he’s right for her either. I almost would have preferred to see her end up with Otto Kruger!

Overall, the movie is stunning and very colorful, and I can see why people love this movie based on visuals and dancing alone. I also do love that Rita Hayworth said this was a very happy movie to make, as she, Kelly and Silvers got along well together. It also has some interesting technology moments, like with Gene Kelly’s mirror dance number and the “Cover Girl” montage. The “Cover Girl” number may be the highlight of the film. I loved seeing the models come out in varied glamorous outfits with a close up of their face moving behind them, which transformed into the magazine cover.

I don’t dislike this movie, I actually largely enjoyed this revisit vs. my first visit back in 2006. However, Some elements of the film bother me, and so does Phil Silvers, but overall it’s fun. I love the “lost love” storyline and it’s really a visually stunning film.

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