Main Cast: Mary Eaton, Edward Crandall, Helen Morgan
Release Year: 1930
Country: US
Run Time: 96 minutes
Plot
Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld brought his legendary "Follies" to the silver screen in Glorifying the American Girl. The barely visible plotline concerns a virginal young miss (Mary Eaton) who aspires to greatness as a Follies girl. With stars in her eyes, she heads to New York, leaving her hometown boyfriend to fend for himself. Upon arriving in the Big Apple, our heroine links up with a two-bit dancer who offers to make her a star -- if only she'll let him make her, period. The greater part of the film is given over to a re-creation of a "typical" Follies production, replete with musical solos by Rudy Vallee and Helen Morgan and a sidesplitting comedy sketch with Eddie Cantor and Louis Sorin as a pair of kvetching Jewish tailors ("Vat's der idea uff calling me a damn fool in front uff der customers?" "So, it's a secret?"). From time to time, the camera cuts away to the many celebrities enjoying the show, including journalist Ring Lardner, nightclub doyenne Texas Guinan, New York mayor Jimmy Walker, Paramount Pictures head man Adolph Zukor, and Flo Ziegfeld himself, accompanied by his then-wife, Billie Burke. And yes, that's Johnny Weissmuller on-stage as a provocatively undraped "Nature Boy." As a bonus, the musical score was the handiwork of Irving Berlin. Originally filmed in Technicolor, Glorifying the American Girl is presently available only in black-and-white. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Ted Shawn - Choreography, Frank Tours - Choreography, Millard Webb - Director, John W. Harkrider - Director, Irving Berlin - Composer (Music Score), Walter Donaldson - Composer (Music Score), Larry Spier - Composer (Music Score), Dave Stamper - Composer (Music Score), John W. Harkrider - Production Designer, George Folsey - Cinematographer, Monta Bell - Producer, Millard Webb - Screenwriter, J.P. McEvoy - Screenwriter
The script for the film was written by J.P. McEvoy and Millard Webb and directed by John W. Harkrider and Millard Webb. The songs were written by Irving Berlin, Walter Donaldson, Rudolf Friml, James E. Hanley, Larry Spier and Dave Stamper. The film is in the public domain, and many prints exhibited on television are in black-and-white only, and do not include pre-Code material, such as nudity.
The plot involves a young woman (Mary Eaton) who wants to be in the Follies, but in the meantime is making ends meet by working at a department store's sheet music department, where she sings the latest hits. She is accompanied on piano by her childhood boyfriend (Edward Crandall), who is in love with her, despite her single-minded interest in her career. When a vaudeville performer (Dan Healy) asks her to join him as his new partner, she sees it as an attempt to make her dream come true. Upon arriving in New York City, our heroine finds out that her new partner is only interested in sleeping with her and makes this a condition of making her a star. Soon, however, she is discovered by a representative of Ziegfeld.
This Pre-Code movie is notable for being the first talkie to use the word "damn." The word is used on numerous occasions by Mary Eaton and Eddie Cantor.
The revue sequence contains virtual nudity and revealing costumes.
Both Paramount and EMKA failed to renew the copyright and the film is now in the public domain.[citation needed] EMKA's successor, Universal Studios, continues to hold the original film elements.
Preservation
Poster for the film.
The black-and-white prints currently shown on television, with a cut-down running time of 87 minutes, was made in the 1950s and has a number of sequences cut due to their Pre-Code content, i.e. nudity, etc. The film was restored, to the length of 96 minutes, with the original Technicolor sequences, by the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
