The Girl in the Show

1929 film by Edgar Selwyn

August 31, 1929 (1929-08-31) (U.S.)^[2]^[3]

Running time

82 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

The Girl in the Show is a 1929 American comedy film directed by Edgar Selwyn and written by Edgar Selwyn and Joseph Farnham. The film stars Bessie Love, Raymond Hackett, Edward Nugent, Mary Doran, and Jed Prouty. The film was produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.^[2]^[3]

Plot

A traveling Tom show is stranded in Kansas when their manager steals what meager funds they have. Hattie Hartley (Bessie Love), who plays Eva in the production, decides to marry the local undertaker, so that he will fund the troupe and pay for her younger sister's schooling. On the day of the wedding, the troupe is booked for a performance at the last minute. Hattie refuses to get married so that she can play the role of Eva, an act which reunites her with her true love, a member of their troupe.^[4]

Cast

Bessie Love as Hattie Hartley
Raymond Hackett as Mal Thorne
Edward Nugent as Dave Amazon
Mary Doran as Connie Bard
Jed Prouty as Newton Wampler
Ford Sterling as Ed Bondell
Nanci Price as Oriole
Lucy Beaumont as Lorna Montrose
Richard Carlyle as Leon Montrose
Alice Moe as Grace Steeple
Frank Nelson as Tracy Boone
Jack McDonald as Ernest Beaumont
Ethel Wales as Mrs. Truxton
John F. Morrissey as Jeff Morgan
John T. Prince as Mr. Oliver - Minister

Reception

The film received negative reviews, with one reviewer claiming that people were yelling at the screen in the theater.^[5]

References

^ Nicholson, Kenyon; Golden, John (1928). Eva the Fifth: the odyssey of a Tom show, in three acts. New York City: S. French, Inc. OCLC 558211.
^ ^a ^b "The Girl in the Show (1929) – Overview". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
^ ^a ^b "The Girl in the Show". AFI. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
^ Munden, Kenneth W., ed. (1971). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films 1921–1930. New York: R.R. Bowker Company. p. 292. OCLC 664500075.
^ "Girl in the Show". Variety. New York. October 9, 1929. Retrieved January 6, 2015. Even the Brooklynites who saw this thing on this day could be heard calling the picture names right in the theatre.