GIVE A GIRL A BREAK
US, 1953, 82 minutes, Colour.
Marge Champion, Gower Champion, Debbie Reynolds, Helen Wood, Bob Fosse, Kurt Kasznar, Richard Anderson, William Ching, Lurine Tuttle, Larry Keating.
Directed by Stanley Donen.
Give a Girl a Break is not an outstanding MGM musical of the kind that they were producing at this time: Singin’ in the Rain, Lovely to Look At, The Bandwagon, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It runs for only eighty-two minutes and was designed as a showcase for Marge and Gower Champion (who had appeared in such films as Show Boat) and for Debbie Reynolds and Bob Fosse who were up and coming.
The plot is the familiar one of the star who is unable to go on and the producers have to find a replacement (from 42nd Street to The Boyfriend). The three candidates are Debbie Reynolds, Helen Wood and Marge Champion. Gower Champion is the star and choreographer. Kurt Kasznar is the composer. Bob Fosse is Gower Champion’s assistant.
The film has a touch of suspense as the three aspiring stars audition, dance, have emotional conflicts about whether they can go on. Marge Champion is the older star – and her role in the film foreshadows her future when, after twenty-five years of marriage to Gower Champion, they separated and she became a dancing instructor. The film was also an anticipation of Debbie Reynolds’ career. She gets the part finally and is a success – as she was been for the next sixty years. Helen Wood had a short career, played Mary the mother of Jesus in The Pilgrimage Play in 1948.
Gower Champion received eight Tony awards for directing and choreography for his musicals on Broadway. Bob Fosse received seven. Fosse was the Oscar-winning director of Cabaret and directed such films as Sweet Charity, the autobiographical All That Jazz and Star 80.
The film is an opportunity to see these young performers in their early days – very interesting in the light of their subsequent careers. There are some song-and-dance routines, Give a Girl a Break, the finale, Applause (in which Oscar-winning dancer actor George Chakiris can be seen for those who remember him in West Side Story), The United State, sung by Bob Fosse and Debbie Reynolds, and a trio song with the large Kurt Kasznar trying to keep up with the athletic Gower Champion and Bob Fosse.
1. The popular story? The absent star, the show must go on? The search for an unknown? The hazards backstage? Final decisions and success?
2. The colour photography, the theatre, apartments, the atmosphere in New York? The Broadway background?
3. The musical score, the songs, the performances, the choreography? The Gower Champion style? Bob Fosse choreographing his own singing and dancing? In the light of their own subsequent careers?
4. The actress and her tantrum, Felix Jordan trying to persuade her to stay, Ted and his apology? His putting his foot in it? Her walking out? The crisis, the advertisement for performers, the crowd, Ted and his climbing over the roof? The auditions?
5. The preparation for the auditions, the three main actresses singing and dancing?
6. The auditions, the impact? Leo and his supporting Joanna Moss? Bob and his attraction towards Suzy? Ted and the previous partnership with Madelyn? Each of them promoting his choice?
7. The discussions, Ted and the past antipathy towards Madelyn? Madelyn and her relationship with Anson, the possibility of getting married? The discovery that Joanna was married, the interactions with her husband, her getting the part, her decision to go interstate with her husband? Madelyn and her decision, her appreciating Ted’s interest, leaving Anson? Forgoing the part? Her disappearing, coming in at the end? Reunited with Ted?
8. Bob, personality, getting the coffee, impulsive, attracted to Suzy? Suzy and her mother and her mother’s promoting her? The disappointment with the phone call, Bob coming to tell her she had the part? His desperation when he realised that Madelyn would get it? The relief when Suzy was the remaining candidate?
9. The personalities of the men, their song-and-dance routine?
10. The finale, Applause – and the show went on?
