By Violet LeVoit
Play Girl
Brief Synopsis
A young innocent falls for a compulsive gambler.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Ray Enright
Director
Winnie Lightner
Georgine Hicks
Loretta Young
Buster Green
Norman Foster
Wallie Dennis
Guy Kibbee
Finkelwald
Dorothy Burgess
Ruth
Film Details
Also Known As
Eight to Five, Love on a Budget
Genre
Romance
Drama
Release Date
Mar
12,
1932
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
The Vitaphone Corp.; Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the short story "God's Gift to Women," by Frederick Hazlett Brennan in Liberty (11 Jul 1930).
Technical Specs
Duration
60m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
7 reels
Synopsis
A beautiful but ambitious young woman named Buster Green attends a dance with her boyfriend Elmer, who has agreed to provide a date for Buster's roommate, Georgine Hicks, her co-worker at the Mayfield Department Store. The blind date, Wallie Dennis, turns out to be a handsome, carefree man who immediately falls for Buster. After a whirlwind romance, they marry and travel to Canada, where Buster is impressed by Wallie's generousity, but is unaware that he is getting his money from gambling. Wallie hits a losing streak, and when Buster discovers the truth, he vows to reform. After they return home from their honeymoon, Wallie breaks his promise, and even when he learns that Buster is pregnant, he cannot stop his compulsion. Buster believes Wallie has withdrawn money from their savings account to spend gambling and throws him out, only learning later that he used the money to buy a baby carriage. Forced to return to work at Mayfield's, she uses her meager earnings to bet on a horse named "Baby Mine." The horse wins but the bookie pockets her money and tells her that instead of playing her hunch, he placed her bet on the favorite. By coincidence, Wallie is there and starts a fight with the bookie to get his wife's money. A police raid interrupts them and the couple is arrested. Because Buster is pregnant, the police send her to the hospital and let Wallie off without a charge. Buster, who has been terribly afraid of childbirth because her mother died giving birth to her, is comforted by Wallie's return and they are reconciled. They have a baby girl and Wallie bets that their next child will be a boy.
Director
Ray Enright
Director
Cast
Winnie Lightner
Georgine Hicks
Loretta Young
Buster Green
Norman Foster
Wallie Dennis
Guy Kibbee
Finkelwald
Dorothy Burgess
Ruth
Noel Madison
Martie Happ
James Ellison
Elmer
Edward Van Sloan
Moffat
Polly Walters
Edna
Mae Madison
May
Eileen Carlisle
Rose
Renee Whitney
Arlene
Elizabeth Patterson
19-cent woman
Adrienne Dore
The Reno girl
Velma Gresham
Bridesmaid
Jack Curtis
The carpenter
Betty Barrington
Mrs. Braddock
Robert Bennett
Floor boy
Harold Waldridge
Messenger
Charles Coleman
Floor walker
Nat Pendleton
Dance hall plumber
Ralf Harolde
Willie
Joyce Farfane
Girl Number four
Sheila Manners
Wedding girl
Crew
Alma Armstrong
Hair
Lucille D'antoine
Hair
Mary Dery
Wardrobe
Perry Finnerman
Assistant Camera
Leo F. Forbstein
Vitaphone Orch Conductor
Freddie Fox
Assistant Director
Maude Fulton
Adapted and dial
Oliver S. Garretson
Sound
Esdras Hartley
Art Director
Brook Holder
Gaffer
Brown Holmes
Adapted and dial
Earl Luick
Gowns
Owen Marks
Editing
Virginia Moore
Screenplay clerk
Howard Oggle
Props
Curt Rehfeld
Second Assistant Director
Bert Shipman
2nd Camera
Gregg Toland
Photography
Richard Towers
2nd Camera
Homer Van Pelt
Still Photographer
Maurine Watkins
Screenwriter
Film Details
Also Known As
Eight to Five, Love on a Budget
Genre
Romance
Drama
Release Date
Mar
12,
1932
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
The Vitaphone Corp.; Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the short story "God's Gift to Women," by Frederick Hazlett Brennan in Liberty (11 Jul 1930).
Technical Specs
Duration
60m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
7 reels
Articles
Play Girl
Kay Francis's final film for RKO is a feminized, slightly salacious twist on the Cyrano story: A long-in-the-tooth gold digger (Francis) is unsure of how to continue her con game until a pretty gal (Mildred Coles) turns up hungry on her doorstep. The old pro spots a win-win partnership: my know-how, and your charms, means we'll never go hungry again. What could have been a real roll in the gutter in a pre-Hays code movie ends up being just naughty enough, with Nigel Bruce as a white-haired sugar daddy and James Ellison as .the gal's cowboy Prince Charming. Surprisingly, it's also sympathetic to women, a movie that's as honest about the impact of unwanted male attention as it is about the perks of being a gold digger. Enjoy also Margaret Hamilton's performance as Josie, the women's maid and confidant. While the Wicked Witch of the West was the role that cemented her legacy, here she gets to demonstrate how comedy, not villainy, was her real forte.
By Violet LeVoit
By Violet LeVoit
Play Girl
Kay Francis's final film for RKO is a feminized, slightly salacious twist on the Cyrano story: A long-in-the-tooth gold digger (Francis) is unsure of how to continue her con game until a pretty gal (Mildred Coles) turns up hungry on her doorstep. The old pro spots a win-win partnership: my know-how, and your charms, means we'll never go hungry again. What could have been a real roll in the gutter in a pre-Hays code movie ends up being just naughty enough, with Nigel Bruce as a white-haired sugar daddy and James Ellison as .the gal's cowboy Prince Charming. Surprisingly, it's also sympathetic to women, a movie that's as honest about the impact of unwanted male attention as it is about the perks of being a gold digger. Enjoy also Margaret Hamilton's performance as Josie, the women's maid and confidant. While the Wicked Witch of the West was the role that cemented her legacy, here she gets to demonstrate how comedy, not villainy, was her real forte.
By Violet LeVoit
Play-Girl
Director: Ray Enright
Screenplay: Maurine Watkins (screenplay);Maude Fulton, Brown Holmes (adaptation and dialogue); Frederick Hazlitt Brennan (story)
Cinematography: Gregg Toland
Art Direction: Esdras Hartley
Film Editing: Owen Marks
Cast: Winnie Lightner (Georgine Hicks), Loretta Young (Buster 'Bus' Green Dennis), Norman Foster (Wallace 'Wally' Dennis), Guy Kibbee ('Finky' Finkelwald), Dorothy Burgess (Edna), Noel Madison (Martie Happ), James Ellison (Elmer), Edward Van Sloan (Moffatt, the Boss)
BW-61m.
Play-Girl
A young innocent falls for a compulsive gambler.
Director: Ray Enright
Screenplay: Maurine Watkins (screenplay);Maude Fulton, Brown Holmes (adaptation and dialogue); Frederick Hazlitt Brennan (story)
Cinematography: Gregg Toland
Art Direction: Esdras Hartley
Film Editing: Owen Marks
Cast: Winnie Lightner (Georgine Hicks), Loretta Young (Buster 'Bus' Green Dennis), Norman Foster (Wallace 'Wally' Dennis), Guy Kibbee ('Finky' Finkelwald), Dorothy Burgess (Edna), Noel Madison (Martie Happ), James Ellison (Elmer), Edward Van Sloan (Moffatt, the Boss)
BW-61m.
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Warner Bros. records indicate that the film May have been based on an uncredited Faith Baldwin story. The film's working titles were Eight to Five and Love on a Budget. A news item in Film Daily notes that Norman Foster replaced Tom Brown as "Wallie."
