Cinderella Jones (1946) - Turner Classic Movies

Brief Synopsis

A woman can claim inheritance only if she marries a genius.

Cast & Crew

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Busby Berkeley

Joan Leslie

Robert Alda

Julie Bishop

William Prince

Bartholomew Williams

S. Z. Sakall

Photos & Videos

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Cinderella Jones - (Original Trailer)

Film Details

Also Known As

Judy Adjudicates

Genre

Comedy

Musical

Release Date

Mar 9, 1946

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

Distribution Company

Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

Country

United States

Screenplay Information

Based on the short story "Judy Adjudicates" by Philip Wylie in Red Book Magazine (Apr 1943).

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 32m

Sound

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Synopsis

Having failed to locate heiress Judy Jones, the law firm of Minland, Mahoney and Krencher decide to advertise. One of the many people who sees the ad is band leader Tommy Coles, whose girl friend, an addlepated singer, is named Judy Jones. Tommy has proposed many times to Judy, but she refuses to marry him until they have more money. After Judy makes a comment about her rich uncle Jonas Jones, Tommy realizes that she is really the missing heiress. By showing the lawyers a shrunken head that Jonas left to her, Judy proves her claim to his ten million dollars, but in order to inherit, she must marry a man with an I.Q. of 150 by a certain date. Using a man's name, Judy enrolls in an all-male school for geniuses. Her ruse is quickly discovered, but because she is attractive, and because she offers to pay for a new chemistry laboratory with part of her inheritance, professor Gabriel Popik allows her to stay in school. Younger professor Bartholomew Williams is not as susceptible to Judy's charms, however, and insists that she leave the campus. A horrified Popik demands that Williams beg Judy to return, but thanks to taxi driver Camille, she has already taken a waitress job at the campus coffee shop and refuses. After Judy accidentally serves Williams a sandwich made with a bar of soap, he angrily tells her that she epitomizes everything he hates about women. Tommy, who is also in the coffee shop, tries to defend Judy, but Williams knocks him unconscious, impressing Judy with his virility. Because Popik knows that Judy must marry a man with a high I.Q., he convinces Williams to romance her until she agrees to return to school. A few days later, Popik is sure that the stormy relationship between Judy and Williams is a sign that they love each other. When Judy joins Tommy and his band at a lakeside resort the night before her marriage deadline, Popik conspires with the lawyers, who are also at the resort, to bring Judy and Williams together. While the lawyers row Judy out to the middle of the lake, Popik brings a drunken Williams to the lakeshore. The lawyers overturn the boat and Williams swims out to rescue Judy. He confesses that he loves her, and she accepts his marriage proposal, to the dismay of Tommy and Camille, who loves Williams. Judy and Williams, together with the lawyers, Tommy, Camille and Popik, hurry to Nevada to be married. On the way, the police stop them for speeding and take them to jail. In their defense, Tommy reels off a lot of legal terminology and is forced to admit that he is a law school graduate and a former quiz kid. After Williams reveals that he has a low I.Q., but has worked hard to succeed, Tommy proposes again to Judy, whom he truly loves, and Camille proposes to Williams. The marriage plans are again interrupted when the wedding party is stopped by a convoy of returning soldiers, but everything is happily resolved when the army chaplain unites the two couples.

Director

Busby Berkeley

Cast

Joan Leslie

Robert Alda

Julie Bishop

William Prince

Bartholomew Williams

S. Z. Sakall

Edward Everett Horton

Charles Dingle

Ruth Donnelly

Elisha Cook Jr.

Oliver S. Patch

Hobart Cavanaugh

Charles Arnt

Chester Clute

Ed Gargan

Marianne O'brien

Robert Dudley

Gayle Mellott

Mary Landa

Sondra Janson

Libby Taylor

Hallene Hill

Little old lady

Lillian Castle

Little old lady

Marian Martin

Burlesque queen

Lottie Harrison

Ezelle Poule

Cigar store clerk

Dorothy Kennedy

Girl truck driver

Karen Hale

Pat Knox

Valerie Gratton

Charles Marsh

Don Wilson

Mary Dean

Buddy Gorman

Margaret Early

Johnny Mitchell

Johnny Duncan

Russell Coles

Lawrence Lathrop

Bill Chaney

Fred Carpenter

Victoria Horne

Ruth Warren

George Turner

Edwin Mills

Robert Cherry

Edward Fielding

Percival Vivian

Professor Diebold

Douglas Wood

Professor Seabright

Walter Soderling

Member, board of directors

John Christian

Member, board of directors

Frank Hilliard

Member, board of director

Elmer Jerome

Member board of directors

Eddie Acuff

Ben Weldon

Betty Alexander

Angela Greene

Diana Mumby

Trude Lavoice

Ann Goldthwaite

Lynne Baggett

Barbara Slater

Beverly Thompson

Alma Carroll

Ricki Van Dusen

Jan Bryant

Zetta Cramer

Wesley Brent

Ellen Hall

Lavonne Moyer

Joy Barlowe

Lorraine Breacher

Beverlee Mitchell

Monte Blue

Edwin Hanneford

Joseph Crehan

Prosecuting attorney

Paul Scardon

Vera Lewis

Woman in court room

Rose Plumer

Woman in court room

Jack Chefe

Johnny Walsh

John Sheehan

Bob Ebright

Abe Dinovitch

Clifford Holland

Mike Gaddis

John Alban

Shelby Payne

Red Cross nurse

Helen Kimbell

Red Cross nurse

Marion Graham

Red Cross nurse

Janette Gras

Red Cross nurse

Dell Clow

Red Cross nurse

Betty Brodel

Red Cross nurse

Walter Bacon

Howard Washington

Ray Flynn

Harold Miller

Lawrence Williams

Jack Daley

Eric Alden

Orn Huntington

Dan Wallace

Hal Townsend

Zane Megowan

Jeffrey Sayre

Everett Smith

Harry Woolman

Betty Gordon

Gertrude Keeler

Marjorie Kane

Toby Green

Isabelle Lamal

Tiny Jones

Crew

George Amy

Milo Anderson

Sammy Cahn

Dudley Chambers

Vocal Arrangements

Leo F. Forbstein

Alex Gottlieb

Ray Heindorf

Orchestra Arrangement

Charles Hoffman

Louanne Hogan

Singing voice double for Joan Leslie

Frederick Hollander

John Hughes

James Leicester

Jack Mcconaghy

Frank Perkins

Orchestra Arrangement

Sol Polito

Director of Photography

Jule Styne

Dolph Thomas

Jack L. Warner

Executive Producer

Perc Westmore

Videos

Cinderella Jones - (Original Trailer) Joan Leslie has to find and marry a genius to inherit $10 million in Busby Berkeley's musical Cinderella Jones (1946).

Film Details

Also Known As

Judy Adjudicates

Genre

Comedy

Musical

Release Date

Mar 9, 1946

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

Distribution Company

Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

Country

United States

Screenplay Information

Based on the short story "Judy Adjudicates" by Philip Wylie in Red Book Magazine (Apr 1943).

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 32m

Sound

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Articles

Cinderella Jones

January 9, 2014

Joan Leslie had been working under contract at Warner Brothers since the age of 15, in High Sierra (1941)), and the studio rewarded her loyalty and professionalism by giving her great co-stars (Cagney, Fonda, Bogart) and directors (Howard Hawks, Michael Curtiz). What's more, she took time to entertain troops at the Hollywood Canteen every Tuesday as part of the war effort. But by the time she was 21, the good parts were harder to find. The studio, under pressure to work cheaply and quickly to compete with television, put her in projects like Cinderella Jones, a madcap fantasy about a singer (Leslie) who's up for a $10 million inheritance if she can marry a man with an IQ over 150. Even though it was a chance to work under Busby Berkeley, the picture contained very few songs and even less of Berkeley's trademark kaleidoscopic, psychedelic musical numbers. After being disappointed by the end result, the now adult Leslie decided to sue Warner Brothers for dissolution of the contract she'd signed as a minor - and lost. After the defeat, Leslie made a few films at Republic before retiring to focus on her family.

Cinderella Jones

Cinderella Jones

Joan Leslie had been working under contract at Warner Brothers since the age of 15, in High Sierra (1941)), and the studio rewarded her loyalty and professionalism by giving her great co-stars (Cagney, Fonda, Bogart) and directors (Howard Hawks, Michael Curtiz). What's more, she took time to entertain troops at the Hollywood Canteen every Tuesday as part of the war effort. But by the time she was 21, the good parts were harder to find. The studio, under pressure to work cheaply and quickly to compete with television, put her in projects like Cinderella Jones, a madcap fantasy about a singer (Leslie) who's up for a $10 million inheritance if she can marry a man with an IQ over 150. Even though it was a chance to work under Busby Berkeley, the picture contained very few songs and even less of Berkeley's trademark kaleidoscopic, psychedelic musical numbers. After being disappointed by the end result, the now adult Leslie decided to sue Warner Brothers for dissolution of the contract she'd signed as a minor - and lost. After the defeat, Leslie made a few films at Republic before retiring to focus on her family.

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

The film's working title was Judy Adjudicates. A November 4, 1943 Hollywood Reporter news item notes that Faye Emerson replaced Jane Wyman, who was re-assigned to the Warner Bros. film Make Your Own Bed (see below), but Emerson does not appear in the film, and the role was finally played by Joan Leslie. A press release announced Dennis Morgan as the star. The Motion Picture Herald review states that although this film was made before Rhapsody in Blue, which also stars Robert Alda (see below), Warner Bros. delayed its release in the hope that Rhapsody in Blue would establish Alda as a box office draw. According to modern sources, one result of this delay was that a number of wartime references had to be edited out of the film. This film marked Busby Berkeley's last directorial effort for Warner Bros., the studio where he was the dance director on a number of musicals made in the 1930s.

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