And She Learned About Dames

And She Learned About Dames (1934) is a one-reel black-and-white promotional short subject made by Warner Bros. through Vitaphone to publicize Dames (1934), the fourth of a series of WB musicals starring Ruby Keller and Dick Powell. Dames, which featured the usual roundup of costars including Joan Blondell, Guy Kibbee, ZaSu Pitts and Hugh Herbert, along with full quotient of shapely chorus girls, marked the final collaboration of Keeler with director/choreographer Busby Berkeley. The film includes some of Berkeley's most famously surreal musical numbers, including "I Only Have Eyes for You," an homage to Keeler's charms which features kaleidoscopic views of her face and body. She later named the song as a favorite from her films, although the modest star was said to have been embarrassed by such an elaborate tribute to her loveliness. In the nine-minute short, Martha Howson (Martha Merrill) is among a group of students at New York's Rovina Finishing School for Girls who send their photos to the makers of Claybury's Beauty Soap in hopes of being chosen "Miss Complexion of 1934." Martha, a mousey and bespectacled girl, discards her glasses, glamorizes herself, and wins the contest. The prize includes a trip to Hollywood and a tour of Warner Bros. lot with studio star Lyle Talbot. Martha visits the set of Dames and has a brief conversation with Busby Berkeley about his directing methods and equipment. He tells her that he thinks Dames "is going to top anything we've ever done!" But what Martha really wants is to meet Dick Powell and collect 5,000 kisses from him -- on behalf of her fellow students, of course! As she searches for Powell, she is treated to several scenes from Dames, including excerpts from the title song as well as "I Only Have Eyes for You." At last, Martha encounters her heartthrob and begins collecting those kisses. Kibbee and Herbert also appear briefly as themselves, while Keeler, Blondell and Pitts are among those glimpsed in scenes from the feature film. Other students are played by Margaret Carthew, Ethelreda Leopold and Victoria Vinton, all uncredited. And She Learned About Dames has a bit of a reputation of its own as an unusually entertaining little promotional piece, and is included in Warner Home Video's 2006 DVD release "The Busby Berkeley Collection." Merrill, the Indiana-born leading lady of the short, also appears in Dames as an uncredited chorus girl. She played some 20 other film roles over the next two years, most of them also uncredited.

By Roger Fristoe