The film begins with the arrival in America of the girls as children. A few years later, their dancing talent takes them on the road on the vaudeville circuit, where they meet singer-songwriter Harry Fox. Given a break by impresario Oscar Hammerstein, the twins are soon the toast of Broadway, and Jenny marries Harry. During World War I, Harry enlists, and the sisters take their act abroad, becoming successful in Europe as well. But Harry and Jenny's marriage falters due to the girls' success. Meanwhile, Rosie falls in love with a department store heir. A near-tragedy threatens Jenny's life, but all ends happily at a benefit performance in New York.
It took more than two years to get The Dolly Sisters into theaters. The film was first announced in 1943 as a vehicle for Alice Faye, who had been Fox's top musical star in the 1930s. But Faye, who was pregnant with her second child and tired of making musicals, decided to retire, although she was still under contract to the studio. Grable, whom the studio had planned to co-star in the lesser role of Rosie, then stepped into the lead as Jenny. By that time Grable was also pregnant, and the film had to be postponed until after she gave birth in 1944. Several starlets were considered for the part of Rosie, among them Janet Blair and Vivian Blaine. Comedian George Jessel, who had known the real Dolly Sisters in his vaudeville days, was making his producing debut with The Dolly Sisters. He cast newcomer June Haver (with whom, it was rumored, he was having an affair) as Rosie. Playing Jenny's true love was John Payne, making his first film appearance since returning from serving in the military in World War II.
Production finally got underway in January of 1945, and took seven months. Haver was one of several young up-and-comers that studio head Darryl F. Zanuck had put under contract as a threat to keep Grable in line, in the same way that he had brought on Grable as a threat to Alice Faye a decade earlier. But the easygoing Grable had become great pals with Faye, and with her own younger rivals. However, she disliked Haver, with her sanctimonious ways. Grable thought the younger actress was a hypocrite, always quoting the bible, but criticizing Grable her behind her back. The two stars stayed in their dressing rooms between takes, and did not socialize.
The real-life Dolly Sisters had retired in 1927, and Jenny, suffering from depression, committed suicide in 1941. The studio bought the rights to the Dolly Sisters story from Rosie Dolly, who provided a brief biography of their lives and careers that she had written, as well as scrapbooks, correspondence, and newspaper clippings. But she also stipulated that the film could not contain any mention about Jenny's suicide and other family matters.
Even with Rosie Dolly's cooperation, the studio falsified and sanitized much of the real lives of the sisters, which contained tragedy and scandal as well as triumph: they were in many ways the epitome of jazz age excess. The Dollies were small, sleek, dark-haired exotics; Fox turned them into big, blonde, buxom all-American girls. The real Rosie was married three times, and Jenny wed twice, but in the film each one had only one husband -- although, like the real sisters, their movie counterparts had many "admirers," including the Prince of Wales and the King of Spain. The Dollies were also addicted to gambling and expensive jewelry, which the film only hints at, and gambled away millions of one lover's money. Later in life, Rosie also attempted suicide, unsuccessfully.
The Dolly Sisters shows none of that, of course. It leaves the sisters, if not at the height of their fame and glory, at least at a triumphant moment. Critics who still remembered the Dollies fondly complained. New York Times critic Bosley Crowther wrote, "It is not the flamboyant fable of that famous 'sister act' which was the toast (as they say) of two continents and the stuff of many an ink-smeared journalist's dreams. Instead it is a tired and long-drawn stencil of so many old musical film plots that even the legs of Betty Grable and June Haver fail as adequate support." In spite of mostly dismissive reviews like Crowther's, The Dolly Sisters, was a hit, grossing more than four million dollars. Several lawsuits were filed over the film's inaccuracies, by ex-husbands, among others, but most were dismissed.
The Dolly Sisters may not be high art, and it's definitely not fact, but in its glorious excess, the film offers many pleasures for modern viewers: over-the-top costumes by Orry-Kelly; stunning production numbers that rival Busby Berkeley in loony concept, such as the ode to makeup, "Lipstick, Powder and Rouge"; and gorgeous production design by Lyle Wheeler, shot in hyper-saturated Technicolor. There is also a pair of memorable songs: "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows," based on a Chopin melody, and the Oscar-nominated "I Can't Begin to Tell You," which was the only song Betty Grable recorded while under contract at Fox. Zanuck did not allow his stars to make records, but a few years later her husband Harry James's band was recording the song and the vocalist didn't show up, so Grable stepped in and recorded it under a pseudonym -- Ruth Haag, a combination of her own first name and James's middle name.
Director: Irving Cummings
Producer: George Jessel
Screenplay: John Larkin, Marian Spitzer
Cinematography: Ernest Palmer
Editor: Barbara McLean
Costume Design: Orry-Kelly
Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler
Music: "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows," music by Harry Carroll, lyrics by Joseph McCarthy; "I can't Begin to Tell You," music by James B. Monaco, lyrics by Mack Gordon
Principal Cast: Betty Grable (Jenny Dolly), John Payne (Harry Fox), June Haver (Rosie Dolly), S.Z. Sakall (Latsie Dolly), Reginald Gardiner (Tony, Duke of Breck), Frank Latimore (Irving Netcher), Gene Sheldon(Professor Winnup), Sig Rumann (Ignatz Tsimmis), Trudy Marshall (Lenora Baldwin), Collette Lyons (Flo Daly)
114 minutes
by Margarita Landazuri
