Incendiary Blonde
Brief Synopsis
In this true story, Texas Guinan rises from Wild West shows to become New York's "Queen of the Nightclubs" during Prohibition.
Cast & Crew
Read More
George Marshall
Director
Betty Hutton
Texas Guinan
Arturo De Cordoba
Bill Romero Kilgannon
Charles Ruggles
Cherokee Jim
Albert Dekker
[Joe] Cadden
Barry Fitzgerald
Mike Guinan
Film Details
Also Known As
Texas Guinan, The Life of Texas Guinan, The Smoothest Gal in Town
Genre
Musical
Biography
Release Date
Aug
31,
1945
Premiere Information
New York opening: 25 Jul 1945
Production Company
Paramount Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
Paramount Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Location
Tucson, Arizona, United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 53m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)
Color
Color (Technicolor)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
10,170ft
(12 reels)
Synopsis
At the New York parade in memory of the death of legendary performer Texas Guinan, Texas's father Mike, and former husband Tim Callahan, recall when Texas first ran away from her family in 1909 to join a Wild West Show: On 12 Sep 1909, while Mike is preoccupied with buying Texas potato futures in the hope of cornering the market, his tomboy daughter Texas attends Cherokee Jim's Wild West Show with her mother and siblings. Texas sneaks away and, pretending that she is a male ranch hand, enters a bucking bronco contest. When she realizes the saddle was loosened, Texas demands a second try and wins the contest. She is then offered a job in the show by Romero Kilgannon, whom she calls "Bill," who recently won proprietorship of the rodeo in a card game. After the potato crops are ruined due to an early frost, Mike stands to lose the family home, so Texas joins the rodeo and sends her income home. Texas soon becomes the highlight of the Wild West Show, and after she surprises and delights an audience by saving an infant from sure death under a wagon, Bill headlines Texas and doubles her salary. When journalist Tim Callahan discovers that Texas' rescue was phony, as the "infant" was actually an adult midget, he convinces Bill to hire him as the show's press agent by threatening to leak their secret to the public. Although Tim falls in love with Texas, she is in love with Bill, who, unknown to her, is bound to an institutionalized wife. Texas leaves the show when she learns that Bill is married and marries Tim, who instigates her Broadway career. Although Texas starts out as a chorus girl, she is soon made a featured performer with the Ballinger stage show. Tim is frustrated with his own stagnating career, and leaves Texas when he realizes her heart still belongs to Bill. Some time later, Texas' family moves in with her, and Cherokee Jim visits Texas in New York and tells her the truth about Bill's wife. Texas breaks her contract with Ballinger in order to join Bill in Hollywood, where he is making Western motion pictures. Texas invests in Bill's studio, and plans to wait for him until he is free. After Bill's wife dies, his romance with Texas meets with another obstacle, as her father's phony stock is being investigated by a district attorney. In order to protect Texas from fraud charges, Bill buys her and Mike's shares in the company, and she assumes that his affection for her is purely mercenary. Heartbroken, Texas returns to New York, unaware that Bill has narrowly escaped arrest on her behalf. By chance, Bill meets his old friend Joe Cadden, a liquor racketeer, who hires him to be his front man. As Ballinger has blacklisted Texas for breaking her contract, she is unable to find work, but Tim inspires her to bring Nick the Greek's failing nightclub back to life by throwing a farewell party for gossip columnist Louella Parsons and charging patrons. At first, the patrons resist paying for their pleasure, but are so delighted by Texas' performance that the evening becomes a hit, and the newspapers dub Texas the "incendiary blonde." Later, Cadden and his thugs beat up Nick until he agrees to sell the nightclub, and Texas switches her contract to Cadden after he buckles to her demand of an exorbitant salary and renames the club "Texas Guinan's." However, Texas refuses to have anything to do with Bill. One night, Cadden rousts rival gangsters, Gus and Charley Vettori, from the club, and they vow retribution. One day during rehearsals, the Vettori brothers make good on their promise and try to kill Texas at the nightclub, but Bill saves her life. Mike finally tells Texas how Bill saved them from arrest, and she and Bill reunite. Cadden is murdered by the Vettori brothers, but Bill and Texas refuse to allow them to take over the nightclub. Not long after, Texas learns that a heart condition will take her life in a couple of years, thereby confirming her lifelong belief that she would die young. Unaware of Texas' condition, Bill plans their wedding on New Year's Eve, but the Vettori brothers hold the Guinans hostage and he is forced to kill the gangsters in self-defense. Although Bill is wounded during the gunfight, he recovers and is arrested for murder. Bill refuses to marry Texas until he is released from prison. Realizing that she will die before marrying, Texas reflects on her full life.
Director
George Marshall
Director
Cast
Betty Hutton
Texas Guinan
Arturo De Cordoba
Bill Romero Kilgannon
Charles Ruggles
Cherokee Jim
Albert Dekker
[Joe] Cadden
Barry Fitzgerald
Mike Guinan
Mary Phillips
Bessie Guinan
Bill Goodwin
Tim Callahan
Edward Ciannelli
Nick the Greek
The Maxellos
Maurice Rocco
Waiter-pianist
Ted Mapes
Waco Smith
Charles C. Wilson
Mr. Ballinger
Maxine Fife
Pearl Guinan, 21 years
Carlotta Jelm
Pearl Guinan, 17 years
Ann Carter
Pearl Guinan, 7 years
Billy Lechner
Tommy Guinan, 19 years
Eddie Nichols
Tommy Guinan, 15 years
George Nokes
Tommy Guinan, 5 years
Robert Winkler
Willie Guinan
Patricia Prest
Texas Guinan, 9 years
Billy Curtis
Baby Joe
Edmund Macdonald
Charley Vettori
Don Costello
Gus Vettori
Erville Alderson
Ranch owner
Fred Kelsey
Ranch owner
Francis Ford
Ranch owner
Pat West
Bartender
Matt Mchugh
O'keefe
Russell Simpson
Jenkins
Arthur Loft
McKee
Andrew Tombes
Hadley
Pierre Watkin
Otto Hammel
James Millican
Hector
William B. Davidson
Businessman
Edwin Stanley
Mr. Zweigler
George H. Lloyd
Bartender
Dewey Robinson
Proprietor of speakeasy
Etta Mcdaniel
Maid
Ray Walker
Gus, stage manager
William Haade
Mug
Patricia Farr
Receptionist
Harry Hayden
Horace Biggs
Frank Faylen
Hotel clerk
Chuck Hamilton
Cab driver
Olin Howlin
Interior decorator
Charles Sullivan
Cadden's bodyguard
Jimmie Dundee
Cadden's bodyguard
Weldon Heyburn
Young man
George Mckay
Master of ceremonies
Allen Ray
Assistant interior decorator
Stan Johnson
Assistant interior decorator
Catherine Craig
Louella Parsons
Betty Walker
Cigarette girl
Lucy Knoch
Check girl
John Indrisano
Rinaldo bodyguard
Al Hill
Rinaldo bodyguard
Frank Marlowe
Rinaldo bodyguard
Ted Rand
Rinaldo bodyguard
Alphonse Martell
Headwaiter
Garry Owen
Dance director
John Harmon
Joe College
George Chandler
Rancher
Hector V. Sarno
Rancher
Ed Peil Sr.
Rancher
Bud Jamison
Head bartender
Tom Fadden
Farmer
Lou Davis
Clown
Billy Bletcher
Clown
Syd Saylor
Clown
Antonio Filauri
Proprietor Montana café
Jane Jones
Specialty singer
Roscoe T. Ward
Policeman
Dick Rush
Policeman
Charles Mcmurphy
Policeman
Bud Harrison
Policeman
Jack Ryan
Policeman
Tony Paton
Gangster
Billy Engle
Vendor
Frank Hubert
Drunk
Johnnie Johnston
Singer
Lawrence Lathrop
Page boy
Lee Murray
Page boy
Muriel Barr
Pretty blonde
John Hamilton
Justice of the peace
Harry Harvey Jr.
Rough-looking newsboy
Lane Chandler
Mounted policeman
James Flavin
Mounted policeman
Roy Gordon
Well dressed man
Howard Mitchell
Well dressed man
Harry Shannon
George
Mira Mckinney
Nurse
Emmett Vogan
Doctor
Lyle Latell
New Yorker
Ralph Peters
Member of orchestra
Ray Turner
Waiter
Leota Lorraine
Sam Flint
Jack Luden
Ruth Roman
Davison Clark
Crew
Maurice Abrahams
Composer
Claude Binyon
Original Screenplay
Art Black
Assistant Director
Tom Branigan
2nd Camera
Shelton Brooks
Composer
Lew Brown
Composer
Frank Butler
Original Screenplay
Grant Clarke
Composer
Tommy Coats
Western coach for Betty Hutton
Danny Dare
Dances staged by
B. G. Desylva
Executive Producer
Robert Emmett Dolan
Music Director
Hans Dreier
Art Director
Farciot Edouart
Process Photography
Ken Englund
Contract Writer
William Flannery
Art Director
James Edward Grant
Contract Writer
Edith Head
Costumes
Gordon Jennings
Special Photography Effects
William Jerome
Composer
Howard Johnson
Composer
Isham Jones
Composer
Gus Kahn
Composer
Natalie Kalmus
Technicolor Color Consultant
Wallace Kelley
Process Photographer Assistant
Eddie Leonard
Composer
Paul Lerpae
Special Photographer Effects Assistant
Joseph J. Lilley
Vocal Arrangements
Noel Madison
Dialogue Director
Archie Marshek
Editing
Joseph Mccarthy
Composer
Gene Merritt
Sound Recording
James V. Monaco
Composer
Joel Moss
Music mixer
Lewis F. Muir
Composer
Walter Oberst
Sound Recording
Morgan Padelford
Associate (Color)
Ray Rennahan
Director of Photography
Troy Sanders
Music Associate
Steve Seymour
Set Decoration
Joseph Sistrom
Associate Producer
Albert Von Tilzer
Composer
Wally Westmore
Makeup Supervisor
Philip Wisdom
Music mixer
Videos
Movie Clip
Hosted Intro
Film Details
Also Known As
Texas Guinan, The Life of Texas Guinan, The Smoothest Gal in Town
Genre
Musical
Biography
Release Date
Aug
31,
1945
Premiere Information
New York opening: 25 Jul 1945
Production Company
Paramount Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
Paramount Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Location
Tucson, Arizona, United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 53m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)
Color
Color (Technicolor)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
10,170ft
(12 reels)
Award Nominations
Best Score
1945
Articles
Incendiary Blonde
In this true story, Texas Guinan rises from Wild West shows to become New York's "Queen of the Nightclubs" during Prohibition.
Incendiary Blonde
In this true story, Texas Guinan rises from Wild West shows to become New York's "Queen of the Nightclubs" during Prohibition.
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were The Smoothest Gal in Town, The Life of Texas Guinan and Texas Guinan. The film opens with the following written foreword: "This picture was inspired by the life of one of the immortals of show business, Texas Guinan, queen of the night clubs. She hit Broadway like a skyrocket, dazzled it briefly with a million-dollar personality, and then died, as she had often foretold, at the height of her career." According to a New York Times article, Guinan's family contributed the family archive of news clippings to Paramount for background research. Publicity materials in copyright records indicate that Betty Hutton's mother, Mabel Adams, was given a bit part in the picture, but her appearance in the final film has not been confirmed. Hollywood Reporter news items reported the following information about the production: Producer Carl Laemmle, Jr. purchased the screen rights to Texas Guinan's life in 1939, and was considering writer Gene Fowler for the script. No information has been found on the sale of Guinan's life story to Paramount, however. Robert Sisk was originally listed as producer of the Paramount production, but left the studio in 1942. Alan Ladd was first cast as "Kilgannon," but was inducted into the Army. Paramount then sought Warner Bros. actor Humphrey Bogart for the lead, and following that, cast Brian Donlevy. Donlevy was placed on suspension for refusing the role, however. Charles Quigley was also tested for the lead. New York dancers Johnny Coy, Frederick Nay and John Deauville were cast for special dance routines, but their appearance in the final film has not been confirmed. This film marks jazz pianist Maurice Rocco's feature film debut. Some scenes were shot on location in Tucson, AZ.
Texas Guinan (1884-1933), born Mary Louise Cecilia Guinan, in Waco, TX, started out in wild west shows and worked her way to Broadway. She became renowned during the Prohibition era as a hostess of New York speakeasies who used the phrase, "Hello, suckers!" Guinan also appeared in the following two films: Warner Bros.' 1929 film Queen of the Nightclubs, directed by Bryan Foy, in which Guinan was the star, and Twentieth Century Picture Corp.'s 1933 film Broadway Thru a Keyhole, directed by Lowell Sherman and starring Constance Cummings and Paul Kelly. (For further information on the films, see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.4394 and AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.00506.) According to modern sources, Southern critics and audiences protested the casting of Mexican actor Arturo de Cordova, because William Kilgannon was actually Irish, not Mexican-Irish, as portrayed in the film. Incendiary Blonde was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture).
