The Powers Girl
Cast & Crew
Norman Mcleod
George Murphy
Anne Shirley
Carole Landis
Dennis Day
Alan Mowbray
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Small town music teacher Ellen Evans loses her job when talented New York photographer Jerry Hendricks publishes a compromising, albeit innocent, photograph of her posing with the town drunk. Ellen goes to New York City to file a formal complaint against Jerry, who never obtained a signed release from her, but her sister Kay, a beautiful bargain basement model, insists on taking the matter into her own hands. Jerry fears losing his boss's recommendation for the Signal Corps if he finds out about Ellen's photograph, so he impersonates the vice-president of the magazine and promises to get Kay an introduction to the famous modeling agent John Robert Powers if Ellen will sign the release. Ellen signs the release only after she realizes that meeting Powers would fulfill her selfish sister's lifelong dream. However, as Jerry has lied about his friendship with Powers, he only gets in to see him when he pretends to be an air raid warden. Jerry then tricks Powers into meeting Kay, and Powers is so impressed with her that he hires her to train in his modeling program. Jerry is later arrested for arson because he set a fire in Powers' office as part of his imposture. He is deeply touched when Ellen pays his bail, and they fall in love after she sees his more artistic photographs. Kay, meanwhile, progresses through Powers' modeling school and is introduced at a preview party as the top "Powers Girl" of 1943. Ellen prepares a surprise party for Kay later that night at their apartment, but Kay insists that Jerry stay with her at the nightclub so that she can land a contract with a big cosmetics firm. Although Jerry thinks of Kay only as a "sister," Kay gets him hopelessly drunk and tries to seduce him. Kay's friends, Nancy and Googie, advise Ellen of her sister's subterfuge, but Kay and Jerry never show up for the party. Ellen is shocked when she calls Jerry's apartment late that night and Kay picks up the telephone. Ellen challenges her sister, vowing that she will no longer allow her to take everything dear to her. The next morning, Jerry receives his enlistment notice from the Signal Corps, and his friends, famous clarinetist and band leader Benny Goodman and singer Dennis Day, plan a farewell party for him. Ellen rents a glamorous dress and a handsome foreigner, Vandy Vandegrift, to make Jerry jealous. When Jerry's parents attend the party, they assume that Kay is his fiancée. Ellen rebuffs Jerry, who is completely unaware of the rivalry between the sisters, and when he picks a fight with Vandy, Vandy knocks him out. Vandy is horrified, however, when he learns that Jerry will soon be his superior officer in the Signal Corps, and revives Jerry by telling him that Ellen sincerely loves him. The next morning, Jerry and Ellen marry at the courthouse, and Jerry immediately leaves to report for duty.
Director
Norman Mcleod
Cast
George Murphy
Anne Shirley
Carole Landis
Dennis Day
Alan Mowbray
Benny Goodman
Jean Ames
Mary Treen
Rafael Storm
Helen Mackellar
Harry Shannon
Roseanna Murray
Jayne Hazard
Lillian Eggers
Linda Stirling
Evelyn Frey
Eloise Hart
Patricia Mace
Barbara Slater
Rosemary Coleman
Martha Mature
Bonnie Manville
Edna Johnson
Shelly O'brien
Rebel Randall
Judith Gibson
Crew
Adrian
George Arthur
Stanley Cortez
Jack Donohue
Kim Gannon
Bernard Herzbrun
Renè Hubert
Joseph Patrick Mcdonald
Jack Merton
E. Edwin Moran
Joseph H. Nadel
Wm. A. Pierce
Wm. A. Pierce
Charles R. Rogers
Charles R. Rogers
John W. Rogers
Harry Segall
Monroe Shaff
Louis Silvers
Jule Styne
Malvin Wald
Wm. Wilmarth
Earl Wooden
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
News items add the following information about the production: In May 1941, Hollywood Reporter anounced that Warner Bros. had purchased an original story idea titled "Powers' Models" from Voldemar Vetluguin, associate editor of Red Book magazine. Warner Bros. planned to shoot the film as a high-budget Technicolor musical starring Ann Sheridan, and highlighting the John Robert Powers agency, the most famous modeling agency of the 1940s. A later news item, however, reported that Warner Bros. intended to produce a series of short films on the subject. In October 1941, Hollywood Reporter noted that John W. Rogers, son of producer Charles Rogers, and Monroe Shaff purchased the rights to John Roberts Powers' book Powers Girls, intending to produce a musical with songs by Jimmy McHugh and Frank Loesser and dances directed by Georgie Hale. Hollywood Reporter news items also report that Richard Wallace was originally slated to direct and Priscilla Lane worked in the film but dropped out of the cast due to illness. Other Powers models slated to appear in the film, according to Hollywood Reporter, were Carmel Fitzgerald, Jean Norton, Marian Whitney and Betty Bond, but their appearance in the final film has not been confirmed.
