The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947)
Cast:
Betty Grable - Cynthia Pilgrim
Dick Haymes - John Pritchard
Anne Revere - Alice Pritchard
Allyn Joslyn - Leander Woolsey
Gene Lockhart - Saxon
Elizabeth Patterson - Catherine Dennison
Elisabeth Risdon - Mrs. Pritchard
Arthur Shields - Michael Michael
Charles Kemper - Herbert Jothan
Roy Roberts - Mr. Foster
Tom Moore - Office Clerk
Stanley Prager - Lookout in Office
Eddie Laughton - Quincy
Hal K. Dawson - Peabody
Lillian Bronson - Viola Simmons
Raymond Largay - Mr. Packard
Constance Purdy - Sarah Glidden
Mildred Stone - Miss Nixon
Pierre Watkin - Wendell Paige
Junius Matthews - Mr. Carter
Mary Field - Teacher
Kay Riley - Teacher
John Sheehan - Vendor
Victor Potel - Speaker
Frank Dawson - Waiter
Director(s): George Seaton
Writer(s):
George Seaton - based on the story by Ernest Maas, Frederica Maas
Producer(s): William Perlberg
Cinematography:
Leon Shamroy - Technicolor
Editing:
Robert Simpson
Music Director:
Charles Henderson, Alfred Newman
Art Direction: James Basevi, Boris Leven
Set Direction: Thomas Little, Al Orenbach
Special Effects: Fred Sersen
Choreography:Hermes Pan
20th Century-Fox, 1947, Color, 87 minutes
Betty Grable does some fine acting and singing in this period piece set in 1874. As Cynthia Pilgrim, she is one of the students in the first graduating class in typing at the Packard school of business in New York. She moves to Boston, where she gets a position as a "typewriter" in an office managed by Gene Lockhart and owned by the Pritchard family, John Pritchard (Dick Haymes) and family matron Alice Pritchard (Anne Revere). Once installed in her new position, Cynthia predictably falls in love with John, but not before Aunt Alice gets her involved in the suffragette movement. And, of course, once they are engaged to be married, John wants Cynthia to quit her job and stay at home. Tempers soar as conflicts arise from Cynthia's fervent beliefs in womens' rights. Fun film with some fine songs by the Gershwins, several of which became standards.
Songs:
Sweet Packard (Graduation class of Packard Business College);
Changing My Tune (Betty Grable);
Stand Up and Fight (Suffragettes);
Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did (Dick Haymes and Betty Grable);
The Back Bay Polka (Betty Grable and the Boarders);
One, Two, Three (sung by Dick Haymes while dancing with Betty Grable);
Demon Rum (Prohibitionists);
For You, For Me, For Evermore (Dick Haymes and Betty Grable)
