Variety Girl

The opening caption reads, "This picture is dedicated to Variety Clubs, International, "The Heart of Show Business", which beats constantly in behalf of the under-privileged children of the world ... regardless of race, creed or color".{{cite book|last1=Reynolds|first1=Fred|title=Road to Hollywood (supplement)|date=1988|publisher=John Joyce|page=13}} The story revolves around two young girls who exchange identities, causing confusion at the Variety Club (show-business charity) and the Paramount studio.

The elaborate closing song, "Harmony," begins with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope singing and dancing on stage in matching checkered suits and straw hats, eventually moves to a merry-go-round with Gary Cooper in cowboy regalia seated on a plastic horse while talking through a couple of stanzas with Barry Fitzgerald, then gradually incorporates the entire cast, which includes almost everyone under contract to Paramount at the time, in a rousing finale launched by William Holden and Ray Milland chasing a scantily-clad woman across a soundstage.

The film includes a five-minute color Puppetoon segment Romeow and Julicat by George Pal in Technicolor which is in black and white in most prints.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}

• Mary Hatcher as Catherine Brown
• Olga San Juan as Amber La Vonne
• DeForest Kelley as Bob Kirby
• Frank Ferguson as R.J. O'Connell
• Glenn Tryon as Bill Farris
• Nella Walker as Mrs. Webster
• Torben Meyer as Andre
• Jack Norton as Busboy at Brown Derby
• William Demarest as Barker
• Frank Faylen as Stage manager

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• Bing Crosby
• Bob Hope
• Gary Cooper
• Ray Milland
• Alan Ladd
• Barbara Stanwyck
• Paulette Goddard
• Dorothy Lamour
• Sonny Tufts
• Joan Caulfield
• William Holden
• Lizabeth Scott
• Burt Lancaster
• Gail Russell
• Diana Lynn
• Sterling Hayden
• Robert Preston
• Veronica Lake{{cite magazine|url=https://diaboliquemagazine.com/the-cinema-of-veronica-lake/|magazine=Diabolique Magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|title=The Cinema of Veronica Lake|date=11 February 2020}}
• Pearl Bailey
• John Lund
• William Bendix
• George Pal
• Barry Fitzgerald
• Howard Da Silva
• Macdonald Carey
• Cass Daley
• Spike Jones & His City Slickers
• Patric Knowles
• Mona Freeman
• Cecil Kellaway
• Virginia Field
• Richard Webb
• Frank Faylen
• Cecil B. DeMille
• Mitchell Leisen
• George Marshall
• Paula Raymond
• George Reeves
• Wanda Hendrix
• Stanley Clements
• Walter Abel
• Pinto Colvig

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Variety wrote that the film "emerges a socko entertainment . . . [Hope] and Crosby click with their "Harmony" routine, a socko number for all its paraphrasing of the "Friendship" routine out of Du Barry Was a Lady which Bert Lahr and Ethel Merman made famous.{{cite journal|title=Variety|date=July 16, 1947}} The New York Times review of October 16, 1947 concluded: "The people who carry along the story are not to be overlooked for they bring to the effort the right spirit of good-natured abandon. Mary Hatcher, who was discovered in Oklahoma!, is a very welcome addition to the screen's songbird assembly, and she has a wide-eyed innocent look which won't hurt her either. Variety Girl is hodge-podge, to be sure. But let's not quibble about its lack of form, because it is a hearty slam-bang entertainment wherein the good very definitely outweighs the poor."{{cite news |title='Variety Girl' Follows the Style of 'Big Broadcast' Films, Permitting Paramount Studio to Parade Most of Its Stars |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1947/10/16/archives/variety-girl-follows-the-style-of-big-broadcast-films-permitting.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=1947-10-16 |access-date=2021-05-07}} Mae Tinée of the Chicago Daily Tribune wrote, "It would be difficult to select any one of this amiable aggregation for special honors."{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77234999/variety-girl-a-bargain-in-big-names/ |last=Tinée |first=Mae |title='Variety Girl' a Bargain in Big Names and Fun |newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune |page=33 |date=October 13, 1947 |access-date=2021-05-07 |via=Newspapers.com}}

• "Tallahassee" (Frank Loesser): sung by Alan Ladd, Dorothy Lamour and others
• "Harmony" (Jimmy Van Heusen / Johnny Burke): sung by Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and others
• "Tired" (Allan Roberts / Doris Fisher): sung by Pearl Bailey
• "He Can Waltz" (Frank Loesser): sung by Mary Hatcher
• "Your Heart Calling Mine" (Frank Loesser): sung by Mary Hatcher and Spike Jones and his City Slickers
• "Romeow and Julicat" (Edward H. Plumb): performed by Mary Hatcher, Pinto Colvig, and chorus
• "I Must Have Been Madly in Love" (Frank Loesser)
• "I Want My Money Back" (Frank Loesser)
• "Impossible Things" (Frank Loesser)
• "The French" (Frank Loesser){{cite book|last1=Reynolds|first1=Fred|title=Road to Hollywood|date=1986|publisher=John Joyce|page=173}}

The song "Tallahassee" appeared in the Billboard charts with recordings by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters (#10 position) and by Dinah Shore and Woody Herman (#15 spot).{{cite book|last1=Whitburn|first1=Joel|title=Pop Memories 1890-1954|date=1986|publisher=Record Research Inc|location=Wisconsin, USA|isbn=0-89820-083-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/589 589]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/589}}

• List of films featuring fictional films

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|0039951}}
• {{Rotten Tomatoes|variety_girl}}

{{George Marshall}}

Category:1947 films

Category:1947 musical comedy films

Category:American musical comedy films

Category:American black-and-white films

Category:Films directed by George Marshall

Category:Films shot in Los Angeles

Category:Paramount Pictures films

Category:Films with screenplays by Frank Tashlin

Category:1940s English-language films

Category:1940s American films

Category:Films scored by Joseph J. Lilley

Category:English-language musical comedy films