Movie Monday - There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)

YAY for the first Movie Monday on ani_bbbc! In this series I will do my best not to spoil the movie and will try to only include details about certain scenes or relevant the topic at hand. But if you're are extremely particular about knowing ANYTHING about a movie before watching it, don't say I didn't warn you! 

Everyone knows about Marilyn Monroe; the blond bombshell that carved her way through the mid-century studio system on basically her own terms. But unlike Audrey Hepburn, who is also right up there with classic stars everyone at one point or another has had a poster of in their bedroom (or at the very least, has BEEN in a room with a poster of MM or AH on the walls), I feel like Marilyn's movies haven't been as accessible or as popular as the love for her persona in my generation would expect them to be.

For me though, Marilyn Monroe isn't the main attraction for There's No Business Like Show Business, and YES, the song (from Annie Get Your Gun, not this film) itself is really hard to get out of your head and YES, Marylin's numbers are all pretty out of this world but... what really attracts me to this movie is that you have three women, in their own ways, unapologetically going after their entertainment careers in the 1930's; one from an older generation of performers that built her career in a partnership with her husband, the other a daughter of a well known Vaudeville family and finally a woman determined to build her career under her own terms and in her own way having come from nothing that would have made her life in show business any easier.

Here are my three favorite moments, chronologically: 

The Daughter - Mitzi Gaynor  

Katy Donahue, dancer in The Five Donahues and daughter of Vaudeville star Molly Donahue, should be every girl's gold standard for getting a guy to leave you alone during a night out. While out with a date at a club after one of her shows (the same club where her brother Tim Donahue, played by Donald O'Connor from Singin' in the Rain, meets the girl that's about to turn his family's life around), Katy notices that her ginger ale has been spiked with something harder, something she had explicitly said she did not want when her drink order was taken. Could the booze have gone straight to her head? Or has she got something else up her sleeve?

Giddy after her one sip of alcohol, Katy has her date "help" her with one of the slapstick acts that was cut from her show earlier that night. Hands out, palms down, he lets her place both of their drinks on top of his fingers. His balance is impeccable... and with that, she walks out of the club leaving him stuck with two full cocktails on his hands.

The Headliner - Marilyn Monroe

After years of touring as an opening act for other groups, Vicky Parker gets her own show on Broadway -- and this time, she is the star. While on her way out to dinner with her co-star, and love interest, Tim Donahue, Vicky gets pulled away so she can talk to her producer about her dress for the opening number; something that she had already discussed with him at length and they had already come to an agreement on. What was intended to be a quick discussion turns into a two hour argument, and unknowingly, Vicky stands Tim up for dinner.

Later, when Vicky finds Tim alone on the stage upset about their missed date and her apparent stardom going to her head, she lays it out on the line. This is her career. This is her show. These are her decisions to get her career where she wants it to be and if two hour discussions with her producer about what wants for her show are a part of that, than they're going to have to happen. She's a girl who is putting her career and what she wants first.

The Mother - Ethel Merman

Molly Donahue blames Vicky for her son's troubles, particularly his recklessness and decision to leave his family in the dark as to his whereabouts and well being. Before the final stage act in the film (a show that Molly is a part of as a solo act, without her husband or children) when Molly, Vicky and Katy are getting ready, Katy arranges for Molly and Vicky to meet again so Vicky can say her side of the story. It isn't her fault what Tim has done and why he's chosen to leave them behind. She has done nothing wrong in living her life and making her own decisions. And in her conversation with Vicky, Molly understands. As a performer, and also a worried mother, she knows what Vicky is saying is true. And though rough, she continues to "go on with the show" with what she has with her by her side: her eldest son, her daughter, and another strong and talented performer that at this point, has become like family.
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If you've seen There's No Business Like Show Business, what are your thoughts? And if you haven't seen it, I hope you enjoy it when you do!