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More Girls, Fun and Romance Are New Trend to Offset War
from Life magazine, August 5, 1940 Three pictures of snappy Lucille Ball shaking a Cellophane fringed skirt in RKO's new movie, Dance, Girl, Dance, signify more than meets the eye. They indicate a trend. They show how Hollywood responds when the public, weary of war news, demands to see more fun, more romance, more girls like Lucille Ball. In April over 30 anti-Nazi films were listed for production during the next year. Today all but half a dozen of them are shelved. Movie exhibitors complained that the public had enough of war in newspapers, radio and dinner talk. Studios sent orders to their writers to be as lighthearted as possible without offending the Hays Office. The liveliness of Dance, Girl, Dance is due mostly to women. Its story is about a troupe of eight girl dancers. Its author is Vicki Baum. Its co-adapter is Tess Slesinger. Its director is Dorothy Arzner. Its star is Maureen O'Hara. The dance sequence below [cut] was shot during the actual filming by LIFE's photographer, a man.  Vintage Lucy Articles | Main | swing4243@yahoo.com |