''Cover Girl'' is a 1944 American musical

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by Charles Vidor and starring

Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer and producer. She achieved fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars, appearing in 61 films over 37 years. The press coined th ...

and Gene Kelly. The film tells the story of a chorus girl given a chance at stardom when she is offered an opportunity to be a highly paid

cover girl A cover girl is a woman whose photograph features on the front cover of a magazine. She may be a model, celebrity or entertainer. The term would generally not be used to describe a casual, once-off appearance by a person on the cover of a maga ...

. It was one of the most popular musicals of the war years. Primarily a showcase for Hayworth, the film has lavish modern and 1890s costumes, eight dance routines for Hayworth, and songs by

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in ove ...

and Ira Gershwin, including "

Long Ago (and Far Away) "Long Ago (and Far Away)" is a popular song with music by Jerome Kern, and lyrics about nostalgia by Ira Gershwin from the 1944 Technicolor film musical ''Cover Girl'' starring Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly and released by Columbia Pictures. T ...

Plot

Rusty is a very lovely and beautiful chorus girl at a

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

nightclub run by her boyfriend Danny McGuire. Fellow showgirl Maurine Martin enters a contest to be on the cover of ''Vanity'' magazine, so Rusty tries out as well. When Maurine is given a lukewarm evaluation by Cornelia Jackson, she sabotages Rusty's chances, giving her terrible advice on how to act toward Cornelia. Cornelia's boss, magazine editor John Coudair, decides to check out Maurine at Danny's nightclub, but his eye is immediately drawn to Rusty. It turns out that 40 years earlier, he had become instantly smitten with showgirl Maribelle Hicks, whom Rusty looks exactly like; he later discovers that Maribelle is Rusty's recently deceased grandmother. Danny is worried that, with her newfound fame, Rusty will leave him. She is quite willing to stay if only Danny would ask her. John brings along impresario Noel Wheaton to see Rusty perform; Noel is impressed by both her marvelous beauty and talent. Backstage, he offers her a job. Danny does not want to stand in her way, so he picks an argument to send her packing. Rusty becomes a star on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

after appearing in a musical produced by Wheaton, and decides to marry him. At the last second, however, she leaves the wedding and reunites with Danny.

Cast

Notes * The film features cameo appearances by

Jinx Falkenburg Eugenia Lincoln "Jinx" Falkenburg (January 21, 1919 – August 27, 2003) was an American actress and model. She married journalist and publicist Tex McCrary in 1945.Autobiography: Jinx, Jinx Falkenburg, Duell, Sloan and Pearce (1951) Known as ...

and

Anita Colby Anita Colby (born Anita Counihan; August 5, 1914– March 27, 1992) was an American model, actress, and business consultant. Biography Colby was born Anita Counihan, the daughter of Margaret Anne McCarthy and the cartoonist Daniel Francis " ...

as themselves, and an appearance by

Shelley Winters Shelley Winters (born Shirley Schrift; August 18, 1920 – January 14, 2006) was an American actress whose career spanned seven decades. She appeared in numerous films. She won Academy Awards for ''The Diary of Anne Frank'' (1959) and ''A Patch o ...

, early in her career, as one of the young autograph hounds. * In one of Hollywood's most unusual reprised roles, Kelly played Danny McGuire again in the 1980 film '' Xanadu''.

Musical numbers

''Cover Girl'' marked the first film collaboration of

and Ira Gershwin. *"The Show Must Go On" (Kern - music, Gershwin - lyrics) *"Who's Complaining?" (Kern, Gershwin) *"Sure Thing" (Kern, Gershwin) *"Make Way For Tomorrow" (Kern, Gershwin, E.Y. Harburg - lyrics) *"Put Me to the Test" (Kern, Gershwin) *"

" (Kern, Gershwin) *"Poor John" (Henry E. Pether - music, Fred W. Leigh - lyrics) *"Alter-Ego Dance" (Kern) *"Cover Girl (That Girl on the Cover)" (Kern, Gershwin)

Production

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

originally wanted to use

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

star Dennis Morgan for ''Cover Girl'', but when Kelly's project at MGM, ''Dragon Seed'', was postponed, MGM extended their loan of Kelly to Columbia, allowing this film to be made with him. Columbia's production head, Harry Cohn, was initially opposed to having Kelly do the film, but producer Schwartz nevertheless obtained him, promising Kelly that he would be able to choreograph, which MGM had not allowed him to do. Columbia gave Kelly almost complete control over the making of this film, and many of his ideas contributed to its lasting success. He removed several of the soundstage walls so that he, Hayworth, and Silvers could dance along an entire street in one take. He also used trick photography so that he could dance with his own reflection in the sequence "Alter-Ego Dance", achieved using

superimposition Superimposition is the placement of one thing over another, typically so that both are still evident. Graphics In graphics, superimposition is the placement of an image or video on top of an already-existing image or video, usually to add to t ...

to give his "double" a ghost-like quality. Kelly, along with

Stanley Donen Stanley Donen ( ; April 13, 1924 – February 21, 2019) was an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are '' On the Town,'' (1949) and ''Singin' in the Rain'' (1952), both of which he co-directed with Gene Kell ...

, devised the choreography."Notes"
on

TCM.com Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

Film historians consider ''Cover Girl'' the point where Kelly hit his stride in a musical role that foreshadowed the best of his future work. The film was Hayworth's fourth musical: the first two she had done opposite

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history. Astaire's career in stage, film, and tele ...

. Hayworth's singing voice was dubbed by Martha Mears. ''Cover Girl'' was Columbia's first

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

musical, and songwriter

Arthur Schwartz Arthur Schwartz (November 25, 1900 – September 3, 1984) was an American composer and film producer, widely noted for his songwriting collaborations with Howard Dietz. Biography Early life Schwartz was born in Brooklyn, New York City, on Nov ...

's first venture into producing. The film was a big hit, and made stars out of both Hayworth and Kelly. The success of ''Cover Girl'' caused MGM to pay closer attention to Kelly as a viable property, and they allowed him to create his own dance numbers for his next film, ''

Anchors Aweigh "Anchors Aweigh" is the fight song of the United States Naval Academy and unofficial march song of the United States Navy. It was composed in 1906 by Charles A. Zimmermann with lyrics by Alfred Hart Miles. When he composed "Anchors Aweigh", Zim ...

'' (1945), also starring Frank Sinatra. Columbia bought the film rights to '' Pal Joey'', which Kelly had done on Broadway, hoping to pair up Kelly and Hayworth again, but MGM refused to loan him out, and instead the film was made with Sinatra playing the lead.Landazuri, Margarita
Girl" (article)
on

Awards and honors

Carmen Dragon Carmen Dragon (July 28, 1914 – March 28, 1984) was an American conductor, composer, and arranger who in addition to live performances and recording, worked in radio, film, and television. Early years Dragon was born in Antioch, California, ...

and

Morris Stoloff Morris W. Stoloff (August 1, 1898 – April 16, 1980) was a musical composer. Stoloff worked with Sammy Davis Jr., Dinah Shore, Al Jolson and Frank Sinatra. Life and career Stoloff worked as music director at Columbia Pictures from 1936 to 1962. ...

won the 1944 Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture. The following were nominated, but did not win: * Lionel Banks, Cary Odell and Fay Babcock for Best Art Direction *

Rudolph Maté Rudolph Maté (born Rudolf Mayer; 21 January 1898 – 27 October 1964) was a Polish-Hungarian-American cinematographer, film director and film producer who worked as cameraman and cinematographer in Hungary, Austria, Germany, France and the Unite ...

and Allen M. Davey for Best Cinematography *

(music) and Ira Gershwin (lyrics) for

Best Original Song This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

for "

" * John P. Livadary for

Best Sound, Recording The Academy Award for Best Sound is an Academy Award that recognizes the finest or most euphonic sound mixing, recording, sound design, and sound editing. The award used to go to the studio sound departments until a rule change in 1969 said it ...

. The song "Long Ago (and Far Away)" was also ranked 92nd on the American Film Institute's 2004 list AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs.

Xanadu

Gene Kelly reprised the same role of Danny McGuire in the 1980 musical '' Xanadu'' opposite

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...

. It was to be his final acting role.

References

External links

* * * * *
''Cover Girl''
at Aenigma

by Ned Scott {{Charles Vidor, state=collapsed 1944 films 1944 musical comedy films 1944 romantic comedy films 1940s romantic musical films American musical comedy films American romantic comedy films American romantic musical films Columbia Pictures films 1940s English-language films Films set in New York City Films that won the Best Original Score Academy Award Films directed by Charles Vidor Films scored by Morris Stoloff 1940s American films