''Easy to Look At'' is a 1945 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Ford Beebe Ford Beebe (November 26, 1888 – November 26, 1978) was a screenwriter and Film director, director. He entered the film business as a writer around 1916 and over the next 60 years wrote and/or directed almost 200 films. He specialized in B-movi ...

and written by Henry Blankfort. The film stars

Gloria Jean Gloria Jean (born Gloria Jean Schoonover; April 14, 1926 – August 31, 2018) was an American actress and singer who starred or co-starred in 26 feature films from 1939 to 1959, and made numerous radio, television, stage, and nightclub app ...

Kirby Grant Kirby Grant (November 24, 1911 – October 30, 1985), born Kirby Grant Hoon Jr., was a long-time B movie and television actor, mostly remembered for having played the title role in the Western-themed adventure television series ''Sky King''. B ...

J. Edward Bromberg Joseph Edward Bromberg (born Josef Bromberger, December 25, 1903 – December 6, 1951) was a Hungarian-born American character actor in motion picture and stage productions dating mostly from the 1930s and 1940s. Knowledge of his past as a membe ...

Eric Blore Eric Blore Sr. (23 December 1887 – 2 March 1959) was an English actor and writer. His early stage career, mostly in the West End of London, centred on revue and musical comedy, but also included straight plays. He wrote sketches for and appe ...

George Dolenz George Dolenz (born Jure Dolenc; akas: Giorgio Dolenz and George Dolentz; January 5, 1908 February 8, 1963) was an American film actor born in Trieste (then part of Austria-Hungary, now Italy), in the city's Slovene community. Biography Un ...

, and Mildred Law. The film was released on August 10, 1945, by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

Plot

Aspiring fashion designer Judy Dawson (Gloria Jean) arrives in New York and befriends Gustave Levant (J. Edward Bromberg), once a great designer himself at the House of Tyler, but now Tyler's humble night watchman. Levant asks his boss Bruce Tyler (Kirby Grant) to hire Judy, who has her own ambitious ideas. Without permission, she redesigns and alters a gown intended for an important Broadway star (Mildred Law). Levant, fearing the consequences, takes the blame for the "sabotage." Further clouding Judy's career, one of Tyler's competitors buys the prototype sketch of the redesigned gown, and now Judy is accused of industrial theft. The budding romance between Judy and Bruce turns stormy, until Levant arranges to bring them together on opening night, when Judy's Broadway creations are shown publicly.

Production

Gloria Jean, singing star for Universal since 1939, was persuaded by her agent Eddie Sherman -- who also handled the studio's biggest stars

Abbott and Costello Abbott may refer to: People *Abbott (surname) *Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849–1921), American painter and naturalist * Abbott and Costello, famous American vaudeville act Places Argentina * Abbott, Buenos Aires United States * Abbott, Arkansas ...

-- not to renew her contract. Sherman planned a nationwide tour of personal appearances, and informed Universal that Gloria Jean would be leaving the studio at the end of 1944. Universal had already promised exhibitors three more Gloria Jean features for 1945, so studio executives worked the actress constantly until her contract expired and the three promised features were filmed. ''Easy to Look At'' was the last of them, rushed through production by members of Universal's serial squad: director

, cameraman Jerry Ash, and editor Saul Goodkind. The feature was filmed in December 1944 and released on August 10, 1945.

Scott MacGillivray Scott MacGillivray (born June 29, 1957) is an American non-fiction author specializing in motion picture history. His book ''Laurel & Hardy: From the Forties Forward,'' revised and expanded in 2009, chronicles the later films of Stan Laurel and Ol ...

and Jan MacGillivray, ''Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven'', iUniverse, 2005, p. 203-204.

Cast

as Judy *

as Tyler *

as Gustave *

as Butch Billings *

as Antonio *Mildred Law as Helene Ford *

Leon Belasco Leon Belasco (born Leonid Simeonovich Berladsky; 11 October 1902 – 1 June 1988) was a Russian-American actor and musician who had a 60-year career in film and television from the 1920s to the 1980s, appearing in more than 100 films. Musi ...

as Phillipe *

Maurice Cass Maurice Cass (October 12, 1884 – June 8, 1954) was a character actor on stage and in films and television shows. Born in Vilna, Russian Empire (modern day Vilnius, Lithuania) he moved to America at six years of age. When he was 17, he toure ...

as Woolens *

The Delta Rhythm Boys The Delta Rhythm Boys was an American vocal group active from 1934 to 1987. The group was formed at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma, in 1934 by Carl Jones, Traverse Crawford, Otha Lee Gaines, and Kelsey Pharr. They moved to Dillar ...

as Themselves *The Lyttle Sisters as Themselves

References

External links

* {{Ford Beebe 1945 films American comedy films 1945 comedy films Universal Pictures films Films directed by Ford Beebe American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films