- Beauty for the Asking
Infobox Film
name = Beauty for the Asking
image_size =
caption =
director =Glenn Tryon
producer =B. P. Fineman
writer =Doris Anderson andPaul Jarrico (screenplay)Edmund L. Hartmann (story)
Grace Norton and Adele S. Buffington (idea)
starring =Lucille Ball Patric Knowles Donald Woods Frieda Inescort
music = Frank Tours
cinematography = Frank Redman
editing = George Crone
distributor =RKO Pictures
released =February 24 ,1939
runtime = 68 minutes
country = USA
language = English
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0031089"Beauty for the Asking" is a 1939
film drama produced byRKO Pictures , and starringLucille Ball andPatrick Knowles .It tells the story of Jean Russell (Ball), who becomes romantically involved with a wealthy married man (Knowles) who later spurns her. She later invents a new facial cream, and with the financial backing of the her former lover's wife (Frieda Inescort), starts a business that makes her a millionaire.
Reception
RKO's pre-release publicity claimed that the film was to be an "exposé of the beauty racket" but reviewers of the day concluded that it was a standard "romantic love triangle". [Jewell and Harbin, p. 128 ]
More recently
Leonard Maltin has written more favourably of the film, and suggests that the film offered an usual feminist viewpoint for its time, while also acknowledging that Ball delivered a strong performance. [Maltin, p. 93 ]Cast
*
Lucille Ball as Jean Russell
*Patric Knowles as Denny Williams
*Donald Woods as Jeffrey Martin
*Frieda Inescort as Flora Barton-Williams
*Inez Courtney as Gwen Morrison
*Leona Maricle as Eve Harrington
*Frances Mercer as Patricia Wharton
*Whitney Bourne as Peggy Ponsby
*George Beranger as Cyril (as George Andre Beranger)
*Kay Sutton as Miss Whitman, Jean's Secretary
*Ann Evers as Lois PeabodyNotes
References
*Jewell, Richard B. and Harbin, Vernon, "The RKO Story", Octopus Books, London, 1982. ISBN 0 7064 1285 0
*Maltin, Leonard, "Leonard Maltin's 1998 Movie & Video Guide", Signet Books, 1997. ISBN 0-451-19288-5
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