Doll Face

Doll Face
Title card
Directed by	Lewis Seiler
Produced by	Bryan Foy
Written by	Harold Buchman (adaptation) Gypsy Rose Lee (play The Naked Genius) Leonard Praskins (writer)
Cinematography	Joseph LaShelle
Editing by	Norman Colbert
Release date(s)	January 1946
Running time	80 minutes
Country	USA
Language	English

Doll Face is a 1946 American film directed by Lewis Seiler starring Vivian Blaine as "Doll Face" Carroll. The film is also known as Come Back to Me in the United Kingdom.

Plot summary

"Doll Face" Carroll is an entertainer looking to expand her reportoire. After a failed audition, where she is recognized as a burlesque performer from the Gayety Theatre, her manager and fiancé Mike Hannegan suggest she writes an autobiography to project a more literate image and he hires Frederick Manly Gerard as a ghost writer. Doll Face agrees on the condition she is allowed to dedicate the book to Mike with "For the love of Mike".

Another performer in the burlesque show, Chita Chula, remarks that if the book is a success and Doll Face leaves the show it will probably have to close down. Mike then decides to produce a Broadway show of his own with the financial aid of the performers themselves. Frederick offers to put up any money missing. Chita Chula (portrayed by Carmen Miranda) is sceptical she can pull it off, but Mike assures her she'll "probably wound up being another Carmen Miranda!", something Chita Chula perceives as an insult.

Mike leaks word on the book to the press and, riding the publicity, argues the show got all the press it needs and that the book, although all but finished, needs not to be published. Doll Face, however, decides to go through with it and goes to Jamaica with Frederick for some final touch-ups. Boat engine trouble leaves them marooned on an island and when Mike finds them he breaks up with her. Without "Doll Face" as headliner, the Gayety Theatre struggles and Mike finally shuts it down.

Chorus performs "Dig You Later (A-Hubba Hubba Hubba)" in the Show-within-a-show.

Doll Face releases her book "The Genius DeMilo" and when Mike sees she dedicated the book to Frederick instead of him, he regrets leaving her. After Doll Face refuses to talk to Mike he sends a lawyer to stop her show in the middle of opening night since she is under contract not to appear in any show not produced by him. She agrees to meet him and he asks her forgiveness. They reunite, she tricks the producer of her show to give Mike a 25% share and co-producer credit so the show can go on.

Differences from play

Cast

Vivian Blaine as "Doll Face" Carroll

Dennis O'Keefe as Mike Hannegan

• Vivian Blaine as Mary Elizabeth (Maybeth) "Doll Face" Carroll
• Dennis O'Keefe as Michael Francis "Mike" Hannegan
• Perry Como as Nicky Ricci
• Carmen Miranda as Chita Chula
• Martha Stewart as Frankie Porter
• Stephen Dunne as Frederick Manly Gerard
• Reed Hadley as Flo Hartman
• Stanley Prager as Flo's aide
• Charles Tannen as Flo's aide
• George E. Stone as stage manager
• Frank Orth as Peters
• Donald MacBride as Ferguson (lawyer)

• 

  Perry Como
  as Nicky Ricci

• 

  Carmen Miranda
  as Chita Chula

• 

  Martha Stewart
  as Frankie Porter

• 

  Stephen Dunne
  as Frederick Manly Gerard

Soundtrack

• Vivian Blaine - "Somebody's Walking in My Dream" (Music by Jimmy McHugh, Lyrics by Harold Adamson)
• Perry Como and Martha Stewart - "Somebody's Walking in My Dream" (Music by Jimmy McHugh, Lyrics by Harold Adamson)
• Perry Como and chorus girls - "Red Hot and Beautiful" (Music by Jimmy McHugh, Lyrics by Harold Adamson)
• Vivian Blaine and male quartet - "Red Hot and Beautiful" (Music by Jimmy McHugh, Lyrics by Harold Adamson)
• Perry Como - "Here Comes Heaven Again" (Music by Jimmy McHugh, Lyrics by Harold Adamson)
• Perry Como and Vivian Blaine - "Here Comes Heaven Again" (Music by Jimmy McHugh, Lyrics by Harold Adamson)
• Perry Como and Martha Stewart - "Dig You Later (A-Hubba Hubba Hubba)" (Music by Jimmy McHugh, Lyrics by Harold Adamson)
• Carmen Miranda, Bando da Lua and chorus - "Chico Chico" (Music by Jimmy McHugh, Lyrics by Harold Adamson)

Reviews

The studio Twentieth Century-Fox reportedly paid Louise Hovick (Gypsy Rose Lee) much money for the rights to The Naked Genius. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that "some one (not Miss Hovick) made a terrible deal. [...] the only distinction in its writing is a persistence in grammatical mistakes. The only remarkability about its pattern is a monotonous fidelity to form."^[1] and "Forget the plot, and concentrate on the production numbers performed with gusto by Blaine, Como, and Carmen Miranda."^[2]

Gallery

Nicky performes "Red Hot and Beautiful" at the burlesque Gayety Theatre.   Doll Face performes "Red Hot and Beautiful" to an enthusiastic crowd.   Nicky performing "Here Comes Heaven Again"   Doll Face on her way to make the final ajustments to her autobiography.   Frankie and Nicky performes "Somebody's Walking in My Dream".   Frankie performing "Somebody's Walking in My Dream"   Frankie and Nicky performes "Somebody's Walking in My Dream".   A worried Mike searching for Doll Face.   Mike finds Doll Face and Frederick.   Nicky and Frankie rehearses "Dig You Later (A-Hubba Hubba Hubba)".   Frederick suspects Doll Face is unhappy. Chita suggests he should know.   Rehearsing Nicky's "Here Comes Heaven Again" proves too much for Doll Face.

References

1. ^ Bosley Crowther. "Doll Face (1946) The Screen; To Aid Stage Relief", The New York Times, March 28, 1946. Retrieved September 9, 2011.
2. ^ Bosley Crowther. "Doll Face (1946) Review Summary", The New York Times. Retrieved September 9, 2011.

External links

• Doll Face at the Internet Movie Database
• Doll Face is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]