Professional Sweetheart

Ginger Rogers stars in "Professional Sweetheart," a 1933 film that also stars Norman Foster, Allen Jenkins, Gregory Ratoff, Franklin Pangborn, Theresa Harris, and Frank McHugh. Rogers plays Glory Eden, radio's Purity Girl, representing Ippsie Wipsie Washcloths. As the Purity Girl, Glory can't be anything but pure. Glory finds this annoying. All she's interested in is drinking, smoking, going to Harlem, wearing sexy clothes, and, if one reads between the lines, losing her virginity.

Her handlers decide to fix her up with a pure Anglo-Saxon, found in the Kentucky Mountains. They choose a nice-looking fan (Norman Foster) and set the two up, even having a wedding on the air. Knowing of her discontent, Kelsey Dish Rags is after her, too, and know she hasn't re-signed with Ippsie yet. The two engage in battle, and find there's a third party involved - Glory's new hubby, who takes Glory at her word about wanting to live in a Kentucky cabin and have a cow.

This is a cute film that could have been lots better, but the script isn't great and the pace drags a bit. Rogers is adorable, funny and sexy. Theresa Harris plays her maid, Vera, and is apparently uncredited, but she has a decent-sized, showy role.

As far as the film being pre-code, don't look for anything too racy. There is only some innuendo and Rogers in her skivvies.

Okay film, nothing special.

The sponsors of a rowdy radio singer find a somber PROFESSIONAL SWEETHEART to keep her satisfied and out of trouble.

Ginger Rogers dominates this Pre-Code comedy with her saucy performance as the spoiled warbler. This was her first starring role and she makes the most of it, pouting and prancing across the screen (often in her lingerie) talking bold & brassy, but actually just longing for the right male to come along and knock her into submission. Disturbing implications aside, she is an eyeful and a great deal of fun to watch.

Norman Foster deftly underplays his role as a stolid Tennessee backwoodsman whose whole life is commandeered by Ms. Rogers and the avaricious makers of the Ippsie Wippsie wash cloth. His eventual break for freedom, with Rogers in tow, will elicit deep approval from at least one gender in the viewing audience.

A wonderful cast of character actors help support the stars: Gregory Ratoff as Ginger's scheming sponsor; Frank McHugh as his eager beaver press agent; ZaSu Pitts as a silly sob sister; Franklin Pangborn as a nervous decorator; Edgar Kennedy as owner of a rival wash rag company; Allen Jenkins as his factotum; and Sterling Holloway as a slow-talking reporter.

Movie mavens will recognize an unbilled Akim Tamiroff as a hotel room service waiter.

Mostly boring pre-code comedy with some nice direction and very few laughs. With a cast like this, it really should be better. The story is about a radio star (Ginger Rogers) known as America's Sweetheart who wants to live it up and go dancing, drinking, having sex, etc. So her PR team compromises by getting her a husband: a rube from Kentucky (Norman Foster). Some slightly saucy pre-code dialogue seems to be the main selling point for many. But it's still pretty tame stuff. Ginger dancing around in her underwear and one scene where she gets spanked are the movie's racier moments. Funniest scene is when Frank McHugh cons the rube into proposing. Ginger gives it her best but the script just isn't strong. Only a must for hardcore Ginger fans.

I saw this with another RKO Ginger Rogers film from the same year.

Even though these are targeted as light entertainment, I am amazed at how fresh they feel and how experimental the structure is.

That lightness is often attributed to the lack of the Hayes Code, which lowered its dark curtain the following year. Its clear in retrospect that this was a bad thing, that it wounded an entire society, and would have destroyed it altogether had we not encountered a similar more obvious evil. And went to war.

But how does one know what is right around the corner? How does one celebrate the freedoms that are about to be taken away? Its a haunting thing in the background of this, as part of the joke is that this perfect man is "the purest of Anglo-Saxons." Another part of the joke is that sweetness, goodness and happiness is contrasted with black jive, sex and Harlem, all of which are "fun."

The structure of the thing is pretty sophisticated. Many films from these four years 1930- 33 were similarly adventuresome in their structure.

Its a show about sex and domestic values within which is a show (a radio show) about sex and domestic values. (The domestic hook is literally a dishrag.) Around this show are a collection of nattering men trying to engineer romance and predictably failing. If you study the narrative structure of date movies, you'll be familiar with tricks about how to reflect the viewer in the story. Its rather novel and somewhat perfect here.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Lovely Romantic /Pre~Code Comedy. Watching Ginger dance in her lingerie was a sweet pre~code treat. Run time 69 min. Excellent cast features: Ginger Rogers, Norman Foster, ZaSu Pitts, Frank McHugh, Allen Jenkins, Edgar Kennedy.A fun movie. I definitely recommend.Enjoy